Reviewed by Stephen Luff

As any longtime follower of Christian music will know, Daniel Amos were a seminal band who in the '80s particularly took Christian rock into uncharted territory. This album from 1977 was the transition between the country of their self-titled debut album and the Beatles-esque rock of 'Horrendous Disc' a year later. There are influences aplenty here including Queen and Pink Floyd mixed with vocal Eagles style harmonies (just listen to the title track and "Posse In The Sky") which would feature in similar bands of the time such as the Sweet Comfort Band. Outstanding tracks include "Praise Song" with its encouraging lyrics and the humorous, country track "Meal". There are instances of rock opera such as "Finale:Bereshith Overture" and "The Whistler" which both take you by surprise the first time you hear them. The transfer quality is remarkably good given the age of the original recordings with only tape hiss noticeable. Disc two contains 26 tracks including demos and alternative mixes. One track "Jonah And The Whale" is new, but it is not up to the quality of the songs elsewhere - you can see why it never made it to the final album. This, although interesting, does not offer long time listening enjoyment especially as songs are repeated with slight differences, although the studio chat is interesting. Overall an enjoyable album though probably only hardcore Daniel Amos/Terry Scott Taylor completists will get much from disc two.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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