Description
Live Bootleg ’82 is the first official live album by the American alternative rock band Daniel Amos, released on Stunt Records in October 1990, distributed in the US by Spring Arbor Distribution. (Stunt Records and Tapes is a custom label formed by Daniel Amos founder Terry Taylor and Tom Gulotta in 1990.) Recorded in St. Louis, Missouri by Bruce A. Brown on April 30, 1982, in front of about 1000 fans. The album gives fans a glimpse into a typical Daniel Amos concert in the early 1980s, at this time a four-piece rock band. Having gone in a harder rock/new-wave direction, they abandoned the country-rock songs of their first two albums. Produced by band member Terry Taylor.
The album also includes their well-known “Surf Suite”, which they had performed in differing fashions for several years. It led off with a new-wave take on The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, the instrumental surf classic “Wipe Out”, followed by Daniel Amos’ own surfing-inspired songs “Endless Summer” and “(Near Sighted Girl with Approaching) Tidal Wave”. Fun note: Derri Daugherty of The Choir fame was doing the band’s live sound back then.
Stunt Records is an indie label started in 1990 by singer/songwriter/producer Terry Taylor (Daniel Amos, Swirling Eddies, Lost Dogs) and Tom Gulotta. The original vision of the label was to re-release the older Daniel Amos records on CD and to put out special collector’s item releases of live bootlegs and unreleased demo material. The label’s first release was Daniel Amos’ Live Bootleg ’82. Over the years the label expanded the vision to include Terry Taylor’s new music (and also signing new bands that they feel are like-minded and represent the spirit of the label in their commitment to originality and artistic integrity).
It’s sure a sign of approaching middle age when one hears phrases coming from one’s own mouth about the “good ol’ days.” I’m only 33, but it sounds pretty “old” to find myself remembering the grand old days of rock ‘n’ roll in the fall of ’82, when I saw DA play three shows in a little under a week in the Chicago area. I remember being greatly impressed as the quartet, featuring new bassist Tim Chandler, drummer Ed McTaggart, guitarist Jerry Chamberlain and vocalist/guitarist/master of ceremony Terry Taylor, tore through an unequaled set of fine, new wave influenced rock ‘n’ roll, with such skill, zest and zeal that I left each show rather speechless – a rare and somewhat amazing event, all things considered.
Now, thanks to the miracle of persistence and a desire to actually make a living, DA has taken an 8-track bootleg recording made of the St Louis gig of that tour by Bruce Brown, and made it available to fans through Spring Arbor distribution and its fan club mail order. The original recording is enhanced by Taylor to bring our the full live sound, but the raw, concert energy remains with little or no overdubs. This is a mint recording, for collectors, fans and all those curious about the best rock band in the golden age of . . . whatever, I can’t remember it all that well.
Featuring tracks from Horrendous Disc, Alarma and Doppelganger, as well as a couple of previously unreleased Taylor compositions and the band’s infamous set of beach covers, DA Live Bootleg ’82 chronicles an important band at the height of its game, when the doors were still open and anything was possible. The 83-84 tour, a veritable multi-media event, was equally great for completely different reasons, but here they were a rock band, gritty and even a little angry, but their good humor was still in tact, and the music lacked the self-parody that at times slid into self indulgence in later tours as commercial indifference, unfettered criticism and a general lack of appreciation for its contribution took its toll on DA.
The Miracle Faith Telethon, a pseudo-retrospective of Taylor’s work drenched in schlocky humor and no small amount of self-deprecating wonder at it all, reminds us that this band was capable of genius. Live Bootleg recalls a time when we all “knew” that this great music had to make a difference in the world. And, finally, it did. Perhaps the rock world didn’t notice, maybe Christian radio remained uninformed and indifferent, but some of us, on the fringes of the Church, were challenged, encouraged and entertained. This band rocked with an unequaled authority, at least in the ccm market, and didn’t shift its intellect into neutral to placate some conservative consensus of what was appropriate to Christian sensibilities. While some were trying to get even those of us who had come to faith years earlier to experience salvation at every concert like it was the first time, DA made growth and involvement possible in an unpreachy fashion.
Most of this stuff feels even better than the originals, just because the energy of the performance is so engaging. I’m still waiting for an Alarma Chronicles Boxed set, but this live indie effort is sure to keep my Walkman rocking as I sit out on the porch swing of the old folks home wrapped in an afghan. “What a drag it is getting . . . ” Well, you get the point. Now, get the album; it’s great nostalgia for those of us who remember, it’s a fine introduction to those who have only recently caught on to the band’s notorious Cornerstone gala extravaganzas, it’s festive, big fun to delight young and old. Trust your grandfather. Would I lie to you? [Brian Q. Newcomb, Harvest Rock Syndicate, 1990]
CD tracklist:
01. I Love You #19 – 3:15
02. I’m On Your Team – 2:27 (Previously Unreleased)
03. Faces To The Window – 2:23
04. Mall All Over The World – 3:05
05. Everyone’s Fallen Down – 3:25 (Previously Unreleased)
06. Baby Game – 2:34
07. Through the Speakers – 2:43
08. Alarma! – 2:41
09. Love Has Open Arms – 3:25 (Previously Unreleased)
10. Hit Them (With Love) – 2:37
11. Hound of Heaven – 3:50
12. Ghost of the Heart – 2:32
13. The Surf Suite: Surfin’ U.S.A. / Wipe Out / (Near Sighted Girl With Approaching) Tidal Wave / Endless Summer – 8:37
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Stunt Records. Available at Bandcamp: https://terryscotttaylor.bandcamp.com/album/live-bootleg-82
https://terryscotttaylor.bandcamp.com/album/live-bootleg-82-uncut
CREDITS. Produced by Terry Taylor. Compiled by Tom Gulotta and Terry Scott Taylor. Recorded April 30, 1982, at New Covenant Fellowship, St. Louis, Missouri. Live concert production by Bruce Brown. Concert Originally Recorded and Mixed by Tom Brooks and Bruce Brown for KBK Studios, using a Yamaha console, Shure, AKG, and Neuman mics (Thanks Mark E.), and Otari 8-Track and 2-Track machines. Final mix Engineer: Gene Eugene. Final mixes recorded at Neverland Studios, October 1990. Mastered by Doug Doyle at Digital Brothers, Costa Mesa, CA. Layout by Court Patton & Tom Gulotta.
Musicians: Daniel Amos – Terry Scott Taylor (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jerry Chamberlain (lead guitar, backing vocals), Tim Chandler (bass, backing vocals), Ed McTaggart (drums, backing vocals).
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