Michial Farmer leads Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs in a discussion of the 1991 Daniel Amos album 
Kalhoun.
Philosophy, Theology, Literature, and Other Things Human Beings Do Well
Michial Farmer leads Nathan Gilmour and David Grubbs in a discussion of the 1991 Daniel Amos album Kalhoun.
“TOM PETTY”?! (*splutter, splutter*) Or: “eviscerated”? Gee, I was
striving for “enthusiastic footnote,” so all apologies — any
evisceration of Mr. Gilmore was purely unintentional. (Though getting my blogger-nom de plume only half-right has me reconsidering my apology.)
Seriously,
though — job well done by all. Kalhoun! would not have been my natural
first-pick, so you had me listening keenly throughout. And you
persuaded me that, in fact, this was probably the ideal album to use as
an intro to DA. You uncovered a lot of inferences that completely
slipped past my ears, despite a reasonable familiarity with this album
and many of the external sources Taylor tips his hat to (Buechner,
Milosz, Annie Dillard, etc). Particularly revelatory moment for me: I
knew of Taylor’s conversion to Orthodoxy, but had never considered that
as a lens with which to scrutinize some of his more opaque lyrical
hijinx. So thank you all, not just for the enjoyable gab I’ve come to
expect, but for a very welcome re-introduction — “new ears,” really —
to a band I have long loved to listen to.
So enthusiastic
footnoting from yours truly, this time, except to note that as a
Canadian listener I tended to associate the political commentary with
Reagan’s teflon reign.
Excelsior!Darrell Reimer (aka, “Whisky Prajer”)
dpreimer I’m neither a music critic nor of the nationality that says “Prajer” on a regular basis, so I do apologize on both fronts. 🙂
I tend to think of all the presidents from Reagan to Obama as cut from basically the same cloth, so I’ve got nothing to gainsay on your Reagan comment.
ngilmour dpreimer Sir, with sentiments like that you could nearly blend in with our citizenry. Have to work on your accent, though…
dpreimer Thanks, Darrell!
You want suggestions for another Christian album to examine? How about The Talking Animals by T Bone Burnett? Or anything by Danielson (e.g. Fetch the Compass Kids). Or maybe even the recently-released Goliath by Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil?
I’ve been fascinated by this conversation and have listened several times. In light of the idea that the album was influenced, at least to some degree, by Orthodox Christianity, this line from “I Will Return” is noteworthy: “…until her ashes were laid in an urn / beneath a fast food counter.” When an Orthodox church is consecrated, the relics of a saint are sealed up and stored in the altar beneath its surface, where the Eucharist is celebrated…what one might call a “fast food counter,” if one considers that the Orthodox practice is fasting before consuming the body and blood of Christ. Or perhaps that’s stretching things. My suspicion is that Terry was using that idea, but re-purposing it to refer to the decline and ultimate fall of the Christian church — the “great falling away” that St. Paul mentions — before the return of Christ. BUT…I would also concur with what one of your speakers said, that we are dealing with things that are hard to understand! So who knows.
DavidDanglis Well, and then the great flock of nuns flew away (meeting no one’s expectations). I read that as a return after the great falling-away.
DavidDanglis The Taylor record might be a good choice, given Gilmour’s and my mutual affection for him. I’m afraid Danielson is just the other side of what I can listen to without gouging my eyes out.