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DA DREAM review -was-Re: questions i combined (no otr)
In a message dated 12/31/01 12:30:39 AM Central Standard Time,
soberman_69 at hotmail_com writes:
<< Which begs the question I've REALLY been wanting to ask you- is "Mr.
Buechner's Dream" by Daniel Amos truly as marvelous as I've been reading it
is? Review, oh critic!! Does it reflect the writings of Freddy B., as in
"Banquet At The World's End", or is the subject of the title confined to a
"title track", or, disappointingly, wholly unrelated to the content of the
CD. Inquiring DA fans whose BMG catalog has just added "MB'sD" want to
know! (I'll gonna get it no matter what you say, but I am curious to know
what you think.)
>>
I'm glad your going to get it anyway because I'm no critic and it is an
amazing disc(s) that I won't even begin to be able to do justice to with my
few inadequate words.
Although not laden with quotes by Buechner like Motorcycle I think Taylor
does try to set up a continuity between the tunes as if we were in a string
of dreams by Mr. B. but, like dreams, they don't necessarily relate fully
excepting thoughts and feels do carry over to shape the next one. *this is
the one* set's the mood, takes you in, then *Buechners Dream* shows you
where you are and the journey begins. It starts with the numinous breaking in
*this side of glory* -- a common theme in Buechner and Taylor's work. "she
had one foot on the earth...as the angels brushed her hair" "I held one hand
to the fire and one hand towards the sky" and then, as Buechner would, the
experience is questioned, "sometimes there seems to be no author of the
story" but then he places his hands in the Savior's side and doubt melts
away...so the journey of faith begins. *your long year* could be seen as the
life of a converted man in a nutshelll* then *who's who here* is seeing the
world through new eyes and wondering. (a great rocker by the way) just who
all these people you saw and took for granted before really are. Lewis
talking about how it's immortals we rub shoulders with every day comes to
mind. *ribbons and bows* is a yearning to reach the world without using the
same tired old Christianize language, asBuechner "I'm dreaming and I'm
breathing in the metaphoric air, designed to get your faith in motion" "God
hides himself sometimes inside a paradox, and there may not ever be anything
new here to say, but I'm finally finding words that say it in a different
way". *Ordinary Extraordinary Day* is probably Taylor's attempt to take the
idea if Buechner's book *alphabet of Grace* and put it into song (as he did
in *hole in he wall* before) : finding the meaning to everything that
happens in a given day no matter how trivial. Also, by way of Buechner as
jumping point, I think the influences come from a variety of writers, as the
lyrics of the title song suggest: O'conner, Percy, Chesterton, Lewis,
Williams, Sayers, Eliot, Carroll...
Anyway, you get the idea. I'd go on way too long if I went through every
tune this way. There's some great stuff here and it's hard not to gush. The
*dream* ends 2nd to the last tune on the first disc and the second disc
perhaps one could look at as various thoughts from the woken dreamer or
outtakes from the dream. There may be more direct Buechner reflections than
I know of as I haven't had it all too long yet and, not containing the full
lyrics, (only exerpts from each tune) it's hard to sit down and analyze it
all, there's a lot of tunes here!
There's a couple staple DA critiques of modern feelgood Christianity
-*faithful street* "if Jesus were alive and well he'd be staying in the best
hotel" - *the staggering gods* but all in all it's more about grace breaking
through and "painting the common things with mystery" and wonder, injecting
meaning into them and hoping, as he says in *Buechner wakes up*, "that these
simple words inspire, a longing for the hearts desire".
Musically (finally)! even though it's got a good amount of aggressive tunes
and some that take an aggressive turn and it covers a gambit of genre's with
hints of earlier discs throughout, taken as a whole it's got a more laid back
*dreamy* feel than previous outings. Quite a bit more acoustic than the
usual Da disc too. Think *wonderful, grace is the smell of rain, if you want
to, beautiful one*. Some very tasty guitar and bass work with a plethora of
other instruments and sounds thrown in for your sonic enjoyment. For 33
tunes there aren't many duds here. The only one I can think of, to me, is
*child on a leash* which is just a bit too rock lite for me. But even that
is starting to grow on me a bit.
Well, I hope this is worthy of being called a review rather than a
rambling...
peace,
Kevin
Faith is a trampoline
Life is a ginger snap
Love is like gasoline
Hope is a welcome mat
Terry Taylor
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