Daniel Amos

Darn Floor Big Bite

(Movie Preview Voice) Imagine a world where a groundbreaking album is released and sells only seven thousand copies. (Movie Preview Voice)

Such a thing happened in 1987 with Darn Floor, Big Bite, an album that was more outside of it's time instead of the ahead of it, so much so that even today it sounds fresh and innovative because there simply isn't much other music that sounds like this. It's new wave, it's pop, it's rock, it's melodic, it's dissonant and it's a few things for which they have yet to come up with adjectives. So how did you manage to miss such a masterpiece? How about some back story?

The band Daniel Amos had spent three albums critiquing modern life and the failings of modern religion. Their fourth album in the Alarma Chronicles, Fearful Symmetry, was supposed to provide the antidote. But what lead songwriter Terry Taylor discovered was that it is durned near impossible to describe the indescribable, to draw the shape of air. A description of an earthquake by KoKo, the sign-language gorilla, captured our inability to fully understand much of anything, as summed up in the liner notes: "Man: Describe an earthquake. Gorilla: Darn Floor – Big Bite. God: Describe Me. Man: A Roaring Lion and a Consuming Fire." 

Taylor expounds further on the idea in "The Unattainable Earth" with lyrics such as "Language is weak, but I keep on speaking" and "Should you really reveal anything when I just misunderstand it?" In attempting to connect the divine with the tangible world Taylor uses sex as metaphor, the moment when we touch, albeit briefly, on the eternal with the lyrics "I see the clock on the wall/ I see the skull beneath the skin" ("Divine Instant".) Obviously, straightforward language simply won't do to capture these fleeting images, and Taylor is at his most poetic, borrowing freely from T.S. Eliot, Christina Rosetti and William Blake to help in completing his palate, condensing a book of images and thoughts into each song. Song titles such as "Strange Animals," "Half Light, Epoch and Phase," "Earth Household" and "Return of the Beat Menace" should give you a further idea of what kind of rules these guys are playing under.

Brilliant words and deep thoughts make good fodder for college dorm discussions but not so much for music. Fortunately the tunes behind these musings are equally full of depth, passion and energy. Instead of their usual practice of Terry writing a song and the other band members fleshing it out, in this case guitarist Greg Flesch and bassist Tim Chandler tossed musical ideas back and forth and forth and back until their spaghetti noodlings began to form a jittery, unorthodox formation of nervous, spacious, jagged melodies without huge choruses or power chords common in that day. Taylor took these creations under his wing and polished them as only an expert songsmith can, and the result is Darn Floor Big Bite. 

If you are unfortunate enough to have a discussion of music with me for longer than 10 minutes, I will undoubtedly bring up Tim Chandler, and for good reason. The man is, hands down, a musical genius. He conceives of bass parts so bizarre and intricate, and yet so fundamental to the character of the song, that his name should be as revered as Jaco or Sheehan or Wooten. Think of the rubbery McCartney line on "Come Together" and you have an idea of where Chandler is coming from. If you love creative bass playing, you owe it to yourself to check this guy out, especially this album where he was given free reign. Greg Flesch is equally his counterpart on the guitar. In fact, on this album he doesn't play the instrument so much as conduct it. Part upon inventive part is layered to form these gorgeous songs, and yet they somehow the sound remains open and light. Together these two musical miscreants integrate like the intricate gears of a Swiss watch with impressive senses of humor and adventure. And of course Ed McTaggart always lays down the perfect beat.

Darn Floor Big Bite has been rescued from obscurity with a 20th anniversary reissue. The extras include a disc full of interviews with Terry Taylor, some live tracks and a few of the songs sans vocals, giving the listener an unobstructed "view" of the innovative instrumentation. Be warned that this album is a grower. Scant few of even their most die-hard fans, myself included, counted this album as a favorite when it was first released. But give it a chance to breath and grow, for the abstract lyrics to find a foothold in your daily life when you suddenly think "that's what he was talking about!" and you too may one day rank this album alongside peers such as Pet Sounds and Sgt. Peppers. Yes Virginia, it really is that good. (Jason Hoffman)

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