''Shotgun Angel'' is the second album by Christian rock band

Daniel Amos Daniel Amos (aka D. A., Dä) is an American Christian rock band formed in 1974 by Terry Scott Taylor on guitars and vocals, Marty Dieckmeyer on bass guitar, Steve Baxter on guitars and Jerry Chamberlain on lead guitars. The band currently c ...

, released in 1977. It was their final album for

Maranatha! Music Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music. Background In the early 1970s Cal ...

and their last album performed in their early country rock sound.

Background

The album is named after the song of the same name, which finished side one of the album. The song was written earlier by Bill Sprouse Jr. for his band The Road Home which featured future Daniel Amos drummer

Ed McTaggart Ed McTaggart (born July 10, 1951) is an American drummer and artist. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band Daniel Amos. McTaggart joined DA in 1976, after years of playing with Bill Sprouse Jr.'s band The Road Home. In the 1980s, Mc ...

. After Sprouse's untimely death at age twenty-six, sound engineer Mike Shoup dug up an old four-track tape of the song and asked Dom Franco of the Maranatha! group Bethlehem to add

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

guitar to the song. When

heard it they decided to record it themselves and enlisted Franco to play the pedal steel and Shoup and McTaggart to add the CB radio voices on the recording. Although DA's previous release was largely country, this album marked the start of a return to the band's pre-label roots, rock and roll, which took some of their country fans by surprise. ''Shotgun Angel'' was half country and half

rock opera A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

. The 'side two' of the LP featured lush orchestrations and a string of rock songs linked together in a way that was reminiscent of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

'' Sgt. Peppers'' album. The band even made a number of concert performances at this time with a full orchestra backing them.

Reissues

In 1986, the entire "side two" of the album was remixed and re-released on a collection called '' The Revelation'' with some narration by Chuck Smith included between songs. The song "Soon!" was also added. The first appearance of the album on CD was in 1990. In 2001 M8 put together a two-CD ''Shotgun Angel: 25th Anniversary Edition''. The first CD was a re-issue of the original album while the second featured a two-part interview with Terry Taylor and Jerry Chamberlain on '' Rock & Religion Radio Show''. While the band's management had involvement in the artwork of the release, the overall finished product was disappointing due to the label's poor quality control. The release included audio glitches, and even band members names were misspelled. Almost immediately, the band wanted to revisit the album with what it saw as an appropriate reissue once the timing was right and the budget was available. In the years that followed the band's audio archives were cleaned-up and transferred to digital format. The first results of these efforts were released in 2006 with the two-disc deluxe 30th Anniversary edition of ''

'', expanded editions of Terry Taylor's '' Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood'' and '' Darn Floor - Big Bite'' and not long after ''Shotgun Angel''. Stunt Records' Tom Gulotta and Eric Townsend were put in charge of putting a new ''Shotgun Angel'' reissue together, which would be released in connection with Born Twice Records. Gulotta cleaned up the original album master and made sure that digital glitches that were even found on the original CD release were corrected. The entire album was remastered and Townsend began remixing the band's original 1976 four-track pre-production demos and portions of the album's original 24-track masters for the bonus disc, in an effort to give listeners a new a unique way of hearing some of the album's tracks. Some band members were able to uncover numerous unpublished photos which would be used in the project's artwork and packaging. Other band members pored over the liner notes and lyrics to make corrections to errors found on all previous releases - including the original Maranatha! release. This culminated in June 2011 with ''Shotgun Angel: Collectors Deluxe Edition'' a two-disc set. It includes a 24-page booklet with full lyrics, unreleased songs, studio outtakes and other rarities.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

showed a mixed reaction in their retrospective review, noting the overt similarity to

the Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

and deeming the rock opera of side two "a little too wide-eyed and doomsaying for most modern audiences". However, they praised the track "Better," comparing it to the psychedelic rock work of

. Critiques from other publications offered the following: "This record is a flat-out winner. Brilliant." from Campus Life Magazine; "Shotgun Angel' is truly an offering of excellence to the Lord." from Buzz magazine (UK), and "Not until now have we seen an album that is as versatile, professional, or as serious musically as is Daniel Amos' Shotgun Angel." from the Cornerstone newspaper. In Powell's Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music he offers that it sounds "like nothing ever produced in contemporary music, Christian or otherwise" even though he notes comparisons with

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, Pink Floyd and ''

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although '' Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly ...

''.

Track listing

Side one

# "Days and Nights" (

Terry Scott Taylor Terry Scott Taylor (born May 24, 1950) is an American songwriter, record producer, writer and founding member of the bands Daniel Amos and The Swirling Eddies (credited as Camarillo Eddy). Taylor is also a member of the roots and alternativ ...

Jerry Chamberlain Jerry Chamberlain is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer, best known for his work with the rock bands Daniel Amos and the Swirling Eddies (credited as "Spot"). In late 1974, Chamberlain was asked to join Jubal's Last Band, ...

) # "Black Gold Fever" (Taylor) # "Praise Song" (Taylor) # "Father's Arms" (Taylor) # "Meal" (Taylor) # "

Shotgun Angel ''Shotgun Angel'' is the second album by Christian rock band Daniel Amos, released in 1977. It was their final album for Maranatha! Music and their last album performed in their early country rock sound. Background The album is named after the S ...

" (Bill Sprouse, Jr)

Side two

# "Finale: Bereshith Overture" (Stipech, Taylor, Chamberlain, Cook) # "Lady Goodbye" (Taylor, Chamberlain, Cook) # "The Whistler" (Taylor, Chamberlain, Cook) # "He's Gonna Do a Number On You" (Cook) # "Better" (Taylor, Chamberlain, Cook) # "Sail Me Away" (Taylor, Chamberlain) # "Posse in the Sky" (Taylor)

2011 Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc

# "Jonah and the Whale" (Sept 1976 4 track demo, with Steve Baxter) # "Fathers Arms" (Sept 1976 4 track demo 1) # "Posse in the Sky" (Sept 1976 4 track demo 1) # "Fathers Arms" (Dec 1976 demo 2) # "Black Gold Fever" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Praise Song" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Meal" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Shotgun Angel" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Finale: Bereshith Overture" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Lady Goodbye" (Dec 1976 demo) # "The Whistler" (Dec 1976 demo) # "He's Gonna Do a Number On You" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Better" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Sail Me Away" (Dec 1976 demo) # "Posse in the Sky" (Dec 1976 demo 2) # Maranatha Music Show - In The Studio (Hosted by John Styll) April 1977 Studio Snippet # "Days and Nights" (alt. mix) # "Black Gold Fever" (alt. mix) # "Meal" (alt. mix) # "Shotgun Bagel" # "Lady Goodbye" (alt. mix) # "The Whistler" (alt. mix) # "He's Gonna Do a Number On You" (alt. mix) # "Better" (alt. mix) # "Sail Me Away" (alt. mix) # Looney Tunes

Personnel

- lead guitar, vocals, lead vocals on "Shotgun Angel" and "Lady Goodbye", co-lead vocals on "Days and Nights" * Mark Cook - keyboards, vocals, lead vocals on "He's Gonna Do a Number on You" * Marty Dieckmeyer - bass, backing vocals *

- drums, backing vocals *

- rhythm guitars; vocals; lead vocals on all songs except "Shotgun Angel", "Lady Goodbye", "He's Gonna Do a Number on You" and "Finale: Bereshith Overture"; co-lead vocals on "Days and Nights"

Production notes

Alex MacDougall Alex MacDougall is an American record producer, and percussionist. MacDougall is best known for being a member of the Christian rock band Daniel Amos in the late-1970s in addition to his production and recording session credits. He was also a mem ...

, Fred Petry: Percussion * Pete Jacobs: Clarinets on "Black Gold Fever" * Dom Franco: Pedal Steel Guitar * Frank Marocco: Accordion * Dan Amos: Carrot Choir, Celery Symphony on "Meal" * John Benson: Eefin' on "Meal" * Michael Wayne Shoup: CB * Bill Hoppe: Additional FX/Synthesizers * Produced & Engineered by

Jonathan David Brown Jonathan David Brown (November 20, 1955 – September 27, 2016) was an American record producer and audio engineer known for his work on albums released in the Contemporary Christian music industry. Brown served federal prison time as an acces ...

* Strings Arranged and Conducted by

Jim Stipech Jim Stipech is a Christian musician and record producer who has released recordings under his own name as well as contributing to the work of other artists such as Nancy Honeytree and Roby Duke. He has also provided music for films such as ''The ...

* Recorded at: MartinSound Studios, Alhambra, California * Mixed by Jonathan David Brown (alias "Your Local Hokie Okie") at Producers' Workshop, Hollyweird, California * Bonus demos recorded and owned by Michael Wayne Shoup * Bonus re-mixes by Eric Townsend * Re-Mastered by J Powell at Steinhaus * Cover Concept by Daniel Amos * Original Art Direction, Design and Layout by Neal Buchanan * Photographs by Larry Frowick, Scott Lockwood, and others * 2011 Reissue Design and Layout by Tom Gulotta and Eric Townsend * Re-Issue Producers: Matthew Hunt, Tom Gulotta and Eric Townsend

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Maranatha! Music albums Concept albums 1977 songs Daniel Amos albums Citizens band radio in popular culture