Vox Humana
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Vox humana is a Latin phrase meaning "human voice", and is the name given to the stop on a reed organ or pipe organ that sounds reminiscent of a human voice.
Vox Humana is also the title of a 1984 album by rock band Daniel Amos, released on Refuge Records.
Vox Humana was a much brighter album than the one that preceded it, Doppelganger. The songs were catchy, snythesizer driven pop songs, with lyrics that focus on technology's role in the US culture. "Travelog" was a song about a television obsessed man "basking in the blue light".
Danish author Soren Kierkegaard, Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, and Britons Malcolm Muggeridge and William Blake are all quoted in the liner notes of the album. DA also included a beautiful tribute to Blake with the ballad, "William Blake."
"Dance Stop", a song condemning nuclear arms escalation, asked listeners to dance to the song and stop suddenly when the word "stop" is sang. Due to the fast, upbeat punk rock style of the song, it is nearly impossible to follow the song's musical directions. The song went on to become a popular concert favorite for DA fans in later years, with audience members doing their best to follow the rules.
Vox Humana was the third of a four part series of albums by DA entitled The Alarma! Chronicles, which also included the albums Alarma!, Doppelganger, and Fearful Symmetry. The band raised eyebrows on the tour that followed each release, by presenting a full miltimedia event complete with video screens sychronized to the music, something that was unusual in the early 1980s for any band.
In 1984, DA was Terry Scott Taylor on rhythm guitars and lead vocals, Tim Chandler on bass guitar, and Ed McTaggart on drums. Guitarist Greg Flesch and keyboardist Rob Watson joined in time for the 1984 Alarma! Tour.
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Side One:
- "Travelog" (Taylor)
- "(It's The Eighties, So Where's Our) Rocket Packs" (Taylor)
- "Home Permanent" (Taylor)
- "It's Sick" (Taylor)
- "William Blake" (Words and Music by Taylor, Arrangement by Taylor/Chandler)
- "Dance Stop" (Words and Music by Taylor, Arrangement by Taylor/Chandler)
Side Two:
- "Live And Let Live" (Taylor)
- "When Worlds Collide" (Taylor)
- "As The World Turns" (Taylor)
- "She's All Heart" (Taylor)
- "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (Taylor)
- "Sanctuary" (Taylor)