Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Whether we’ve been providing you with their own honorary Top 10 Songs list, or a review of their current live show, it’s no secret that we LOVE Angel. How could we not? After all these decades, Punky Meadows and Frank DiMino are still waving the white flag proudly; not just banking off “the hits”, but continuing to create exciting, over the top hard rock music for their dedicated fanbase. The next installation in their post-reunion victory lap, Once Upon a Time, arrives roughly a month from now on April 21. Until then, we hope you enjoy this retrospective essay on what I consider to be their finest hour, On Earth as It Is in Heaven. “Can You Feel It”?
Alongside fire, the wheel, and human consciousness itself, Angel is among one of Gene Simmons’s earliest groundbreaking discoveries. Of course, as much as he’ll likely tell you otherwise, Gene didn’t REALLY discover those first three things. However, there’s no taking away that it was Simmons who first took note of the flamboyant band after catching them at a nightclub. Impressed by their music and show (similar to Simmons’s own band in this regard), they were immediately signed by Casablanca Records and started touring extensively across the country. KISS, Rush, Blue Öyster Cult: You name ’em, Angel opened up for ’em.
Come 1977, Angel’s fanbase and stage production grew considerably. While this didn’t translate into commercial success (Neither their self titled debut (1975) nor Helluva Band (1976) even went gold.), Casablanca was ready to push Angel to that next level of arena rock superstardom. Lord knows they had the budget to do so. With KISS making history as the highest grossing band ever up until that point, Casablanca were up to their eyeballs in dough and dead set on making Angel the “next KISS”. This did, however, require some fine tuning.
Not only did Casablanca go all in on Angel’s stage show, but their music career as well. Because what good is a spectacular show without equally spectacular music? There’s no denying that Angel’s first two albums are stone cold classics. Among headbanger circles, they’re regarded as the best albums Angel ever did, and for good reason. Their bombastic brand of progressive hard rock was on par with anything Kansas and Styx were releasing at the time. However, epic suites like “Tower” and “The Fortune” lacked the punchy, pop rock sensibilities that put KISS at the top of the charts and radio rotations in the mid to late ’70s.
On their third album, On Earth as It Is in Heaven, Angel hit a creative sweet spot, combining the heavy prog of their early days with rich power pop, the latter of which would become the dominant component of their subsequent two albums, White Hot (1978) and Sinful AKA Bad Publicity (1979). It should be noted that at no point on this release did these poppy elements come off as forced or inauthentic. Just as their pomp moments went toe to toe with aforementioned era titans Kansas and Styx, their power pop moments did the exact same, but with Raspberries and KISS (In fact, I’d argue Angel surpassed Raspberries, but I digress).
On Earth opens with an energetic, boisterous rocker in “Can You Feel It”. Everything about this cracker of a track gives off “opening song” vibes, as if right after the voice of God personally introduced each member and the explosions went off, they’d kick into this absolute ANTHEM. Is it “Rock and Roll All Nite”? Nope…musically, it’s better. I know, go ahead and stone me KISS Army. “Can You Feel It” boasts all the Angel trademarks in one 4 and a half minute blast of pomp overload: fist-pumping riffs, flashy soloing, fiery vocals, spacey keys, dreamy harmonies. Yeah, there’s no “less is more” mentality to be found here.
Contrasting this balls-out rocker is not just one of my favorite Angel songs, but one of my favorite Angel songs of all time, “She’s a Mover”. Yes, I’m not exaggerating when I say I hold this to be one of the most well written songs of all time. The melodies and chord changes recall classic Motown and Phil Spector, albeit delivered with a 70s arena rock twist. I don’t know who dropped the ball at Casablanca and didn’t think it would be a good idea to release it as a single, but I hope they got fired. Kicking things up a notch is the sleazy, swaggering “Big Boy (Let’s Do It Again)”. Considering Zeppelin had since moved onto more adult oriented fare, it’s refreshing to hear a song the channels the crude charm of their early output, like this one.
The swaggering rock n’ roll continues on the painfully underrated “White Lightning”. With enough bottom-end groove to get even the most ardent of rockers dancing, and a repetitive chorus that’s so catchy “it’s frightenin'”, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes would most certainly approve of this funk n’ roller. No wonder it’s still a staple of live sets today, unlike side A closer, “Telephone Exchange”. Much like “She’s a Mover”, this pop flavored tune had all the markings of a Top 40 smash. There is, again, a heavy dose of Spectorian nostalgia, especially in the passionate vocal delivery of Frank DiMino and lush, symphonic keys of Gregg Giuffria.
As we flip over to side B, we’re greeted by one of the heaviest cuts not just on this album, but in Angel’s catalog, “On the Rocks”. If “White Lightning” channeled the honest to goodness R&B leanings of Mk. III Deep Purple, then “On the Rocks” is a high speed barn burner that wouldn’t sound out of place on In Rock (1970). Giuffria’s synth howls away, DiMino screams each line with the urgency of a twisted banshee, and the rest of the band (Punky Meadows on guitars, Mickie Jones on bass, and Barry Brandt on drums) fire on all cylinders, giving both the eardrums and necks of listeners a vigorous workout.
Keeping up the hard rock vs. pop rock balance, “You’re Not Fooling Me” is arguably the poppiest song on an album filled with pop tunes. While I feel “Telephone Exchange” and “She’s a Mover” would’ve been much better singles, clearly Casablanca felt otherwise, giving “You’re Not Fooling Me” the promo video treatment. This was a huge deal in a pre-MTV world. Get a load of those white satin threads! Angel were MADE for the camera. One can’t help but wonder what coulda, shoulda, woulda been had they weathered the storm into the MTV age.
“That Magic Touch” is the obligatory oddball song found on nearly every 70s rock album. For those who don’t catch my drift, you know how on those early Queen albums, in between the most epic, bombastic, pseudo-metal suites you’ll ever hear, there’ll be some quirky music hall type song about Freddie Mercury going painting at the Louvre? Yeah, this is Angel’s equivalent of that. It’s not bad at all. In fact, “That Magic Touch” is a very catchy number, but a heavy rocker it is not. Think more along the lines of lounge music gone pomp.
If those last two songs pushed headbangers to their limit, fear not. The swords and sorcery proto-power metal of “Cast the First Stone” is here to save the day. To all the naysayers who claim Angel was nothing more than pretty boy looks, I dare you to play this song at full volume and say that to my face. “Cast the First Stone” is clear-cut evidence that Punky Meadows could write a song in the vein of and on par with Ritchie Blackmore, while simultaneously being inspired by him. Closing it all out is the hauntingly epic “Just a Dream”, which also is a musical force to be reckoned with. Try as they may, Angel sure couldn’t get away from their prog roots, and showcase them with pride on this cliffhanger of a closer.
Although On Earth didn’t do much for Angel in the way of commercial success, it did expand upon their already top notch pomp rock formula. While both White Hot and Sinful had their heavy moments, these later albums were far more reliant on the power pop hinted at on this album than the heavy prog of their early days. Come 1980, Angel would throw a Hail Mary pass in a live record entitled Live Without a Net, a movie cameo in the Jodie Foster starred Foxes (They also provided the theme song, which was a minor hit.), and a mega-package tour alongside fellow rockers Mahogany Rush, Humble Pie, and Mother’s Finest. Unfortunately, none of these attempts led to much headway, and come ’81, Angel was history.
It only took another 35 years or so for DiMino and Meadows to “get the band back together”, albeit with a new lineup. Together, the band is carving a new chapter in the Angel saga. Their shows have been met with universal acclaim, packing the same electricity and bravado of their arena filling heyday, even in the humble confines of clubs and theaters. And they’ve been doing so with new music to boot. 2019’s Risen picked up right where Sinful left off 40 years earlier, giving fans another potent dose of pop gone prog gone metal. If Once Upon a Time is anything like it, we’re in for a real treat!
Where is the POMP???