Blog Archives
ANGEL – Angel
Angel – Angel (1975, Mercury Records)
1. “Tower” … 6:59
2. “Long Time” … 7:02
3. “Rock & Rollers” … 4:01
4. “Broken Dreams” … 5:15
5. “Mariner” … 4:23
6. “Sunday Morning” … 4:10
7. “On & On” … 4:19
8. “Angel (Theme)” … 1:39
Band:
Frank DiMino – Vocals
Punky Meadows – Guitar
Mickey Jones – Bass
Barry Brandt – Drums, Percussion
Gregg Giuffria – Synthesizers, Organ, Piano, Clavinet, Harpsichord, Mellotron
Producer: Derek Lawrence and Big Jim Sullivan
Mish-mash of a debut that finds the band walking the line between glam rock and prog rock. I’ve known of Angel for years and have sampled a few of their songs time and again online. They’ve never been high on my list of priorities but since most of their albums are available at a good price, I decided to finally pick a few up.
One of those albums just happened to be this one, their debut. I wasn’t expecting as much of a progressive rock influence, which knocks the album back a few points for me. I don’t hate prog rock, I just generally find it to be boring. While I’m not much of a keyboard guy, it would be hard not to recognize and comment on the work of Gregg Giuffria on this album. He’s featured strongly on this release and comes up with some interesting pieces.
“Broken Dreams” and “Mariner” are easily my favorite tracks on this album. “Broken Dreams” is a pretty heavy song that kind of shocked me considering what the three previous songs sound like. It draws stark contrast to the next song, “Mariner”, which is a great haunting ballad.
This is a debut that definitely shows promise. I can’t wait to pick up further releases and see how the band evolves.
Highlights: “Tower”, “Rock & Rollers”, “Broken Dreams”, “Mariner”, “On & On”
