Oh that Gene Simmons, ever the entrepreneur - a sensible businessman who will try and diversify and branch out into different opportunities to make his fortune.  Gene has the honor of being the only bass player that KISS ever had, and he is also known for discovering new talent.  He's probably best known for sniffing out Van Helen in those early days, and even cutting a demo with the band performing future KISS songs.  That opportunity was snatched out from under him, as it was way too lucrative.  The bands that Gene had actually had a hand in includes 80s band Black and Blue, House of Lords, Giuffria and before all of these discoveries, the band Angel.  He found Angel playing in a nightclub in Washington, DC when he was invited by Creem magazine columnist Gordon Fletcher to come and check them out.  He had convinced Neil Bogart to sign them to the label he was on - Casablanca Records. 

Angel was to don the all-white (as in costumes) glam image, which seemed like an effective contrast to the KISS image of black and silver attire.  This image put forth from the band was enough to garner interest from new fans even after listening to their debut album. The was a number of problems with their first release; the most blatant was the clash of their glam image and an uncommercial progressive rock sound.  The opening track Tower is very heavy on the keyboards, sound effect-wise, and for a moment there is a clearing with a promising guitar lick from Punky Meadows, but then the ultimate musical spoiler Frank Dimino comes in with his ultra-monotone vocals ruining everything.  Dimino obviously has a nice range, but he also has his favorite note, which he hits and holds for long periods of time in almost every song on the album, not just Tower.  This isn't the only problem; the lyrics speak of journeying on through the night with his trusty sword by his side in search of the tower.  It sounds like 80s metal band Manowar, predated by a decade, yet it feels unconvincing and out of place, another clash and problem with image.  Hence, there is another misstep where it was someone's dopey idea to make this song an epic seven minutes!  I was going to stop here, but I thought of another inconsistency with this opening track.  For the first minute all you hear are Greg's spaceship keyboard sounds, which mimic the Hollywood version of how it would sound if a spaceship had landed.  By itself it would have been fine, but what do spaceships have to do with these medieval lyrics about a quest for the tower?  It just goes to show that Angel, as it was, was not ready for the spotlight yet that Simmons thrust them into.  With the risk of me sounding like one of the American Idol judges, Angel had no idea who they were, instead of a focused common vision or unified identity; it seems more like the three or four strong personalities in the band finding no common ground and with no room for compromise. 

Dimino also has this annoying habit of multi-tracking his vocals so that they sound fuller.  I'm not even talking double-tracked, but three or more.  By the time you get to songs like Rock and Rollers and On and On you begin swatting at the invisible buzzing insect screaming into your ear.  Plus all of his voices are striving to hit his comfort note as much as they can.  Now I know what Guantanamo prisoners must have gone through.  It's too bad they didn't use Angel's first album during these interrogations, we would have gotten a lot more intelligence from those cowardly terrorists (sorry Helen Thomas, but it's true).  There is another epic track here called Long Time, clocking in at a second over seven minutes, making it the longest track here.  The song is actually not too bad, until you get to the chorus where Dimino once again practices his headache inducing tone. There's a nice long solo from guitarist Punky Meadows, despite that it is being unashamedly played over a carbon copy of Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4.    

At the end of the album they tagged on a short theme song called Angel (Theme), which is basically another excuse for Greg Giuffria to shine a spotlight on himself and his marvelous keyboards.  This song brings me back to Gene Simmons and KISS who, a year earlier, have released a track off of their debut called Love Theme From KISS.  This could possibly be an idea put forth by Simmons himself, but I can't be sure, as it's only my speculation.  The sad truth though is that there isn't a decent song to be found on this disc.  The songs aren't well structured despite some nice musicianship.  Broken Dreams sounds like a monotonous drone resembling Black Sabbath riffs - except boring, the one song that comes close to being a decent track is Sunday Morning.   It has a cool riff, and Dimino's voice doesn't hurt my ears.  It sounds like the beginnings of the band that grows into something actually kind of cool around their fourth album, White Hot.  Although the song is basically just another showcase for Greg Giuffria's keyboard prowess, it's slightly more.  From reading this review you would never get the idea that Angel is a band that I actually like, but it's true.  They get so much better than this crap that passes as their debut.  At this point, the best part about Angel was their awesome logo that still reads Angel when you turn it upside down, and they didn't even include it on the cover.  If you are ever curious about what Angel is about, please don't start here with their start, check out White Hot or Sinful instead.    


Angel
Angel
Released: October 27th, 1975
Length: 37:08
Rating: 1½ stars
the Songs: 
1. Tower
2. Long Time
3. Rock and Rollers
4. Broken Dreams
5. Mariner
6. Sunday Morning
7. On & On
8. Angel (Theme)



Angel History Part 2: Helluva Band 
Angel History Part 3: On Earth As It Is In Heaven 
Angel History Part 4: White Hot 
Angel History Part 5: Sinful 
Angel History Part 6: Live Without a Net

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Recommended: No