Angel

About

Yes, common wisdom among hardcore fans of '70s rock ’n’ roll is that Angel, like The Runaways, should’ve been rulers of arena-class rock. This power-shagged quintet, which owed as much to early Queen as they did Uriah Heep and Procol Harum, even had the teen magazines believing in them, as well as the more musically literate rock periodicals like <i>CREEM</i> and <i>Circus</i>. That’s hardly surprising, because this album (their first of six) had the goods. Singer Frank Dimino’s gymnastic, Ian Gillan–like vocals, Greg Giuffria’s grand-melodic bed of organs and hyperactive synths, and Punky Meadows' power-wristed guitars all rode shotgun atop a rhythm section that harbored a deep, obvious love of Queen’s John Deacon and Roger Taylor. The songs, such as the rock-show excitement of “Rock & Rollers,” the overtly cinematic “Tower,” and the popping “On and On,” all reveal a songwriterly center that could’ve easily tipped the era’s rock radio. It should’ve, but it didn’t. The band’s future was no forgone conclusion; it’s told rather neatly in the eerily prophetic and over-the-top anthem “Broken Dreams.”

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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