Remastered Import coupling of their 1975 self titled album with Helluva Band (1976). Angel was a '70s heavy metal band based on the East Coast featuring singer Frank DiMino, guitarist Punky Meadows, and keyboard player Gre... more »g Giuffria. Packaged in a slipcase with new sleeve notes. BGO. 2006.« less
All Artists:Angel Title:Angel/Helluva Band Members Wishing: 8 Total Copies: 0 Label:Bgo Original Release Date: 1/1/2006 Re-Release Date: 3/13/2006 Album Type: Import, Original recording remastered Genres:Rock, Metal Style: Number of Discs: 2 SwapaCD Credits: 2 UPC:5017261207166
Synopsis
Album Description
Remastered Import coupling of their 1975 self titled album with Helluva Band (1976). Angel was a '70s heavy metal band based on the East Coast featuring singer Frank DiMino, guitarist Punky Meadows, and keyboard player Greg Giuffria. Packaged in a slipcase with new sleeve notes. BGO. 2006.
CD Reviews
At last, remastered Angel! Well, kind of...
Dwight Frye | Douglasville, GA | 03/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Finally! What Angel fans have been waiting for, but thought they might never see! Re-mastered versions of Angel albums. I'm assuming anyone considering this purchase is familiar with both the band and these two albums; widely considered to be the best of the six releases by the original band. So, I won't bother with going through a track by track synopsis of the recordings. Rather, I'll comment on the re-mastering and the recordings themselves. So how about these recordings? Are they original masters? Most long time (no pun intended) Angel fans know that Polygram has guarded Angel's recordings jealously and has, to date, refused all requests for access to the recordings even though they do not plan to do anything with them themselves. So, what happened? Well, Polygram still holds the original masters and they sure haven't licensed them to anyone else (that I've ever heard of anyway). Wherever the source tapes used here came from, they didn't come from Polygram. That is evident both in the noticable absence of reference to Polygram on the packaging and liner notes and in the sound and mix on both albums in this two disc set (particularly Helluva Band). Casablanca Records, instead of Polygram, is cited in the copyright. It does say 'original master tapes' were used. But I don't know which 'original master tapes' they are referring to. In fact, 'Any Way You Want It' (Helluva Band) appears to be an alternate take or very different mix than that which appears on the Polygram release. The intro to the song is one I've never heard before. The first album, 'Angel', sounds pretty darn close the Polygram release in regard to content and arrangement. 'Helluva Band', however, sounds vastly different at times in that regard. In general, the sound quality of both discs is really great. I often noticed a good deal more detail and greater separation of instruments. I have long wished that Punky's lead didn't sound quite so muffled on many of the tracks on both of these albums. In many instances, that has been cleaned up here. The increased level of detail and clarity of Greg's keyboards and Frank's vocal is also quite impressive. On the whole, both of these discs do sound very good. They do sound somewhat different from the albums many of us are used to, but (in general) they're not so different as to be considered alternate takes or re-mixes. Not bad, just a little different. For the hardcore fan (like myself), I don't need to recommend this. You've already decided to buy, just as I did the second I found out about this release. For all others, I'd still recommend it. These are two great albums by one of the more underrated bands of the seventies. Besides, how else are you going to get a copy of 'Helluva Band' other than paying a big price for a used Polygram release? It's worth buying just to get that album."
HELLUVA BAND... corrected!
k.g.lee | New York, NY USA | 04/01/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"At long last... Angel remastered! Most significant here is the fact that the Helluva Band vinyl master most of us grew up with (including the goofy but cool musical intro to "Anyway You Want It") has finally made it to CD! Previously said version of "Anyway..." had not made it to the U.S. shores for cd versions of the HELLUVA BAND album. When someone refers to an "original master" it should very well include that odd ball snippet! Don't know how/why it ever vanished (insert Angel stage magic reference here) but it's back.
For the longest time, WHITE HOT had always been my fave Angel album... being musical and catchy and not TOO prog, but HELLUVA may very well have passed ON EARTH as my second fave cd.
Echos of PINK FLOYD and DEEP PURPLE more so, on the first two ANGEL albums than the KISS meets FOREIGNER stance the band took in later days (nothing wrong with either approach in my opinion).
Luckily both "Angel" and "Helluva Band" exist on separate cd's in this package. Decent liner notes too... including a passage where Punky makes mention to Mickey Jones getting stuck in one of the magical cubes on stage back in the day (must have been the Spinal Tap inspiration).
Worth the investment! CIRCUS magazine's NEW ARTIST of the YEAR in 1976! Yeah, I hear ya Punky!"
Helluva CD package
Raven Shaddock | USA | 05/20/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's great to hear these recordings are finally out.
The 1st CD seems more Prog which isn't a bad thing. It's very Rush to me w/ "Tower" the opening song. Dimino vocals isn't high like Geddy Lee which is a good thing. Punky Meadows guitar work w/ Giuffria's keyboards bring the Angel signature sound.
The 2nd CD Helluva Band gears more towards metal. You have some good tracks like "Mirrors" and "Pressure Point" I think this sounds more like Deep Purple as they go more metal then Prog. Both excellent in their own way.
CD booklet gives you a good but brief history of the band."
These are the masters!
Tommy Shaw | Auburn, AL | 01/11/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I want to make a clarification with Dwight Frye's review (great name by the way :)). These are in fact the recording masters for the original albums. Dwight Frye maintains that Polydor Records owns the masters and questions the authenticity of this being "original recordings remastered". As proof, he points out that this newly remastered recording was released by Casablanca Records. In fact, Casablanca Records is a off-spin of Polydor, and was the original label for Angel. This is a pretty good record -- Angel was a modestly successful 1970's band -- kind of a hybrid between Kiss and Queen. For the most part, they opened for a lot of bigger acts in the late 1970's -- I saw them at least three times in that era. Their stage show was great! The music was good, but really didn't stand out from some of the other moderate successes from that time period."
Progressive rock from the 1970s
G. Richards | Overland Park, KS | 06/07/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This two-CD edition consists of remasters of Angel's first two albums from the 1970s. The production company, BGO Records, did not have access to the original tapes, but the sound is still better than on the vinyl editions. Hailing from the Washington DC area, Angel began as a progressive group, with a sound similar to Styx, although somewhat harder. This band was active in 1974-80, when they were noted primarily for their elaborate stage shows and androgynous image. Surprisingly, the music is much better than the band was ever given credit for. The instrumentation is quite competent, featuring extended keyboard and guitar solos. The songwriting is also consistently strong, with interesting melodic ideas. The best tracks are Tower, from the first album, and Fortune, from the second. Both songs have a rather medieval theme. Unfortunately, after two fine albums, Angel's next three releases were disappointments. This package, however, provides a good set of songs from an underrated band."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1