Employing a dazzling mix of glam rock, hard rock, and progressive rock, Angel‘s outrageous, white-satin-heavy image and equally over-the-top stage shows, make them one of the more colorful arena rock bands of the mid-’70s and early ’80s.
Discovered by Kiss bass player Gene Simmons – a man who had (and still has) a knack for finding and nurturing talent – the group issued their eponymous debut album in 1975, which hewed closer to prog rock than the glam pop that would be on future endeavors like On Earth As It Is In Heaven (1977) and Sinful (1979).
Angel released a total of five studio albums and one live album before going their separate ways in 1981. The band officially reformed in 2019 with original members Punky Meadows and Frank DiMino, and released their comeback studio effort, Risen, that October and followed up with Once Upon A Time in 2023.
Angel‘s self-titled 1975 debut was recorded for Casablanca Records with a lineup comprising Frank DiMino (vocals), Punky Meadows (guitar), Gregg Giuffria (keyboards), Mickie Jones (bass) and Barry Brandt (drums). A heavy slab of heavy pomp rock with lengthy songs featuring the longtime stage favorite “Tower”.
Now to celebrate the 50th anniversary, this classic has been remastered and is being released on both a six-panel CD digipak and on 180-gram vinyl in two amazing limited-edition colors with liner notes by journalist Dave Reynolds. There are only 300 of the white-blue splatter and 700 of the black-blue swirl available with a limited number of bundles signed by the four surviving original members Frank DiMino, Punky Meadows, Gregg Giuffria, and Barry Brandt.
Pre-order here.
The current lineup of Angel starts its 50th-anniversary tour in March and it will continue throughout the year. Check out the itinerary below, and get your tickets here.
03/13 – Angel City Music Hall, Manchester, NH
03/14 – The Vault Music Hall, New Bedford, MA
03/15 – The Strand Theater, Hudson Falls, NY
03/19 – The Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA
03/22 – The Wildey Theater, Edwarsdsville, IL
04/19 – The Token Lounge, West Midland, MI
04/22 – The Winchester, Lakewood, OH
04/26 – The Arcada Theater, St. Charles, IL
06/07 – The Whisky, Hollywood, CA
06/08 – Fulton 55, Fresno, CA
06/09 – Vamp’d, Las Vegas, NV
Angel was also known for their androgynous look and dressing all in white, a pure yin-yang contrast to Kiss‘s own all-black clothing and elaborate stage outfits. In 1975, the glam-rockers were signed to the home label for Kiss, Casablanca Records, ultimately releasing six albums (five studio, one live) uninterrupted between 1975-80 that mixed the best elements of glam, hard rock, and pure unadulterated fist-pumping melodic singalongs.
While Angel never quite achieved success as their labelmates Kiss did, they left their mark on in-the-know rock fans of the era with tracks like the hard-driving “Rock & Rollers”, “Tower”, the perennial holiday favorite “The Winter Song”, and their key contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster-starring 1980 teen drama “Foxes”, “20th Century Foxes”.
Angel started to fall apart in the early 1980s after Casablanca pulled the plug on the group due in part to disappointing album sales. In 1981, Robinson and DiMino left to pursue other projects. Meadows and Giuffria tried to keep Angel going and came close to landing a record deal with CBS. But it didn’t pan out, and Angel finally disbanded.
In 2018, Caroline/UMe saluted the core output of Angel with Angel: The Casablanca Years. This ascendant, band-approved seven-CD box set featured the Washington, D.C.-bred glam/rock outfit’s six albums that were released on Neil Bogart‘s legendary Casablanca Records label, in addition to a seventh disc that contains mono mixes, single edits, soundtrack contributions, and other rarities. Angel expert Dave Reynolds contributed insightful liner notes to the box set’s included 28-page booklet, which also featured rare photos and other memorabilia.
