I found these a while back, and they got filed and eventually ended up at the bottom of the pile and the pile just kept getting bigger. I decided maybe I should shuffle things a little and see what's in there. Well, boy howdy I here are the first two albums by Angel. Their debut and their follow-up
Helluva Band in 1976. I remember finding these and being kind of stoked to hear them. I recognized Greg Giuffria's name from "Call to the Heart" back in'84. A song that was out of the Journey playbook, but I always liked it. So there. The Angel albums were on Casablanca, the label KISS was on ... for me this was the label of the gods. Except that the label would become profitable when they moved into disco and unleashed The Village People like a virus on the people of the world. The Angel albums came out back in '75 and '76 and as you may have guessed, these records while really really cool - didn't exactly make the band a household name. Shit, even the wiki page for Casablanca doesn't even list the band under the notable acts signed to the label, but somehow Lindsay Lohan gets a mention.
Sigh.
I honestly didn't really know what to expect, but right out of the gate the album over delivered with the opening track "Tower" that was heavy on keyboard, big on guitars, and featured the soaring vocals of Frank DiMino, whose voice seemed like a blend of Rik Emmet and Geddy Lee, which isn't exactly right, but I'm trying to give a sense of how he sounded. Just saying he had a killer sense of pipes doesn't quite cut it. The band was firmly in the hard rock side of things, but were employing elements of prog that leaned more to the pop side of things that accentuated the songs rather than go off on long meandering tangents. The songs were grandiose and boy they sound good loud. Of course, if you're not into the big loud excess of the mid '70s this album will be about as pleasant as getting bamboo shoots shoved under your fingernails.
The guys wore white satin suits and looked like a glam band, and I guess with their musical chops and penchant for going over the top they certainly made it seem like they were part of the genre, but this was just rock and roll ... then again, I'm not great at identifying genres so take whatever I say with a grain or three of salt.
Helluva Band picks up right where their debut left off, and the band was still comprised of
- Greg Giuffia on keys
- Barry Brandt on drums
- Frank DiMino on vocals
- Punky Meadows on guitar
- Mickey Jones of bass
Keeping with the same production team of Derek Lawrence and Big Jim Sullivan Helluva Band didn't mess the formula and the songs were all pretty good. Now, I'm not going to gush and say this is the best stuff I've ever heard. However, it does grow on you too. I guess so many bands vying for attention having yet another band mining the same musical vein and not really doing anything overly original (some could argue it was generic and highly derivative) it was a hard sell, and not everyone was buying. Of course listening now with fresh ears you can tell there was something special about the musicianship. Greg was a top tier keyboard player, and Punky Meadows was no slouch on guitar. Maybe he didn't qualify for guitar hero status as his playing tended to service the songs, but his solo work was tasty but not overly flashy.
I really enjoyed these albums, and while I'll admit that this era of '70s rock wasn't quite my jam there was more than enough here to bear repeated plays. I will say that of the two albums I was partial to the debut. Angel would drop an album a year until 1979, and then a live album in 1980 before the band ended their initial run.
It was fun having these on vinyl, and it's too bad my copy of
Helluva Band was a little more well loved than I like (a couple of songs on side two sounded particularly crackly), but it happens. Still, if you're curious the box set
Angel: The Casablanca years (2018) is out there to be streamed.
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