Angel looked and sounded great on ‘Angel’ and ‘Helluva Band’, but that soon started to change with ‘On Earth Earth As It Is In Heaven’.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Angel
ALBUM: On Earth As It Is In Heaven
LABEL: Casablanca
SERIAL: NB 7011
YEAR: 1977
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Frank DiMino – vocals * Punky Meadows – guitars * Gregg Giufrria – keyboards * Mickey Jones – bass * Barry Brandt – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Telephone Exchange * 02 She’s A Mover * 03 You’re Not Fooling Me * 04 That Magic Touch * 05 Big Boy (Lets Do It Again) * 06 On The Rocks * 07 Can You Feel It * 08 Cast The First Stone * 09 White Lightning * 10 Just A Dream
WEBLINKS: Wikipedia Page
Background
With one of the coolest rock logos ever, Angel by the time this record came out were already a cult band and seemingly on their way to the top. The previous two albums played the progressive rock side of the coin. Sort of a pretty version of Uriah Heep, having nothing to do with KISS who they were normally associated with due to their taste in platform shoes, silk and satin finery and overblown stage shows as well as sharing the same label.
They were anti-KISS really, but like the kabuki foursome, Angel had a taste for merchandising themselves on the usual 70’s essentials, necklaces and posters and included an order form in every LP. They looked and sounded great on ‘Angel’ and ‘Helluva Band’, but that soon started to change with ‘On Earth Earth As It Is In Heaven’.
The Songs
Perhaps with the right production this album would have been different? The sound is lifeless and muddy, but it’s the songs that matter and in the end they just don’t cut it. ‘Can You Feel It’ is certainly classic Angel, but ‘Big Boy (Lets Do It Again)’? What was that? Unfortunately, we didn’t have ‘skip’ buttons back in the day, but this is definitely one of the worse songs Angel ever recorded and one that should be avoided if you ever land a copy of the now out of print CD version.
‘Telephone Exchange’, like the albums single ‘That Magic Touch’ is a blatant attempt at cracking the pop charts and not a very good one at that. ‘White Lightning’ and ‘Cast the First Stone’ are passable, but this is a band who listened to far too many accountants and not enough to themselves and the poor musical direction they had by now taken.
In Summary
Following a large arena tour with Rush, Angel would become a full fledged headliner with a legendary stage show, with a talking Angel head included. It was these concerts that helped sell records giving them their reputation and ‘On Earth As It Is In Heaven’ sold relatively well.
Considering this was the pre-Van Halen debut era, there was very little of this type of music available so it shouldn’t be a surprise, yet for the more discerning rock fans of the day myself included, the album was a major let down although I still have that poster of the album cover!
Video
Telephone Exchange
White Lightning
