Helluva Band

Angel were going for gold here. It was the quintet’s second album for Casablanca (home to Kiss, Cher, and Donna Summer), and they figured they should’ve been huge by now. So they donned angelic white suits of the spandex variety, doubled up on the ’70s arena-rock mannerisms and androgyny, and penned heavy stabs for FM radio play, such as “Anyway You Want It” and “Feelin’ Right.” Their reach-for-the-sky prog-rock gestures indicated adoration for bands such as Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (it’s hard to escape the near-nine-minute epic “The Fortune”), and what comes across shows a young band still finding their way. And that’s what makes this album great. Yes and ELP, or even Deep Purple, could never write driving rock ’n’ roll like “Pressure Point” and “Dr. Ice,” and Angel outdid anyone on the power-ballad score with “Feelings.” Despite the lady coifs and angelic fringe, they weren't a confused bunch—they were a band whose audience had yet to find them.