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Jared 
Forum Senior Member 
Joined: May 06 2005 Location: Hereford, UK Status: Offline Points: 20336 |
 Posted: January 27 2009 at 09:17 |
OK people...
I didn't realise that the Godfather of the HP team had already spoken on the issue of Angel's possible submission, but in essence, we'd all agree with David...
 The HP team has, after a considerable amount of deliberation, today, decided against adding Angel to the archives, involving both the Heavy Prog and Crossover teams (who, we are aware, have also turned them down).
That said, although we won't be persuing a case for them to be added to Prog Related, if anyone feels particularly strongly about this issue, then they can make a case out for the importance of their admission into the site, and PM one of the Admin team to that effect. They will let them know of the decision reached, in due course.
As far as HP are concerned, while we concede that while their debut album is certainly Art Rock/ Prog influenced (and a case may be made out for their second); neither albums were uniformly progressive enough to warrant inclusion on its own. Additionally, we felt that their case for inclusion was diluted considerably by their later output and persona.
I hope everyone interested in this thread is able to accept this decision with magnanimity, and I would like to thank everyone for their interest. Edited by Jared - January 27 2009 at 09:52 |
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005 Location: Hereford, UK Status: Offline Points: 20336 |
Posted: January 25 2009 at 09:51 |
hmmm... I think we could be 'seeing' about this group for some time to come...
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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micky
Special Collaborator 
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46838 |
Posted: January 24 2009 at 08:02 |
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just a bump... got their first two albums... and we'll see about this group.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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erik neuteboom
Prog Reviewer 
Joined: July 27 2005 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 7659 |
Posted: January 02 2009 at 07:19 |
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Hello, last year I wrote reviews about the first two Angel albums for another
thread on the forum, perhaps it may help to give an impression of
their unique progressive sound for those who are not familiar with early Angel.
ANGEL - Helluvaband
 - I discovered this band on the radio, I was listening to a rock show with progressive hardrock bands (between 1973 and 1976 my favorite category) and when I heard Angel I was blown away!
- This is Angel their second effort (1976), enjoy their powerful and exciting sound, loaded with biting guitar - and flashy Minimoog solos and topped by great vocals! Musically you can split this album into two sections. First straightforward R&R-inspired songs like Anyway You Want It, Dr. Ice, Pressure Point and Chicken Soup with excellent ‘head-to-tail’ work on guitar and keyboards and powerful vocals. And second a section with songs that sound as very interesting Heavo Prog like The Fortune, one of the most compelling Heavy Prog songs I have ever heard: first a wonderful keyboard intro featuring majestic choir-Mellotron waves, a soaring string-ensemble sound and slow synthesizer flights, then lots of shifting moods, from twanging acoustic guitar with melancholical vocals to bombastic with excellent singing, fiery guitar and an eruption with fat Minimoog flights, what a tension and dynamics! Other strong compositions are Feelings (a sparkling Grand piano intro, then a slow rhythm with a wonderful harmony between vocals, guitar and piano and in the end a howling electric guitar solo) and Mirrors (great propulsive guitar riff, like Led Zep’s Immigrant Song, with outstanding vocals and biting electric guitar). At one moment Angel sounds like a hardrock band, at other moments as very intereting Heavy Prog! ANGEL - Same
 - I had the idea that USA formation Angel their second album Helluvaband was more progressive but today I listened to their eponymous debut LP (1975) and I am delighted this debut album! Keyboard-player Greg Giuffria (who looks like a member of other USA band The New York Dolls) ownes an impressive array of vintage keyboards and he colours almost every of the eights songs very tastefully.
- The album (almost 38 minutes) starts with the hit single Tower (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n07qiAo1lM ), this was my introduction to the sound of Angel and I am still blown away by the huge tension between the mellow parts (with flute- and choir-Mellotron and twanging guitars) and the bombastic pieces (with fat Minimoog flights, fiery electric guitar runs and dynamic drums), topped by Frank Dimino his excellent vocals, what a wide range his voice has! Then my highlight of this album, the long composition Long Time (at about 7 minutes): the intro contains violin – and flute-Mellotron, blended with warm vocals, then a slow rhythm with an omnipresent Mellotron along harpsichord and sensitive electric guitar, halfway interrupted by a powerful break with R&R guitar. Again the vocals lift the song to a higher level! Another wonderful song is the ballad Mariner with warm Grand piano play, emotional vocals, floods of beautiful Mellotron waves and halfway a swinging piano. The other five tracks are rock-oriented but less straightforward than on the second album, I notice more inventive arrangements with exciting vintage keyboards like bombastic Hammond organ, spectacular Minimoog flights and majestic Mellotron waves, especially the final song Angel (Theme) featuring a slow rhythm with all Mellotron sections (flute/violin/choir) and fat synthesizer runs, goose bumps! 
Edited by erik neuteboom - January 02 2009 at 08:02 |
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debrewguy
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 30 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 3596 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 19:22 |
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O.K., I will eat some crow here. Lacking for anything to do, and coming into this thread again, I went and listened to the Amazon MP3 samples.
Here's my view - If we consider a much shorter career arc than Styx or Kansas, there does seem to be some validity in considering Angel. This is based mainly on the first two albums. By the third, they seem to have arrived at the point where Styx was with Pieces of Eight. A harder rock edge, and the once kinda "symphonic" melodies have become radio ballads. There's even a song or two on 'Heaven" that remind me of heavy Uriah Heep or Kansas. I don't think that they belong in Symph. And their turn to the type of arena rock that was emerging in the late 70s is going to play against them big time with many here (Heaven onwards). So, maybe crossover, or prog related at the very least. I'm assuming PA has moved Saga to Crossover. Please note one thing thoughre the compositions - I still didn't find too much that would make me like them. And that may be another obstacle they have to overcome. |
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"Here I am talking to some of the smartest people in the world and I didn't even notice,” Lieutenant Columbo, episode The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case.
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E-Dub
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 24 2006 Location: Elkhorn, WI Status: Offline Points: 7910 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 18:02 |
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I don't know that much about Angel, but remember buying Guiffria's Silk And Steel on cassette back in the 80's.
They had a trivia thing about Greg Guiffria on That Metal Show and apparently he made a fortune inventing (something) and is out of the music business completely. Good to have you aboard, Progster. E |
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AmericanProgster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 28 2008 Location: Manassas, VA Status: Offline Points: 228 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:51 |
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Congrats! You know...now that I think of it.....I've never met a girl who likes prog....sigh...well at least you have someone to share Angel with! Peace-Out!
-AP
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micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46838 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:39 |
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hahahhahah... that is so funny on a couple of levels.
I am married... as of last week.. to the QUEEN prog chef. I met one of our our Special Collaborators....Raffaella (Raff) on this site and after a long and difficult 2 1/2 year LDR. She was finally able to move to the states and become..the ULTIMATE personal chef  |
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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AmericanProgster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 28 2008 Location: Manassas, VA Status: Offline Points: 228 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:32 |
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Hey micky does every special collaborator get a personal chef?
Good deal, man!
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Ivan_Melgar_M
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 27 2004 Location: Peru Status: Offline Points: 19557 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:27 |
Don't need to appologize AP, it's your position, i disagree, but I respect it..
BTW; Kansas is 100% Prog in most of their albums.
Great to have tyou here
Iván
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micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46838 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:26 |
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that I will... and you enjoy the site while you wait hahha.
The Italian cuisine here is divine .... JIm(Finnforest), our executive chef, can dazzle you with all kinds of stuff Edited by micky - January 01 2009 at 17:27 |
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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AmericanProgster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 28 2008 Location: Manassas, VA Status: Offline Points: 228 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:24 |
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Take your time and enjoy the music!
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micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46838 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:23 |
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oh yeah... and I'm sucker for the 'Tron anyway... doesn't make it prog by itself of course... but it goes a long way to making it good hahha.
 Give us some time to eval them and we'll get back to you in this thread.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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AmericanProgster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 28 2008 Location: Manassas, VA Status: Offline Points: 228 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:20 |
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Yeah, I noticed that one!
I love that website! Find some interesting artist who get great reviews using the mellotron!
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micky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 02 2005 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 46838 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:16 |
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as I said earlier... they'll get a fair eval by the AR team. Other sites have the group listed so chances are they will have a place here. Those first couple albums sound interesting... I'm ordering them so we'll eval them when I get them.
I did listen to some samples.. and that was some good stuff. the mellotron site about sh*t over themselves in praise of them. |
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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AmericanProgster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 28 2008 Location: Manassas, VA Status: Offline Points: 228 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:13 |
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I know. But I did make some statements, whether tame or not, that I usually don't unless I'm annoid. In which a lot of the things that come out of my mouth usally mean something different of what I actually believe.!
But Angel's first two and quarter albums are still proggy to me!
 So there.... |
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Windhawk
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: December 28 2006 Location: Norway Status: Offline Points: 11401 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:08 |
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No need to apologize progsterman - as progressive music goes how you view it is very much a personal opinion whether you're a newbie or a nerdy, hardcore progger with thousands of posts on this forum.
Your views aren't inferior to anyone else's; and you're as entitled to your views as anyone else are. In the case of the various collaborators here, they have influence on whether or not a suggested artist may be approved by the team they are in - no more, no less. |
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Websites I work with:
http://www.progressor.net http://www.houseofprog.com My profile on Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/haukevind/ |
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AmericanProgster
Forum Senior Member
Joined: September 28 2008 Location: Manassas, VA Status: Offline Points: 228 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 17:01 |
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Okaayy! all I'm trying to point out, and I appoligize for not making much of anything clear, but along with Queen, Styx, Kansas, and Aviary in which they all took prog added their own touches and threw in some pop, hard rock, or whatever into the mix. That said, in my worthless opinion, there's not much of a difference between say Angel and Styx or Angel and Kansas, in which they all had great prog moments but none of it lasted that long. Yet here we are with these bands which often get critisism for not even being prog!
Ivan you said Styx had at least 3 prog albums, which is a good point, but why does that make them more worthy than a band that may have 2 or even just 1 prog album. I know it can't be because the bulk of Angel's material isn't prog, but neither is Styx's or Queen's! Just those couple of albums. Otherwise the bulk of Styx's, Queen's, Kansas', is just hard rock or mainstreem rock. I'm not denying that these bands had some wonderful prog moments, all I'm saying is that if one band is worthy for PA for those couple of albums or years, then so is Angel.
P.S. I also appologize for calling them symphonic, just me being stupidly and uncharacteristicly over zealous. Ivan I appologize to you for the unnecessary insult, I in no way question your intelligence in the matter of prog, for surely you know more about the subject than I. I am sorry and wish to learn from this awful misjudgement and loss of constraint. I hope to regain your and fellow PA members respect and salvage something from this. Edited by AmericanProgster - January 01 2009 at 17:06 |
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The Rock
Forum Senior Member
Joined: June 30 2005 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 746 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 10:04 |
Thanks for the link.Unfortunately my Italian is crappy,but I was able to catch a bit of it.Some interesting band mentioned here;Mississipi?!?
 Ah well...Here's Jerry Lucky's description of Angel in his book;
''Only the first album had any amount of material that could be called progressive rock.They sprang from the glam-rock era and quickly changed their sound to accomodate the masses.Much of their material is pomp stadium rock,very aggressive,guitar oriented.However there are some longer pieces with well placed mellotron where the band's most prog side comes through.
Angel(75),Helluva Band(76)''
Another band of the same type,only even more progressive, was American Tears.They were the project of Keybordist Mark Mangold who's early CV include proto-prog band Valhalla.American Tears then morphed into Touch. Edited by The Rock - January 01 2009 at 11:46 |
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What's gonna come out of my mouth is gonna come out of my soul."Skip Prokop"
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Windhawk
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator Joined: December 28 2006 Location: Norway Status: Offline Points: 11401 |
Posted: January 01 2009 at 07:40 |
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You have some valid points here Michael. One of my first introductions to US prog was a sampler double LP called "Striktly for Konnoiseurs" issued by Music For Nations here in Europe; with bands such as Angel, Starcastle and Max Webster given the prog/pomp rock tag along with acts such as Legs Diamond, Trillion and Desmond Child & Rouge.
http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/various_artists___genres___pop_and_rock/striktly_for_konnoisseurs/ Interesting sampler, and one I hope will be reissued some day. Sampling vinyl over to digital files works; but a CD version would have been better ;-) |
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Websites I work with:
http://www.progressor.net http://www.houseofprog.com My profile on Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/haukevind/ |
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Angel (US Symphonic/Crossover)
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Atavachron wrote: