Angel City: Please comment if you remember

Angel City was an Australian hard rock band (known as The Angels in Australia) with a semi-alternative vibe that put out albums on Elektra (I think but definitely a major label) and toured the US alot from about '79 to '82. I saw them at a sold-out show at the Paramount Theater in Portland, OR and they also opened for the Kinks on at least one arena tour when that band was still able to play big halls.

Their "Hits" you might remember are (Take Me Away to) Marseille, Night Attack, Take a Long Line, Fashion and Fame and maybe a few others. My high school buddies and I were big fans and KGON, the local rock radio station in Portland, played them in heavy rotation. However, they never made the transition to MTV and seemed to drop off the face of the earth.

Reading about them on the web, it looks like they continued to record and tour sporadically in Australia in the years since but never again made an impact on these shores.

Some friends and I were recently talking about the mystery of this band, why they were so popular and then not only disappeared but seem to be completely forgotten, never to be resurrected on classic rock radio. One buddy has a theory that they never really made it in the US but broke through regionally, the NW being one of the regions.

Does anyone else remember this band? Do you concur with the "regional" theory and if so, where else did they make an impact?

Yes, I certainly remember Angel City. Several tracks from their album *Face to Face*, particularly "Take a Long Line" and "Marseilles," received pretty substantial airplay on rock stations in Colorado. I had the pleasure of seeing them in 1980; they gave an awesome show.

There probably is something to the regional theory. I moved to Alabama at the end of 1980, and found that a lot of cool artists I'd heard and seen in Colorado the year before -- artists that seemed to be fairly well-known there, from my perspective -- were simply unheard of in the South.

I vaguely remember them getting a little airplay on the midnight new wave shows on St. Louis area college stations, but nothing major. "Face to Face" was a fairly common sight in 99 cent bins in the Lou circa 1981 alongside albums by the Sherbs.

In one form or another they continue to this day. There has been a split of sorts and singer Doc Neeson fronts a band and the remaining members front a band, both doing Angels songs.

There were a shitload of Australian bands in the 1980s that had a crack in the US, failed and continued as a small fish in a big pond for several years.

I recall that The Kinks were fearful of getting blown off stage and that the amount of space on stage and the amount of front of house grunt was reduced with each show.

The two albums from their peak in the 80s apart from Face to Face are No Exit and No Secrets, also worth a listen.

they got some airplay in the midwest and i even remember a couple minneapolis bands (the regime and rifle sport) covering em live.

By the way: They were on Epic, not Elektra.

I really liked the 1980 album Darkroom, especially Devil's Gate and Night Comes Early.

That's right!
My apologies, No Secrets is the SINGLE on the ALBUM Darkroom.

Historical fact - When they initially started out, it was as a jug and string band.

The Angels were just one example of a musical act that had to change its name before getting a shot at breaking big in the U.S. In their case, it was because of a previous musical group called The Angels (of "My Boyfriend's Back" fame).

Icehouse was another good example. That band had been known as Flowers in their native Australia. Rumor has it that the band changed its name at the behest of an American ventriloquist whose last name was Flowers. Has anyone else heard this?

You mean Wayland Flowers and Madame???? I've never heard that, but it's hilarious if it's true - I knew they'd had to change their name, but never heard that explanation. Good lord, how humiliating, to be bullied into changing your name by Wayland Flowers.

That first Icehouse album was great. Then they pretty much wussed out, but as far as 80's top 40 went, "No Promises" was pretty good and "Electric Blue" was all right.

Yeah ... Ironically, if Icehouse had stuck around a bit longer, they might soon have been bullied into changing their name by the Miller Brewing Company (which introduced a beer by that name in the early '90s). Of course, the band had the name first, but Miller's got deeper pockets.

Which would suck worse -- to be steamrolled by one of the most irritating, ridiculous showbiz figures alive, or by the makers of some of the world's most undrinkable beer?

I concur with Reno: the first Icehouse album is excellent, but after that, they became just a singles band at best. (I think that coincided with singer Iva Davies ditching most of the original band; from then on, Icehouse consisted of Davies plus whoever was playing behind him.)

And Baker is right: the original Angels do deserve dibs on the name.

Hmmmmm ... I think it's going to thread, in just a second.



Post Edited (07-28-05 13:41)

I've never forgotten... I've been listening to the music from my youth pretty much consistently... while trying to keep up with newer music as well.

the original angels had Peggy Santiglia whose niece, Cynthia, is in the fine NJ garagsters, high school sweethearts. The orig angels deserve dibs on the name...


and re madame

[www.jumptheshark.com]

were the original angels still playing in the late 70s? i think it was actually that fruitpie casablanca band angel who forced em into angel city...



Post Edited (07-28-05 15:41)

Delvin

The Angels from Australia change their to avoid confuse with USA band Angel.

Listen to The Angels - Doc Neeson interviewed by Ian 'Molly' Meldrum (1980
[www.youtube.com]

Doc Neeson says ANGEL not ANGELS to avoid confuse. The first USA ANGELS was was R&B 1954-1958 Marv Goldberg inteview with Nelson Martin [www.uncamarvy.com]

The The Angels originally known as The Starlets in 1960. USA all girl 60's group had problems with name to in USA.

The group left Smash a dispute over the ownership of the name "The Angels." in 1964. The group were signed with Congress Records as The Halos. [en.wikipedia.org]

I find the same information Rock & Pop Encyclopedia.

Their also known as:-

The Power Puffs
The Beach Nuts
The Halos
The Baby Dolls
Pin-Ups
Patti Lace and the Petticoats, etc
[www.soulfulkindamusic.net]



Even Chuck Berry on his Australian tour said USA Angels albums were deleted from international market.

The Angels did not steal name from USA Angels, that's wrong information. John, Rick, Doc stumble across the name THE ANGELS their love name in 1974 and the rest is history.



Post Edited (10-15-10 06:06)

The Angels had a major impact on acts like :-

Great White (USA) live album Stage featured "Face the Day" and "I Can't Shake It".

Guns N' Roses (USA) recorded "Marseilles", it was issued on a Bootleg album Ultra Rare Tracks III.

Grinspoon (Australian) recorded "Take A Long Line" for the movie "Sample People" Soundtrack.

The Melvins (Australian) recorded “I Can't Shake It”.

Leanne Kingwell (Australian) recorded "Be With You".

L.A. Guns (USA) recorded “Marseilles”.

Dust Rhinos (Canadian) recorded “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face”.

Andy Scott & The Sweet UK) recorded “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face”.

Hmmm...major influence on Great White & L.A. Guns? If there's a more textbook example of damning with faint praise I'm hard pressed to think of it.

Though I guess the exact same thing could be said about Mott the Hoople, so I'll shut up now.

I was really into this band and still like the early records... they caught on a bit in Boston. I first heard them on college radio here and then "No Secrets" was a minor FM hit. Great live show. I saw them three times...

also... the US pressing of Face To Face was a merger of two Aussie albums. Epic and the other CBS affiliates used to do that a lot back then--they merged two Tourists albums into one and did the same to the first two OMD albums (on Virgin/Epic)...



Post Edited (07-28-05 18:53)

Its strange to remember things you thought you never would remember. For instance, this thread on Angel City brought me back to high school...There were a couple of guys I knew that were really into this band. Turning everyone on to their music at parties and stuff. Like they had found the holy grail or something...back when it was Queen, the Nuge and Billy Squire, maybe they had?



Post Edited (07-29-05 01:11)

yeah Mr Al me too, it's just that I don't own any Angel City, so it was kinda strange and surprisingly cool that this thread brought that experience back to me. After this I'm going to hit yard sales and fleas to pick up a bunch of other albums to see what else is stored in my head.

If you guys still remember Angel City or The Angels as they are known downunder are about to tour Oct/Nov 2010 playing the whole 1980 Darkroom record featuring No Secrets, Face the Day plus Marseilles and Take a Long Line from Face to Face.

You may be intersted to know Angel City release many platitium CD's in Australia in the late 1980's and 1990's during a real resurgence of popularity down under.

They are still very popular with many of their songs on FM radio to this day in Australia. A band that for what ever reason never made it mainstream outside Australia. A crying shame if you ask any hard rock fan who knows this band. A case of wrong place wrong time perhaps?

To learn more visit www.theangels.com.au



Alexander

my favorite angels/angel city song:

[www.youtube.com]

Great news for fans Down Under. Will keep an eye out for stateside dates. It'd be a pleasure to see this band again.