Customer Reviews

On Earth as It Is in Heaven/White Hot

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Finally we see a second Angel reissue set from BGO Records, who brought us the excellent Angel/Helluva Band set back in 2006. This time around, we get the band's 1977 album On Earth As It Is In Heaven and 1978's White Hot. I'm going to assume anyone checking out this reissue is familiar with the band's sound, so I'll get straight to whether or not the reissue is worth buying.

I already had the Lovember reissue of On Earth As It Is In Heaven (Limited Edition Remaster), and White Hot has been available in discount bins forever. Still, I really liked the Angel/Helluva Band set, and wanted a remastered version of White Hot, so I had to pick this up. The first thing I noticed was that unlike the previous Angel BGO set, both albums are collected on a single disc. It's not a huge deal, but I would have preferred to have each album on its own CD. Other than that, this is a very good reissue. The liner notes are detailed, the slipcase is nice, and the remastered audio is impressive. I compared this to the Lovember reissue of On Earth and the sound quality seems about equal. I'm not an audiophile type though, so it's possible I'm missing something.

I'm not a fan of re-buying albums, but in this case I think it was totally worthwhile. If you're an Angel fan, these BGO reissues are the way to go.

PS - I know Sinful (Spkg) has been reissued, but it would still be cool to have a Sinful/Live Without a Net set just so BGO could complete the Angel reissue discography.

WARNING - the remastering job is so poor on these albums it is better to find the original CDs. Whoever remastered these albums must have lost their ability to hear highs and lows. Also, it sounds like the files were ripped into the mastering software. They took what was an OK 1970s mix and made it into a sludge pile on the bottom end and then turned the treble into brittle highs. There is also a slight out-of-phase artifact which is likely due to the process of importing the sounds files for remastering. This is really an amateurish mastering job - it doesn't sound like each song was remastered but that the engineer set the dials and let fly for both albums. I A/B'd these against the original pressings - not only is the sound clearer on the original pressings there is not much difference in overall volume. You would expect that a remastering job would at least improve the overall volume but not on this release. This disc is a waste of money and should only be purchased if you can't find the original pressings. BUYER BEWARE!

Why didn't I heard about this band?Back in the seventies listened STYX,KANSAS,SUPERTRAMP and the likes,but I never heard about ANGEL. Thanks for these reissues I accidentally stumbled on them.What a treat.All 4 albums are great and if you like seventies music,you must buy ANGEL. they A RE FANTASTIC.

Anyone who's into classic rock should really like this. Angel never really gained commercial success, but their music was awesome. It really bridges the gap between progressive 70's rock and glam 80's rock in a wonderful way. I would definitely recommend it.

I used to date a guy when I was about 16 or 17 that had the biggest music collection I'd ever seen! This was one of the old classics he turned me on to. I've wanted it since then, but wasn't able to find it anywhere! Thanks to Amazon, I found it finally and have listened to it numerous times. Thank You so much! The Seller would be someone I would buy from again in the future.

These are Angel's third and fourth albums, remastered on a single CD. Musically, they marked a major shift from the progressive style on Angel's first two releases to a more commercial glam rock sound. The first two Angel albums (Angel and Helluva Band, also available on BGO Records) were notable for their longer tracks, swords-and-sorcery flavored lyrics, and keyboard-oriented arrangements. However, in the wake of disappointing album sales, the record label pressured them to come up with more accessible material. This they did, and sales improved, but the music was less innovative. On Earth does feature a couple of progressive tracks, but by the time of White Hot, the band was following trends rather than setting them.