Vocalist
Chris Thompson
's last album as a full-time member of
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
is dressed up in
Mann
's beautiful keyboards.
Angel Station
has some key moments -- "You Angel You," a
Bob Dylan
tune that sounds nothing like
Dylan
, and not the way their Top Ten version of "Quinn the Eskimo"/"The Mighty Quinn" was reinvented. "You Angel You" has a strong hook with top-notch
Anthony Moore
production work, and it melts into the title track of
Harriet Schock
's landmark
Hollywood Town
album, the source of
Helen Reddy
's "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady." The
Manfred Mann
version is interesting, and explores the possibilities of the composition, though
Schock
's version is perfect country-pop and hard to top. It is nice to see a rock band with such good taste. "Angelz at My Gate," co-written by
, leads off side two and is another dreamy "angel" tune. It sounds mysteriously like "Games Without Frontiers," the
Peter Gabriel
radio hit from his 1980 third self-titled solo album. Now since this was released the year before, do you think
Gabriel
found inspiration from the grooves of
? While artists like
Gary Wright
and
Jordan Rudess
overwhelm you with the keyboards,
's are indeed the lead instrument, but he uses them to augment the vocals, not to overpower. The
John Shaw
-photographed album cover looks innocent enough until you turn it upside down -- there a female dark angel, in open black cape, exposes her breasts. So blatant, but upside down it probably went right by many retailers, and with no hit single, it probably didn't cause too much of a stir. It's interesting that, like
,
the Earth Band
recorded for
Warner Bros.
, yet both acts only eked out a couple of hit singles. As with
Wright
's
Headin' Home
LP, this 1979 album has more than its share of good material, both keyboard players being intuitive artists with credentials and past chart success. Despite good performances on
Heron
's "Don't Kill It Carol" and a simply wonderful cover of
Billy Falcon
's 1978 release "Waiting for the Rain," this is yet another album that deserved a better fate. The rendition of the
Falcon
tune may be the best performance of one of that singer's compositions ever. The two
songs on side two are excellent: "You Are - I Am" is good and pleasant while "Resurrection" has lyrics that display clever sarcasm and religious -- or sacrilegious -- overtones.
is well-crafted music by an industry veteran. ~ Joe Viglione