Punky Meadows - guitar; Frank DiMino - vocals; Gregg Giuffria - keyboards; Felix Robinson - bass; Barry Brandt - drums
This show, by Angel, was recorded in 1976 for the King Biscuit Flower Hour while the band was promoting its second LP, Helluva Band. Angel innovated a hard-rock sound that, with a healthy dose of androgyny, found a niche in between 70s hard prog rock and 80s hair metal. The group had released its debut LP, Angel, the year prior on Neil Bogart's Casablanca Records.
The band was financed by the mega-millions that Casablanca made on Kiss (in its early make-up years) and band members were presented in matching white outfits, an 'angelic' contrast to the hellish hues of Kiss's stage get-ups.
The group was also caught in the popular glam movement (that Bowie, T-Rex, and The New York Dolls spearheaded) and the emerging heavy metal scene that grew out of bands such as Kiss and Deep Purple. Angel's biggest problem was they appeared to be a band with no real musical soul and one that was considerably derivative of other popular artists.
During their most popular period—1975 to 1977—they never scored any real big radio hits and had limited commercial success as a live act (due to their Spinal Tap-like gimmicky stage sets). In fact, the band was so widely attacked by critics and industry insiders that Frank Zappa supposedly wrote his hysterical song, "Punky's Whips" about guitarist Punky Meadows.
By the '80s the members had all drifted to other projects. Keyboardist Giuffria arguably had the most success, signing onto Gene Simmons' label and forming Giuffria, which later morphed into the House of Lords. Giuffria was not present when the rest of the band reunited in 1987.
More recently, DiMino revived the band name, and continues to tour and record without the other members.