When legendary rock band ANGEL released its brand new album last year, a great cry of “Hallelujah!” could be heard from far and wide across the music world. Reuniting the holy trinity of ANGEL, vocalist Frank DiMino, guitarist Punky Meadows and guitarist Danny Farrow, alongside keyboardist Charlie Calv, drummer Billy Orrico and bassist Tommy Caradonna, “Once Upon A Time” brought some of the most melodic and supremely powerful songs the band has ever released, and fans and critics responded with a hearty “Amen!”
Now the band has returned bearing a divine gift for their many devotees, a captivating and stunning new video for the album’s title track. Sporting a title as enormous as its subject matter, “Once Upon A Time An Angel And A Devil Fell In Love”, this melodic epic offers the story of a supernatural love that dared to defy the natural order of the Heavens, told with bold lyrics and even bolder, earth-quaking power chords. Combining performance footage with dramatic, cinematic scenes, this video captures the magic and magnificence that ANGEL have embodied throughout their multi-decade career.
Says Meadows: “‘Once Upon A Time An Angel And A Devil Fell In Love’ is a cautionary tale, an age-old tale. It’s biblical, and it did not end well! Beautifully dark! Visually stunning! It has everything that makes a story wondrous! Love, sex lust, desire, betrayal, murder.”
“Once Upon A Time” track listing:
01. The Torch
02. Black Moon Rising
03. It’s Alright
04. Once Upon A Time An Angel And A Devil Fell In Love (And It Did Not End Well)
05. Let It Rain
06. Psyclone
07. Blood Of My Blood, Bone Of My Bone
08. Turn The Record Over
09. Rock Star
10. Without You
11. Liar Liar
Bonus tracks (CD only):
12. Daddy’s Girl
13. C’mon
14. Let The Kid Out
As previously reported, classic ANGEL bass player Felix Robinson will reunite with Meadows and DiMino for five shows in April. Rounding out the group’s lineup will be current members Danny Farrow on rhythm guitar, Charlie Calv on the keyboards and Billy Orrico on drums. Also, after going through hundreds of submissions, ANGEL hired Tommy “T-Bone” Caradonna (ex-LITA FORD, ALICE COOPER, WHITE LION) to be band’s the new bass player. Tommy will start playing shows with ANGEL in May.
“Unfortunately, we had to let Steve [Ojane] go,” Punky said in a statement. “But so excited to announce our new bass player Tommy Caradonna. Tommy‘s a great bass player, great guy and good-looking kid. So looking forward to hitting the stage and other musical endeavors with Tommy and rockin’ the nation!! Also can’t wait to hit the stage with Felix Robinson again! It’s going to be awesome! ANGEL is going to rock the world in 2024! Time to partay!!”
Frank added: “It’s so great to have Felix back to do these select shows. I know he wanted to play his hometown of St. Louis again and I am glad the three of us, along with the rest of ANGEL, can do it together. As far as our new bass player, it is a very difficult situation finding the right fit for ANGEL, but after going through the full process, Tommy was the one who stood out most. A great player and a welcome addition to ANGEL.”
Farrow said: “As soon as I watched the videos that Tommy sent in and heard his great super-solid bass playing, along with his great stage presence, I knew he was our guy.”
With Felix Robinson on bass:
April 05 – Edwardsville, IL – Wildey Theatre
April 06 – Edwardsville, IL – Wildey Theatre
April 10 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater
April 12 – Rome, NY – Rome Capital Theatre (with Ace Frehley)
April 13 – Carteret, NJ – Carteret Performing Arts Center (with Ace Frehley)
With Tommy “T-Bone” Caradonna:
May 12 – King Of Clubs – Columbus, OH
May 14 – The Vogue – Indianapolis, IN
May 16 – Shank Hall – Milwaukee, WI
May 17 – The Back Bar – Janesville WI
May 18 – Arcada – Chicago IL
May 19 – The Token Lounge – Westland, MI
May 21 – The Winchester Music Tavern – Lakewood, OH
July 12-13 – Tokyo, Japan – Daikanyama Unit
July 14 – Nagoya, Japan – Ose ell Fitsall
July 15 – Osaka, Japan – Osaka amHall
Released last April via Cleopatra Records, “Once Upon A Time” featured 11 brand new songs, plus three bonus tracks on the CD version, all written by Meadows, DiMino and Farrow.
ANGEL was discovered in a nightclub by none other than Gene Simmons of KISS, a man who had (and still has) a knack for finding and nurturing talent. ANGEL was also known for their androgynous look and dressing all in white, a pure yin-yang contrast to KISS‘s own all-black clothing and elaborate stage outfits. In 1975, the glam-rockers were signed to the home label for KISS, Casablanca Records, ultimately releasing six albums (five studio, one live) uninterrupted between 1975-80 that mixed the best elements of glam, hard rock, and pure unadulterated fist-pumping melodic singalongs.
While ANGEL never quite achieved success as their labelmates KISS did, they left their mark on in-the-know rock fans of the era with tracks like the hard-driving “Rock & Rollers”, “Tower”, the perennial holiday favorite “The Winter Song”, and their key contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster-starring 1980 teen drama “Foxes”, “20th Century Foxes”. The lineup for their self-titled 1975 debut, “Angel”, consisted of guitarist Punky Meadows, bassist Mickie Jones, vocalist Frank DiMino, keyboardist Gregg Giuffria, and drummer Barry Brandt. This lineup recorded two more albums, 1976’s “Helluva Band” and 1977’s “On Earth As It Is In Heaven”, after which Jones would be replaced on bass by Felix Robinson. Two more solid studio efforts, 1978’s “White Hot” and 1979’s “Sinful”, ensued before the release of a stellar live set, 1980’s “Live Without A Net”.
ANGEL started to fall apart in the early 1980s after Casablanca pulled the plug on the group due in part to disappointing album sales. In 1981, Robinson and DiMino left to pursue other projects. Meadows and Giuffria tried to keep ANGEL going and came close to landing a record deal with CBS. But it didn’t pan out, and ANGEL finally disbanded.
In 2018, Caroline/UMe saluted the core output of ANGEL with “Angel: The Casablanca Years”. This ascendant, band-approved seven-CD box set featured the Washington, D.C.-bred glam/rock outfit’s six albums that were released on Neil Bogart‘s legendary Casablanca Records label, in addition to a seventh disc that contains mono mixes, single edits, soundtrack contributions, and other rarities. ANGEL expert Dave Reynolds contributed insightful liner notes to the box set’s included 28-page booklet, which also featured rare photos and other memorabilia.