Let's talk about.......ANGEL.....

singatnight · #1 07-10-2009, 08:16 AM

Round Two: Let's talk about ANGEL

I'm so glad round one with SARA was a success! Thank you everyone who shared!!!! It was great to read your comments and interpretations.

ANGEL:

I absolutely LOVE the words to this song:
charmed hour, haunted song, no great pretender,I still look up, i become that part of the wind...
My favorite line is , "that girl was me....."

In her book, Carol Ann (if we can believe anything from her) said Angel was all about Mick.....Mick, again? really?? I'm so not a fan of the Stevie/Mick affair.
I like to think it's all about Lindsey.....but, of course

I LOVE the footage of the TUSK tour with Stevie & Lindsey singing ANGEL. Unfortunately I was born in 1980...so I never saw it live!!

Ok, your turn.....

IKV Nexis · #2 07-10-2009, 09:05 AM

Angel is one of those great songs they don't play often or at all! One thing about it is I had miss heard a lyric. The funny thing is that what I heard acctualy made sence if you knew what the word is.
The original

Like a ghost through a fog
Like a charmed hour
And a haunted song

I heard

Like a ghost through a fog
Like a charmed BOWER
And a haunted song

Now for those who don't know. A bower is a place (usualy a clearing or circle) in the forest that is accociated with magick and the Fay Realms. So I though..Hay nice old reference and always heard that untill I saw the lyrics. Too bad I liked mine better.

hippilil86 · #3 07-10-2009, 09:23 AM

"In her book, Carol Ann (if we can believe anything from her) said Angel was all about Mick.....Mick, again? really?? I'm so not a fan of the Stevie/Mick affair.
I like to think it's all about Lindsey.....but, of course

"

I don't really believe it's about Mick either. I love how Lindsey and Stevie work on this in the Tusk doc. The way they look at each other in the scene with the piano is pretty cute.

-Lily

Dodfather · #4 07-10-2009, 09:28 AM

I love this song!! It took me a while to get into it but suddenly it dawned on me just how great it is!

Stylistically, it's very unusual for Stevie. I know she says that Angel was her attempt to write a straighforward rock/new wave song and so it's great to hear her experimenting so much.

The bass at the start of this song is just fantastic - well done McVie!

I've recently started to listen to live versions of this track a lot. Her vocal is just fantastic. I kinda wish that what is on Tusk was more like that, but then again for the fans who have seen this live (sadly I'm not one of them) it must have been fantastic to hear such an amped-up version of the song.

FMlex · #5 07-10-2009, 10:30 AM

Love this song!

I actually just got a glass pendant with "Like a charmed hour and a haunted song..." put on it! It's really cool.

I can't think that "Angel" is about Stevie/Mick. But I, too, always look at things Stevie/Lindsey.

I'm hopeless, I know!

I love the concert footage of "Angel" in the Tusk documentary.
Whenever Lindsey comes over to join Stevie, she's smiling the whole time and just looks so happy/cute!
And then he puts his hand on her waist, her back, her head... love it!!

Oh and who could forget Stevie's little dancing jig at the end? Haha.

petep9000 · #6 07-10-2009, 11:12 AM

I love the clip of 'Angel' from the US Festival (solo Stevie). Waddy is rockin

David · #7 07-10-2009, 11:55 AM

Angel has probably always been one of my favorites, too. It's certainly my favorite Nicks track on that album. The playing is so clean, so smooth. The track is mixed so perfectly to my ears. It's essentially a rhythm section riff, repeated to the fade, punctuated with these jagged guitar riffs that are artfully placed -- they add just the right amount of dynamics. It's Lindsey's specialty as a studio guitarist & he took that style to the stage too. Unfortunately, he doesn't do that these days: he assaults with sonic sludge. If the band were to perform Angel these days, the aural effect would be completely different from what I'm used to, & I doubt I'd like it anywhere near as much.

Angel is also one of the memorable Fleetwood Mac tracks in which a single instrument model & make gives the entire track its character. Here, it's the Yamaha CP30. Had another electromechanical or electronic piano been used, the ambience & the whole character of the song would have been vastly different. As an example, take the way the Nicks solo band played it onstage in the early years: it was transformed into an E Street Band celebratory number, thanks to the Bittan piano & the Tench B3, not to mention the way Kunkel kicked up the rhythm arrangement.

petep9000 · #8 07-10-2009, 01:19 PM

When I see the stage clip from the tour doc, the way Christine opens the song reminds me of that song 'Joy to the world' (remember, the one about Jeremiah the bullfrog). Same keyboard David?

equeen102289 · #9 07-10-2009, 02:32 PM

Angel is another favorite of mine. I think it would have been a huge hit if released as a single. It's a lot more radio-friendly than Sisters of the Moon.

When I first bought Tusk, Angel didn't stand out to me. It wasn't until I saw the Tusk documentary that I fell in love with the song. The filmed version of Angel is my favorite live performance of Stevie's next to Rosebud Rhiannon.

David · #10 07-10-2009, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by equeen102289

When I first bought Tusk, Angel didn't stand out to me. It wasn't until I saw the Tusk documentary that I fell in love with the song. The filmed version of Angel is my favorite live performance of Stevie's next to Rosebud Rhiannon.

Here's the audio performance from the same show but from the soundboard, so crowd noise is minimized.

www.sendspace.com/file/wk1w7d

Sanne2 · #11 07-10-2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by equeen102289

I think it would have been a huge hit if released as a single. It's a lot more radio-friendly than Sisters of the Moon.

It was released as a single:

But probably not in the US? I think this one is from Holland.

Lala · #12 07-10-2009, 08:15 PM

I heard and fell in love with this song long before I owned a single Fleetwood Mac album. Probably one of the 10 or so songs I randomly downloaded when I was first getting into the band.

The lines I love the most...

"You feel good/I said it's funny that you understood/I knew you would/When you were good...you were very, very good"

"I still look up...when you walk in the room"

And nothing and no one will convince me that this song is about anything BUT Lindsey. Those two lines are all the proof I need.

Plus...the song is called ANGEL...wasn't that his nickname for her or something?

njova · #13 07-10-2009, 08:29 PM

I think this song is 100% about Lindsey and I think angel was their nickname for each other I mean didn't Lindsey have a song called Goodbye Angel which I think is about Stevie.

strandinthewind · #14 07-10-2009, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lala

I heard and fell in love with this song long before I owned a single Fleetwood Mac album. Probably one of the 10 or so songs I randomly downloaded when I was first getting into the band.

The lines I love the most...

"You feel good/I said it's funny that you understood/I knew you would/When you were good...you were very, very good"

"I still look up...when you walk in the room"

And nothing and no one will convince me that this song is about anything BUT Lindsey. Those two lines are all the proof I need.

Plus...the song is called ANGEL...wasn't that his nickname for her or something?

I agree. It totally is about LB.

Note - I also think the "close my eyes softly til I become that part of the wind that all long for sometimes" is from her Rhiannon stuff and she made it fit into this song. Maybe referring to how she dealt with the hurt feelings, etc.

thatgirlwasme · #15 07-10-2009, 08:58 PM

Yeah Angel!!! I love this song!

I agree that it has more of a Lindsey vibe than a Mick vibe. I think the lines "I still look up when you walk in the room/I've the same wide eyes, now they tell a story/I try not to reach out when you turn around and say hello/We both pretend, but your no pretender" are some of the most brilliant she has ever written.

What can I say, "that girl was me"

A