Angel (Kirsty MacColl song)

Last updated
"Angel"
Kirsty MacColl Angel 1993 single cover.jpg
Single by Kirsty MacColl
from the album Titanic Days
B-side "Angel (Jay's Edit)"
ReleasedDecember 1993 [1]
Length3:40
Label ZTT
Songwriter(s) Kirsty MacColl
Producer(s) Steve Lillywhite
Gregg Jackman
Kirsty MacColl singles chronology
"All I Ever Wanted"
(1991)		"Angel"
(1993)		"Can't Stop Killing You"
(1993)

"Angel" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released in 1993 as the lead single from her fourth studio album Titanic Days . It was written by MacColl and produced by Steve Lillywhite. For its release as a single, "Angel" was remixed with additional production by Gregg Jackman. [2] The song reached number 87 in the UK Singles Chart and number 26 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. [3] [4]

Contents

Background

Speaking to Melinda Newman of Billboard , MacColl said of the song: "It's a euphoric song. It's kind of a feeling of being protected. It makes me feel better when I hear that one." [5] The artwork on the single's sleeve is from the 1989 painting "Guardian Angel" by Holly Johnson. [6]

Critical reception

On its release, Music & Media commented, "The holiday season will last a little longer with this folk song in a Christmas atmosphere. Traditional instruments and the modern rhythm track are living in perfect harmony." [7] Andrew Hirst of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner picked "Angel" as the newspaper's "single of the week" and praised it as a "Kirsty is one of Britain's top songstresses with the voice to match. Starts with mournful bagpipes and then gets better and better. Sincere, sensitive, honest – in short, first-rate." [8]

In a review of Titanic Days, Peter Holmes of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote: "By track 3 MacColl has hit her stride. "Angel", with its gentle hip hop rhythm and floating vocal, sounds as if it were written for her by Single Gun Theory, no small compliment." [9] Dave Hall of the Tampa Bay Times noted: "The songs themselves are exceptional. "Angel" soars amid a hypnotic dance tempo". [10]

Ira Robbins of Trouser Press commented: "The evanescent "Angel" has a bustling club beat and pizzicato violin plucks." [11] Gary Graff, in his book MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide noted the song's "mutant dub/hip-hop beat supporting MacColl's ethereal vocals". [12] Billboard picked the song as one of the album's "high points". [13] In 2005, Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork wrote: "Songs like "Soho Square" and "Angel" are shot through with a anticipation for something enormous and life-changing, whether good or bad." [14]

Track listing

7" single
  1. "Angel" - 3:40
  2. "Angel" (Jay's Edit) - 3:52
12" single
  1. "Angel" - 3:40
  2. "Angel" (Apollo 440 Remix) - 8:08
  3. "Angel" (Jay's Edit) - 3:52
  4. "Angel" (Stuart Crichton Remix) - 5:33
CD single
  1. "Angel" - 3:40
  2. "Angel" (Jay's Edit) - 3:52
  3. "Angel" (Apollo 440 Remix) - 8:08
  4. "Angel" (Stuart Crichton Remix) - 6:24
  5. "Angel" (Into The Light Mix) - 5:33

Personnel

Production

Other

Charts

Chart (1994)Peak
position
UK Singles Chart [3] 87
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks [4] 26

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References

  1. ↑ "Angel". Kirsty MacColl. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  2. ↑ MacColl (1993-10-05). "Titanic Days - Kirsty MacColl | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  3. 1 2 "Hit Singles 2" (PDF). Hit Music!. No. 64. 18 December 1993. p. 4. Retrieved 23 February 2023– via World Radio History.
  4. 1 2 Billboard. "Kirsty MacColl Angel Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  5. ↑ Newman, Melinda (11 December 1993). "Kirsty MacColl follows her 'Titanic Days' with (relatively) blissful nights of touring". Billboard.
  6. ↑ "Kirsty MacColl - Angel / Angel (Jay's Edit) - ZTT - UK - ZANG46". 45cat. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  7. ↑ "New releases: Singles". Music & Media. 8 January 1994.
  8. ↑ Hirst, Andrew (11 December 1993). "Beyond the Beat: Single of the Week". Huddersfield Daily Examiner . p. 3.
  9. ↑ Holmes, Peter (3 January 1994). "Time to wake-e up-e boys-e". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. ↑ Hall, Dave (5 November 1993). "Songwriter no longer a ghost". Tampa Bay Times.
  11. ↑ Robbins, Ira A. (1997). The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock: The All-new Fifth Edition of The ... - Ira A. Robbins - Google Books. ISBN   9780684814377 . Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  12. ↑ Graff, Gary (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide - Google Books. ISBN   9780787610371 . Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  13. ↑ "Album Reviews". Billboard. 9 October 1993.
  14. ↑ Stephen M. Deusner (2005-06-07). "Kirsty MacColl: Titanic Days Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
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