Face To Face

Another "golden oldie". The Angels' Face To Face entered my home in 1978 not many days after its release. This was one of several Australian rock albums that I immersed myself in during by pre-teen years. Three events conspired that caused me to own a copy again:

• Seeing "The Angels" section in a large CD store. It contained only 2 CDs. Strangely neither of them was Face To Face.
• Watching an episode of Live At The Basement featuring The Angels Band. This was a 2005 performance by The Angels minus charismatic singer Doc Neeson that turned out to be so exceedingly ordinary I switched it off after a few songs. Interestingly, the interviews with band members made absolutely no mention of Neeson. They mentioned songwriting and original performances but neglected to mention that Neeson wrote most of the lyrics and originally performed lead vocals on (nearly?) all songs.
• Xmas 2005 :-)

So, when an online CD store listed Face To Face as deleted but still in stock I put it on my Xmas list.

Face To Face is late 1970s rock, reasonably heavy, full of cool guitar playing and interesting lyrics. This is pub rock during a very strong period for Australian music. The Angels were contemporaries of AC/DC but somehow never seemed to make it huge on the world stage.

The first "side" of the album features 5 songs. The strongest are After The Rain, Take A Long Line and Marseilles. The last of these is one of the great Aussie rock songs - a huge performance centred around a big vocal performance from Neeson and mountainous guitar playing from John and Rick Brewster.

The second "side" opens with Live It Up a live track vaguely featuring "the Bo Diddley riff". The next track Be With You is one of the albums slower songs and feels very reminiscent of The Rolling Stones. Outcast is a weird tale of a drug-taking homeless person. The closing tracks are 2 of The Angels' best know early songs: I Ain't The One and Comin' Down - both heavy and anthemic - the latter wouldn't be out of place on an AC/DC album.

The verdict? This album is still very impressive. Some of Neeson's vocal performances aren't as strong as I remember but the tremor in his voice lends the album a nervous edginess. Vanda & Young are listed as consultants and probably had an influence on the strong, catchy arrangements. Producer Mark Opitz was one of the great Australian producers of the late 1970s and 1980s, and it would be interesting to hear what he would do with this band if he recorded them today. I'm glad this album is in my collection and I'll listen to it a lot. However, I don't think it is one of my absolute favourites.