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For the earlier song by the band with the same title, see Heroes Are Hard to Find.

1980 single by Fleetwood Mac

"Angel" is a song written by singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks of the British-American band Fleetwood Mac. It first appeared on the band`s 1979 double album Tusk and was released as a single in the Netherlands the following year. The song was performed on the 1979-1980 Tusk Tour and has since been issued on a few deluxe editions of albums, starting with the 2015 super deluxe edition of Tusk, which included a live recording from the band`s performance in St. Louis on 5 November 1979.[1] A 5 May 1980 live recording from the Richfield Coliseum in Ohio was included on the deluxe edition of the band`s Live album.[2]

A different song of the name was written by Bob Welch and included on Fleetwood Mac`s Heroes are Hard to Find album in 1974. In the liner notes for Welch`s Greatest Hits & More – Revisited, he said that the lyrics were about "want[ing] to see an angel" and "understanding whether the angel is a human being".[3]

Composition

Nicks wrote "Angel" about Mick Fleetwood, but focused more on his fashion choices than her affair with him. "It`s about his crazy fob watch and his really beautiful clothes. He`s a very stylish individual and I was just this little California girl who never really knew anybody like him."[4] She said in a 1980 documentary on the making of Tusk that "Angel" was her first attempt at writing a "silly" rock n roll song, but she later identified an "eeriness" to the composition that she initially overlooked.[5]

Hernan Rojas, who served as an engineer for Tusk, described the lyrics as incorporating aspects of Ovid`s Metamorphosis, the stories of Mabinogion, Gothic fiction, and personal diary entries.[6] Nicks said that the "charmed hour" lyric referred to "the best hour", which also tied into the three birds of Rhiannon. While writing the song, she also gravitated toward a figure in Welsh mythology named Arawn, partially because several of her family members were named Aaron. She said that the lyric `So I close my eyes softly/Till I become that part of the wind` related to some of Arawn`s powers as the king of the underworld.[7] In a 1981 interview with Blair Jackson of BAM magazine, Nicks identified "Angel" as one of her favorite compositions on Tusk.[8]

Recording

"Angel" was a late addition to Tusk, with initial tracking taking place on 1 April 1979. Take six was selected as the master and overdubbing continued into the month of August. A decision was made to increase the tempo of the song after a few passes, which according to Rojas, allowed for the rhythm section to become more lively. The structure of "Angel" consisted of a verse, bridge, two pre choruses, and two choruses. Rojas said that the song relied on a "powerful groove and dynamic lyrics" to compensate for the simple chord progression.[6]

The song was set in 4/4 time, with Mick Fleetwood playing a Tama drum kit with AKG overhead microphones, an AKG 451 on the bottom resonant head of a snare drum, and a D12 on the kick drum. John McVie`s bass guitar was connected directly into a Neve mixing console, Christine McVie played a Yamaha electric piano in an isolation room, and Lindsey Buckingham played a Fender Stratocaster through a Marshall stack in a different isolation room. The electric piano was situated in a room known as the "Hawaiian room", which the band named due the Hawaiian lava rocks that decorated the space.[6]

A recording session in May was filmed by a crew led by Randall Hagadorn, and compiled footage for a Tusk documentary released in 1980. During this session, Buckingham recorded various lead guitar licks and a solo during the song`s vamp.[6] Nicks and Buckingham also worked on vocal harmonies around a grand piano with the intention of singing the song as a duet.[5][6] Buckingham instead settled on singing his vocals in tandem with Nicks for only certain lyrics. His vocals also supplanted a few lines recorded by Nicks, who recorded some of her lead vocals while dancing in platform shoes and pink leg warmers.[6]

Critical reception

Stephen Holden called the song "an especially risky flirtation with hard rock" in his Rolling Stone review for Tusk.[9] In his book Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks, Stephen Davis characterised Nicks` vocals on "Angel" as "strong, passionate, and more mature than the voice on Rumours.[10] Terry Jordan of the St. Joseph News-Press discussed "Angel" in their review of the band`s 1980 performance in Kansas City, saying that the song was "bright" and "bouncy" and "outshined" all of Buckingham`s material onstage.[11]

Personnel

• Stevie Nicks – lead and backing vocals
• Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, backing vocals
• Christine McVie – keyboards, backing vocals
• John McVie – bass guitar
• Mick Fleetwood – drums, percussion