The Angels

Take It To The Streets [Liberation]

The Angels return with their first album in the best part of a decade and it’s the first not to feature former lead singer Doc Neeson. That’s the elephant in the room: so let’s get it out of the way. Neeson, to his credit, is up there with Bon Scott, Stevie Wright and few others in an exclusive club for frontmen. When Neeson announced to the Brewster brothers and bassist Chris Bailey that he wanted out for a few years to concentrate on a solo career, the remaining members decided to carry on. Also missing is drummer Buzz Bidstrup who had re-joined the band after a long hiatus. Dave Gleeson, of Screaming Jets fame, is a fine singer and he’s now out front of the reconstituted band. Nick Norton is on drums.

Running to fourteen tracks, Take It To The Streets is two albums in one. The Brewster Brothers recently re-interpreted the Bob Dylan songbook on disc and it had had an effect on their writing. Opener ‘To The Streets’, with its swirling organ, is Dylanesque… as is their reworking of their own ‘Wounded Healer’. The band kick it up a gear with the single ‘Waiting For The Sun’. From here on in they sound more like… The Angels. ‘No Sleep In Hell’ could be a lost AC/DC tune, ‘Pump It Up’ sees the band cover Elvis Costello and ‘Small Price’ is a terrific old song from the margins. New track ‘Getting Free’ sounds like the Angels giving Radio Birdman a run for their money.

Fans have to be realistic, it’s unlikely a Doc Neeson fronted Angels would ever record new material again. When you’ve written at least ten songs that belong in the great Australian songbook, the Brewster’s could hardly be expected to take an early mark. Here they’re still riffing through Marshall stacks and kicking it with the vitality of a band a couple of albums deep into a career. The icing on the cake is Rick Brewster’s Hopper-esque photography that adorns the sleeve.

[rating: 4/5]