By 
First Released On: April 20, 1998
Duration: 06:18
Variations/Remixes:
Blur Remix – A remix by Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon of Blur, which is a far cry from the regular version, which has polarized many fans for its quality (or lack thereof!). This was the first Damon Albarn remix for another artist to be released. He worked remixing some of Tricky’s songs two years earlier, but the pair fell out and the material was never released. Included in all single releases.
Mad Professor Remix – The Mad Professor once again remixes a Massive Attack single. Included only on the promotional 12″ vinyl release, and then only in a truncated form, until the arrival of the Singles 90/98 Box Set where this remix was included on CD in its complete form.
Radio Edit – A truncated version of the song for radio play. Cuts much of the beginning and end of the song. Included only in promotional releases and in Singles 90/98 Box Set.
Credits:
Written by Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles and Horace Hinds
Produced by Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Andrew Vowles and Neil Davidge
For the collected version of the song, the additional credits are:
Remastered by Mike Marsh at Exchange and Tim Young at Metropolis Mastering.
Sampled:
Angel uses a sample from the song “Last Bongo In Belgium” by The Incredible Bongo Band. He primarily appears on their 1973 release Bongo Rock. He is not officially credited by Massive Attack.
Vocalist(s):
horace andy
Lyrics:
You are my Angel
come from high above
to bring me love
His eyes
she is on the dark side
Neutralize
every man in sight
To love you, love you, love you…
You are my Angel
To love you, love you, love you…
History:
Originally, Angel was meant to be a very different sounding song, as it was going to be a cover of The Clash’s “Straight To Hell” that would have also included a sample from an old Sex Gang Children record. For this version, 3D had appointed Horace Andy as the ideal vocalist, but when it came time to record his voice at London’s Olympic Studios, they hit a snag. Horace Andy, a religious man, was unwilling to sing the word “hell” in The Clash’s song, so at the last moment, Massive Attack was forced to improvise a new song on the spot to accommodate the refusal. by HoraceAndy. In the space of just four hours, they cut out much of the originally prepared track, wrote a new melody around it, cut the tempo in half, and removed the Sex Gang Children sample entirely. Finally, to use as the lyrics for this new untitled song, they took the lyrics almost directly from Horace Andy’s own song, You Are My Angel.
Additional Information:
Ángel was the third single released from Mezzanine.
Horace Andy is credited as Horace Hinds in Angel as he has a real name with “Andy” as his stage name.
It is most likely the most used Massive Attack song on TV and movie soundtracks, as it has been featured in countless different filmed media. See the Videography section for a sample of what Angel has been used on.
Live appearances:
Angel was first performed live in its finished state at the Olympia in Dublin, Ireland on April 15, 1998. Since then, it has become one of the permanent fixtures of Massive Attack’s live show, and is hardly ever seen. it drops out of the set list, except for the rare occasions that Horace Andy was not available to do live vocals. On the 1998/1999 tour, Angel served as the opening song in most cases and had a long intro sequence of about two minutes before Horace Andy’s vocals came in, but on later tours this intro was shortened. just half a minute. minute. On the 2008 tour, Angel was moved to near the end of the live show, typically being the first of the 3/4 encore songs.
Quotes:
Mushroom on Angel: “I like its simplicity. You see, I’ve always liked the previous albums and the elements on that and Angel really brings me back to the Protection and Blue Lines stuff.” [Mezzanine Interview Disc – March 1998]
3D on the meaning behind Angel: “As with many of the clues [on Mezzanine]It’s about relationships: what you expect from a woman and what you really get in return” [Vox Magazine – May 1998]
3D on Angel’s initial recording: “In the space of four hours, we cut out all the music, wrote a bunch of stuff around it, kept some of the old melodies, put in the new Horaces melodies, took out the Sex Gang sample , halving the tempo and adding new words” [Q Magazine – January 1999]