I had planned to do my comparative concert review of Katie Pruitt vs. Ice Cube this morning, but I find myself inspired (and motivated) to get through the next album instead. Pruitt vs. Cube coming later this weekend!
Disc 1731 is…100 Million Eyeballs
Artist: Miss Angie
Year of Release: 1997
What’s up with the Cover? My used copy of this album didn’t come with a cover, and I had to look it up and print one.
Here it is! Miss Angie appears to be thrusting a creepy doll in the viewer’s face. I’m glad the camera is focused on Miss Angie because the blurry image of the doll hints at nightmare fuel.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila bought this (coverless) album for a dollar at a thrift store. You never know what will catch her eye, and she doesn’t research them before her whim guides them into our home.
How It Stacks Up: This is my only Miss Angie album, and I doubt I’ll be getting any more, so no stacking.
Rating: 2 stars
As a teenager my only exposure to Christian rock was a metal band called Stryper who got some limited play on MuchMusic’s Power Hour back in the eighties. They wore striped spandex and sang about Christian stuff in a metal style. I thought they sucked.
Several decades later enter Miss Angie, singing Christian rock in that late nineties Muffs style. On my first listen I wasn’t paying close attention and thought she was singing songs about her boyfriend. Nope. These are definitely devotionals.
I am currently watching American Idol, where a contestants recently performed a rock song and advises Ryan Seacrest in the “vote for me” chat afterward that growing up in a religious family she was not allowed to listen to rock music. The idea that you tell your teenagers they can’t listen to an entire style of music is both foreign and anathema to me. My mom let me shout at the devil all I wanted, and I turned out just fine.
For those unfortunates with Tipper Gore style moms, Stryper and Miss Angie provide an opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds of rock and roll they would otherwise be denied, and I guess that’s something.
In the case of “100 Million Eyeballs” you get a pretty derivative sounding record square in the late nineties “loud production” movement. Miss Angie works in some sugary pop sensibilities here and there (which help the dynamics of the record) but for the most part these are straight ahead bangers, crunchy guitar, and Miss Angie singing about her faith.
The songs aren’t terrible but they are largely forgettable. Her voice is OK, and the band is tight and professional, but it sounds like any number of other of dozens of late nineties radio friendly rock bands of the time. At times it felt like the producer was ticking off all the ways nineties rock and roll could sound and putting a song on to represent each.
It was so “of its time” that I imagine parents across the land rushed into their teen’s bedrooms, determined to shut down the accursed rock and roll before anyone got hurt. Said teens would have sat said parents down and showed them the liner notes, and all would have been well. Those teens who bought the album used at a thrift store without liner notes would’ve been shit out of luck, of course. Such are the vicissitudes of fate…
But I digress.
Back to the record, which I’ll give credit for being delightfully weird in places. You get the impression that Miss Angie is not afraid to explore every nook and cranny of the bible. For every straightforward “spread the love” type song you might expect, there is another where she’s off into some delightfully creepy chapter. Best of these is the title track, which features lyrics that would make Lovecraft proud:
“Something to see
now is those who are His
Living ones with different heads
Six wings
One hundred eyeballs
Day and night they never stop singing...”
Something to see, indeed. I’m not up on my bible like Miss Angie is and this stuff sent me down an internet search for just what she’s referencing, and whether I should be concerned. I never 100% landed on either, but my best guess is it’s the depiction of the Cherubim angels in Ezekiel Chapter 10. Couldn’t confirm if those angels had four or six wings, but they are covered in eyeballs. Whatever the case, kudos for finding some truly odd stuff that would give you smug satisfaction when you finally convinced mom that the song was a bible story and therefore “allowed”.
I am not a Christian, and I generally don’t enjoy being preached at, but I do believe in the freedom of musicians to make music about whatever inspires them most. If you listen to Ghost, you’ll hear them sing about how much they like Satan (a lot). If you listen to Miss Angie, you’ll hear how much she likes God (a lot). Both are fine. Denying yourself an artistic experience because you don’t agree with the artist’s message is a pretty stupid and limiting way to approach music.
Sadly, in the case of Miss Angie, I wasn’t inspired by the music. Also, songs like “100 Million Eyeballs” notwithstanding, much of the time the lyrics were not very creative, despite having one of the world’s most universally known books to draw from.
So I’ll let this album return to whence it came, slightly upgraded with my homemade album cover. You’re welcome, next purchaser, and good luck with the parents…
Best tracks: 100 Million Eyeballs, Super Busy
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