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Customer Reviews of Ronnie K

Terrific smart hard rock
I was lucky enough to stumble across this in a used record shop 25 years ago, the only time I've ever seen this album. Otherwise, I'd have never known it existed, though I did once hear Great White cover "Face the Day". I had enjoyed the previous "Face to Face" release, but this one just blew out of my speakers with the sound of a classic. (I'm writing of the American release; being an import, I assume the track listing is a little different). I don't throw around 5-star ratings, this really deserves it. Notice that it's all the same people reviewing Angels albums: the few people who are aware of them are really fanatical over them. This was a band that just couldn't get a break in the states: the glam band Angel forced them to change their name by threatening lawsuit, and headline acts such as the Kinks were kicking them off tours, tired of being blown off the stage night after night. On their first American tour, their equipment truck was stolen, and it was only through Cheap Trick's generosity that they could finish the tour. It's a great injustice that this band was so little known, because they were terrific and their music holds up just as well today as it did 25 years ago. The Young brothers had a heavy hand in their management and production, so it's no surprise that they sound similar to AC-DC, though not as heavy. They had a lot of energy and punch, and surprisingly intelligent paranoid lyrics. The kind of lyrics that might be written by a boxer who's also a poet. This album's full of the electric crackle that makes great rock 'n' roll. It's not really new wave, and it's not really metal, but it's got the honesty that a punker would love and the fire that a rivethead would love, and it's well-written and smart enough to satisfy any snob. There's nothing here not to like.

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Killer import from the early 80's
First of all, since Amazon doesn't include the track listing for this album, I will:
1. No Secrets
2. Ivory Stairs
3. Wasted Sleepless Nights
4. Dark Room
5. Face the Day
6. Night Comes Early
7. Straightjacket
8. The Moment
9. Poor Baby
10. Devil's Gate
"Dark Room" was one of those mystery albums that I heard an occasional cut from on a local album rock station just after I had graduated from high school. Not being wise to the ways of the marketing world, I looked at all of the music stores in my local malls, but kept coming up empty. Years later, just by dumb luck, I stumbled onto a used record store and found cassette copies of "Dark Room" and "Face To Face" in a used case. They weren't cheap, but I correctly figured that I had better grab them while I could. I played those tapes to death, literally, in my Duster over the course of the next year. Little by little I started noticing a squealing noise when I played them, something I was later told was from the oxide wearing off of the defective tape. Well, I was heartbroken for years until I stumbled onto Amazon and found not only the three Angel City albums that I owned in college, (I still have a vinyl copy of "Night Attack",) but several other albums that I hadn't even known to exist. What a great surprise. Despite all of the passing years, "Dark Room" remains one of my favorite albums. Opening up with what is arguably the band's best song, No Secrets, the album doesn't let up until The Moment, but by then you're in need of a rest. What makes this cd a doubly great find is it's scarcity. I don't even think you can direct order a copy of this from Australia anymore. If you see it, don't hesitate. It's well worth the purchase price.

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Just Great!
As pointed out by the other reviewers, non-Australian versions of The Angels' records are sometimes found under the name "Angel City". This was because of some legal hassles with an American country band who already had worldwide dibs on the name.

Dark Room is quite a nice new wave CD, especially when compared to other records from the same early eighties period. It's full of punchy little pop tunes and a hard rock edge which was a lot more evident when seeing them live. Australian radio picked up several of the tracks as singles. There is a bit of a dark angsty side to this record as well, which doesn't hurt.

As far as the lyrics go, the Angels have always tried for a sort of literary sophistication unknown in most hard rock bands, which is an added bonus of sorts. This is a sort of thinking man's new-wave record and well worth hearing.