Madonna ‎ Angel / Into the Groove Rare 1985 Sire Records 12" Maxi Single NM

$

30

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"Angel" Single by Madonna from the album Like a Virgin B-side

• "Into the Groove"
• "Burning Up"

• Dance-pop 
• electropop 
• techno-pop 
• new wave

• Sire 
• Warner Bros.

• Madonna 
• Stephen Bray

"Angel" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin (1984). She co-wrote this song with Stephen Bray while Nile Rodgers produced it. The track was released on April 10, 1985, by Sire Records as the album's third single. It was inspired by a girl who is saved by an angel, and she falls in love with him. "Angel" was released as a 12-inch single with "Into the Groove" in some countries and charted likewise. A music video was not filmed for the track, and instead, a promotional clip comprising segments of her previous videos was released in the United Kingdom.

Musically, "Angel" consists of three chord ascending hook, which serves for the verse and chorus. It has vocal harmonies beneath the main chorus and the lyrics repeat the angel-like image of Madonna's savior. Critical response to the song varied, with some music critics calling it a classic and others deeming it sub-par compared to Madonna's previous singles. "Angel" charted at number one in Australia and within the top five in Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She has performed the song during the Virgin Tour in 1985 and The Celebration Tour in 2023. The song was used on the soundtrack of the third season of Stranger Things.

Recording and release

"Angel" was written by Madonna and Stephen Bray and released worldwide on April 10, 1985. The song first began as a demo and was recorded as early as April 1984 for her second studio album, Like a Virgin. However, the whole project was held off, much to Madonna's frustration, by the continuing sales of her self-titled debut album, which had by then sold over a million copies in United States. She had decided to release "Angel" as the initial single from the album, but changed her mind, after the recording of the title track "Like a Virgin" was complete. "Angel" was an ode to "a heavenly love" and inspired from Madonna's Catholic upbringing with the singer saying, "I think it's important to call angels to you to protect you... That's part of the ritualistic moment. The calling of angels." The track was ultimately released as the third single, and included the song "Into the Groove", from Madonna's 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, on the B-side of the 12-inch maxi-single. The single was released digitally on April 10, 2024, with a remastered edit of the dance remix.

A music video was initially planned for "Angel", but it was later canceled due to multiple Madonna videos already airing and competing for broadcast time. A promotional video, containing scenes from the music videos of "Burning Up", "Borderline", "Lucky Star", "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" was made by Warner Bros. Records and aired in the United Kingdom. The video was included on the promotional-only video compilations It's That Girl and She's Breathless.

Critical reception

Rikky Rooksby, author of Madonna: The Complete Guide to Her Music, commented that "Angel" is a song "that is less than even the sum of its parts". Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, authors of Madonna's Drowned Worlds: New Approaches to Her Cultural Transformations, felt that "the pizzicato synthesizer line that opens 'Angel' was indeed classical Madonna". John Leland from Spin called it a rehash of Madonna's previous single "Lucky Star" (1984), with "an even lamer melody and punch. [...] 'Angel' is Nile Rodgers doing what he does best: turning crass product into cash product". Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called the song "excellent standard-issue dance-pop". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine called the song sugary. Also from Slant Magazine, Eric Henderson opined it was "the ultimate 'this is better than I remember it' single of Madonna's career, 'Angel' is best half-remembered, the better by which to keep rediscovering it again and again".

Billboard's Joe Lynch deemed it "a sadly undervalued gem from her second album [...] this ineffably charming dance-pop lark also features some of Madge's cutest come-ons". Also from Billboard, Nancy Erlich called the song "romantic, uncontroversial techno-pop. [...] [Madonna's] reign continues as '85's premier media obsession". Cash Box said "Less here to hold on to than the LP's title track or 'Material Girl' but still right up the commercial alley." While reviewing Like a Virgin in 1995, Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly felt that the song comes off as a bit repetitious and immature. Alfred Soto of Stylus Magazine commented that "'Angel' is a particular stunner, certainly the apex of Rodgers' post-Chic skills. [...] It does a better job than the two big singles of delineating the boundaries of Madonna's determined shallowness, an act that confounds Philistines today and made the appreciation of her musical skills a lot harder than it took these critics to dismiss Cyndi Lauper as the real charlatan". From The Guardian, Jude Rogers felt it was "an early pass at religious-ecstasy pop, but needing bigger wings".

Track listing and formats

• US and Australian 12-inch single

1. "Angel" (extended dance remix) – 6:15
2. "Into the Groove" (single version) – 4:43