Miss Angie:
Time & Space
My #1 Album
in 2011
Released
in 2011
by the artist
This page was first posted July 1, 2012
Miss Angie recorded her first two albums with Myrrh Records in the 1990s. Now she is back, writing and recording independently.
When I made this website in the late '00s, I listed Miss Angie in my Hall Of Fame. She made two albums in the late '90s, then disappeared, which was highly disappointing because she was one of my favorite artists. Ten years later, I was still playing her albums. And somehow one day in 2009 I found she had a MySpace site! And on that site were some songs for purchase! MISS ANGIE IS BACK!!!!!! I was so excited to have new tunes by her. I bought the songs "Letting Go" and "Wanting My Heart."
Though I was excited to have new songs by her, most of the five or so songs she had on the MySpace page were slow piano songs, which was quite different from most of her earlier material. Her first album, 100 Million Eyeballs, was very upbeat, high-flying, with fuzzed out guitars. Her second album, Triumphantine, had a retro '60s groovy sound to it, but was still upbeat in mood. There were, however, two slow piano songs on that album. With the exception of "Letting Go," her new songs on MySpace were similar in style to the piano tracks on Triumphantine.
With her re-appearance into public view on MySpace, her fans encouraged her to make an album, and finally in late 2010 she released a full album on iTunes, followed by the CD edition in January 2011. As eager as I was to have a new Miss Angie album, I definitely wanted the CD, so I waited until January. When the CD Time & Space arrived, I snapped it up.
I had thought the piano-only tracks were just for MySpace since there wasn't a record label production behind it, so I was expecting the album to be more like the upbeat "Letting Go," which was more like her first two albums. At first I was disappointed to discover that all those MySpace piano songs were on the album and as such that slow piano music dominated the album--tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10. So at first, I mostly played the faster songs like "Time And Space," "Letting Go," and "Oh Daddy." (By the way, eventually I realized this CD was not from any record label, but just her own release, so that's why it remained very simple production wise.)
But, craving more Miss Angie music, I soon played the whole album regularly and eventually got hooked on many of the slower piano songs too. I found that even though they were slow and simply played on the piano (in general, I don't like slow songs), they still had in them what has made me a long-time, avid fan of Miss Angie: her personality. All of her songs have had an intimacy to them where you feel it's just her and God, her being herself completely and unabashedly. This is what's endearing about her, and it remains true in the slow piano pieces, even though they are more somber in nature.
Back in the era of her first two albums, there was the quirk that she was called Miss Angie, but she was married. She was married to Oran Thornton, who had been in the band Johnny Q. Public and after marrying Miss Angie joined the band Flick (both Christian rock bands). But in her 2010 re-appearance, she did a YouTube video answering questions from fans, and in answer to someone's question, "Are you married?" she replied she was not. I wondered if she was no longer married due to death or divorce, but at another spot in the video she said "ex," so I assume it's divorce.
That knowledge put some context for me into these more somber songs of her latest album. The pain and brokenness that comes from divorce, especially for a Christian, who is much more conscious of the failure, no matter whether the initiator or recipient of the divorce proceedings, can be sensed underlying some of these songs. But while the songs have an intimate feel to them in their communication with Jesus, they also are general enough in their lyrics that they can be related to a wide variety of situations, making the songs easily adaptable for each listener's situation. This is another great thing about Miss Angie's songs and performance -- they feel so intimate yet they are not limited in thought or application.
I must not fail to mention that, besides her personality which shines through in all her singing, I simply love the sound of her voice. She is one of my favorite female singers, sharing my top 5 with Julie Martin (of Bon Voyage), Anita Robinson (of Viva Voce), Christine Glass, and Sydney Rentz (of Morella's Forest).
And then there's her piano playing…she plays the piano like I'd play the piano if I played the piano. (Well, I did take piano lessons for 4 years, but never made it to this level.) Sometimes it reminds me of the way Larry Norman played piano back in the 1970s, and since I was a big Larry Norman fan, especially of his piano-playing style, that adds another element of appreciation for me for Miss Angie's piano style.
Then there's the minor key element. How many Christian pop singers do songs in somber, minor keys? I have always liked minor keys more than major keys, being a melancholic person myself. So once I got used to the different musical style for Miss Angie on this album, I really attached to it. Now I like the slow piano songs every bit as much as the faster guitar-based ones.
Here are a couple examples. One song is "Wanting My Heart," which is the only piano song I bought from Miss Angie's MySpace page long before the album came out. The song has a somber sound to it, yet the chorus consists of her singing "Hallelujah" repeatedly -- a quite different way to hear this word in a song, with a beautiful touch of melancholy. My favorite lyrics in the song come toward the end:
Thank you Lord for wanting my heart
You bought my heart
I give you my heart
I can relate to those words so strongly, thus this song became one of my preferred ones on the album.
The song is followed by "Hear My Prayer," which continues the same mood, yet gets even darker lyrically:
Lord hear my prayer
Heal my life, heal my life
Lord hear my cry
Heal my life, heal my life
Lord, rescue me
From the things on the inside
Lord, rescue me
Hear me scream on the inside
Yet like the Psalmist feeling despair, knowledge of the saving power of the Lord brings hope:
And I will sing your praise
I will sing your praise
For you are holy
And I will lift your name
I will lift your name
For you are holy
It thoroughly delights me to have lyrics like this in melancholic, minor key tunes. In her song "Great Is Your Salvation," there is more of this lyrical theme as well as musical melancholy:
Great is your salvation
Your mercies they don't come to an end
Your arm is strong, Lord, to save me
Lord, your love gets me through
I pursue you
She ends the album with yet another piano piece in this somber vein "Not Enough," with these words:
No, it's not enough
Oh without your love, no way
Nothing's too hard
No pain's too deep
For you to heal me
These are definitely not the lyrics of the Miss Angie of 1999. And some of her fans have been upset by her new songs, missing the upbeat, heavy music of her first two albums. But these lyrics and the minor key piano sound that accompanies them have been just the right medicine for me in 2011, and because they hit the spot right on target, I played this album to death. And as I've said before, it's not even just the songs, but something about the way Miss Angie sings, I can really relate to it. I feel a bond, almost as if it would be the way I would sing if I were a girl. I feel the emotions, the expression.
The song that I think has the most personality is "I Dare Myself." This is a piano-only song, but more playful than the other ones. The song begins: "I dare myself when my heart wants a lover, I'm at a terrible distance from you." In the chorus she sings, "I look to you, I look to you, I look to you" and one of the verses contains these words: "I feel the Lord in my heart when it's burning, but then it's too late and it's hurting -- bring the sun, bring the sun!" (By the way, in the interlude of this song she throws in an old gospel church organ…hilarious!) Her singing in this song is endearing, and I have a blast singing along with it…yet I also worship through it -- "I look to you…."
Yes, that's something else I like about this and Miss Angie's two previous albums: They are primarily vertically focused. I am most attracted to albums where the words are direct communication to God, without being worn-out praise & worship lyrics, but rather lyrics that are more conversational. This album continues that pattern of her first two albums, and is another reason why I like this album so much.
<<- Click the Play button to hear “I Dare Myself”
After the release of Time & Space, Miss Angie recorded the single “Kick Drum”
A few more songs: "Intermission (Make The Connect)" is kind of a self-reminder of the forever nature of eternity, so there's a need to make that eternal connection and shape up, so to speak (not said directly like that, but that's what I get out of the song). A lyrical tidbit that stands out to me from this song:
I need to let go of these thoughts that I enjoy
They've come to destroy
The only song I can't relate to on this album is "Lovestealer," mostly because I don't quite get what the song is about. Both "Intermission" and "Lovestealer," tracks 5 & 6, are mid-tempo piano songs.
I've spent a lot of time explaining how I've come to like the slow piano songs on this album, but that doesn't mean I don't like the faster songs…of course I do!!! "Time And Space" is very pretty; "Letting Go" is energetic musically and has lyrics I can definitely relate to. I also like the good feeling, spritely tempo and lyrics in "Oh Daddy":
I sing to you I belong to you
You made my soul, you love my soul
...
Everything is possible for you
Oh Daddy-o, Oh Daddy, Oh Daddy-o
Your love, it started and it never will end
You loved me first
I'll sing again and again
And then there's a wonderful surprise at the end of the album. The last regular song on the album, track 10, is "Not Enough," which I mentioned above. This is the third in a row of slow piano songs. Track 11, the last track on the CD, is a remix of "Not Enough" by…PARADOXX!!! How wonderful is that--a song by one of my all-time favorite artists remixed by another one of my all-time favorite artists! And Paradoxx does a beautiful remix of the song. It starts out at the same slow tempo as the original, but after that, it breaks into a lovely, rolling electronic beat that is perfectly fitting for this song, taking it from slow to danceable without losing the mood of the song…this is remix perfection! Paradoxx also added some very pretty melodies in their electronic additions. What a great combination -- Miss Angie and Paradoxx! What a great way to end the album!
This remix of Miss Angie's "Not Enough" is also found on Paradoxx's best-of album, Decade, which is my #10 album of 2011. Strangely, on Paradoxx's album, they list the song as being by Paradoxx, "featuring Miss Angie." The liner notes on Decade list the song's authors as not only Miss Angie, but also two members of Paradoxx. I mentioned this discrepancy in my review of Decade; the band responded that they were disappointed that Miss Angie did not give them proper attribution on her album. Well, on her CD, there is virtually no information at all. It consists only of the front cover and back of the CD which lists the song titles (track 11 says "Remixed by Paradoxx"); there is no other information about anything on the CD, such as authors or producers or the like. Still, to me, it seems like this is a Miss Angie song -- the melody and the lyrics are very much in line with the other songs Miss Angie has on this album, and are very much unlike what Paradoxx does. So I still consider this a Miss Angie song remixed by Paradoxx, not a song by Paradoxx featuring Miss Angie. Of course, all the elements of the remix were obviously done by Paradoxx, but that's what remixers do -- add their own elements.
While I'm talking about Miss Angie and Paradoxx, in a YouTube video Miss Angie does promoting Decade, she says that she is featured on Paradoxx's song "Rocketship" from that album. Strangely, on the album there is no mention of her being a part of that song; it only says "featuring Andy Labb of Syrian." What's going on here? Why the discrepancies between the two artists about who's doing what? That's sad to see. I hope it doesn't prevent them from doing more stuff together. They're a perfect match as far as I'm concerned. I'd love it if Paradoxx would remix Miss Angie's whole album Time & Space!
In conclusion, I am TOTALLY DELIGHTED that MISS ANGIE IS BACK!!!!!! Though her music and lyrics are different from her 1990s stuff, personality wise it's still 100% Miss Angie; she still shines through with a delightful personality and intimacy in her songs. Though the production is very simple, it does not make her album sound amateurish. It's like "Miss Angie Unplugged." Simple yet intimate. Still endearing like her 1990s albums. Welcome back, Miss Angie! So glad you're making music for us again!!!!
The color pictures on this page with no words on them were taken from Miss Angie’s MySpace page in 2009. The color pictures that say missangie.net were taken from her Facebook page in 2011. The purple-sepia pictures are from her website in 2011.
Miss Angie’s Brief Fling With A Record Company
Some months after she self-released the CD Time & Space, she got signed onto a Christian music label in Nashville, Transform, which was planning to re-release the album in July 2011 with the addition of a new song that they recorded with her, "Kick Drum." They had a great offer that lured me into ordering an advance copy of the album even though I had one (well, my copy didn't have "Kick Drum"): for those who paid $20, they would also get a Miss Angie poster, t-shirt, and their name included on the CD insert. I was excited by this cool promotion, but worried what a Nashville label would do to her music.
Eventually I heard this new song "Kick Drum" that was to be added as the first song on the re-release of Time & Space. This song got all the production of a record label…and sadly her personality is lost in the song. She sounds more like a generic top 40 singer than the full-personality Miss Angie. I was afraid that would happen when she signed up with a record label from Nashville. But, her album was never released in July as planned. A few months later I got an email from the record company that my order had been canceled. When I asked why, they replied that she had decided to give away her album for free on her website. I then asked if it was just this album, or if she had backed out of her deal with the record label, but they never replied, so I'm assuming she backed out. If so, I say good for her. While the record company did a great job of promoting her music, they also ruined her style in "Kick Drum." Today with Facebook and Twitter, an artist is not as dependent on a record label, if the artist doesn't require a huge amount of sales. If the artist is happy with a small but consistent following, which is probably what Miss Angie would only have anyway, if she were true to her artistry, then a record company taking away her personality in exchange for big production and promotion is not worth the sacrifice. We'll see what happens…..
MISS ANGIE LINKS
Miss Angie’s Website:
Lyrics to her songs, bio, news, and a free download of her album Time & Space!!!
Miss Angie’s YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/missangieturner
Miss Angie’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/missangie.net
Miss Angie’s Twitter:
@RealMissAngie
https://twitter.com/#!/RealMissAngie
Interview with Miss Angie at Christcore:
Don’t miss Miss Angie’s story....
For more of Miss Angie’s story about the years between her first recording career and her current one, check out her BIO on her website. I wrote the review on this page before that biography appeared on her website, so anything I wrote on this page was written without having much knowledge of her journey between music careers; all I had at the time I wrote this review in December 2011 was from a video where she briefly answered some questions from her fans. This video was released in April 2010 and can be found here. Miss Angie was bravely honest in her biography in ways that must be very difficult for a Christian stage person to be. This honesty makes me even more fond of the musician Miss Angie.
The music video for the album’s opening track, Time And Space.
