SIDE A
Call Moscow
I Know About You
Nothing Yet
She Turns Aside
Popular Violence
Heartland
SIDE B
Somebody Else
Threatened
Look Out Kid
After Dark
The Infinite Corridor
Lives of Angels was the brainchild of Gerald OāConnell from London, England. At the end of the 1970s, OāConnell had been working on material for Mystery Plane, a band that included his wife Catherine on keyboards and backing vocals. In 1980 the pair of them left to form Lives Of Angels and focus on OāConnellās own songs, which he felt were more āoblique, atmospheric and evocativeā than the narrative style and social commentary of Mystery Plane. The result sounds both of its time, comfortably nestling under the gloomy clouds of British post-punk and goth, and oddly out of time; its homemade quality placing it outside of obvious chronological signifiers as the motorik riffs and spartan drum patterns loop over and over to infinity.
OāConnell was unimpressed by the musical offerings of the early ā80s (with the exception of New Order, Cocteau Twins and Depeche Mode, he notes), instead drawing from San Francisco psychedelia, Van Morrisonās Astral Weeks, Congolese guitarist Dr. Nico and the full pantheon of krautrock (especially Amon Düül II, whose song āArchangels Thunderbirdā contains the line, āThere is no elevator to Eden but a hole in the skyā). Keyboards and some vocals were provided by Catherine, who also acted as editor, making changes to the arrangements or pointing out inappropriate drum patterns (hence her credit in the sleeve notes as āpercussion censorā). āElevator to Edenā was originally released in 1983 on cassette by Color Disc and reissued on vinyl in 2012 on Dark Entries, in slightly condensed form. āHole In The Skyā is an 11-track compilation of material from the Lives of Angels archives. Including two tracks from the original Elevator To Edenā cassette omitted from our vinyl reissue, two tracks from Color Disc compilations and 7 previously unreleased tracks. This compilation features the very earliest Lives of Angels recordings āCall Moscowā and āSomebody Elseā as well as the final composition from 1986 āThe Infinite Corridorā plus original mixes of āAfter Darkā and āLook Out Kidā different than the versions on the āColor Supplementā compilation. āHole In The Skyā is an impressive example of early ā80s home recording; a DIY interpretation of the elegance and ambition of the previous decadeās krautrock.
All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy comes in custom made jacket designed by Eloise Leigh and includes an 11×11 double-sided insert with liner notes, lyrics and photos. āYou have no idea how rewarding it is that people are interested in what we did all those years ago,ā says OāConnell. āCatherine had a very happy time doing all that stuff, it was brilliant, and I felt that it was a success artistically. It deserved more attention. Better late than never.ā