In the mid-to-late 1960’s, the Washington, D.C. area was a breeding ground for rock music talent. John Phillips, Cass Elliot, Jim Morrison, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Roy Buchanan, John Hall, Nils Lofgren and Emmylou Harris are but a few of the locals from that era who moved on from D.C. to leave their mark on American music.

There were other local musicians, however, who were equally (or even more) talented, but through poor management or just plain bad luck missed out on commercial success at the national level. The most Poignant example of this phenomenon is the legendary band known as The Fallen Angels. Formed in 1965, The Fallen Angels were a dynamo of musical creativity and stage theatrics. They had an amazing ability to synthesize diverse musical styles (i.e., Beatles, Dylan, jazz, classical, etc.) into a cohesive sound that was distinctly their own. And as anyone who ever saw them perform live can attest, their grip on an audience was nothing short of charismatic. Excellent musicians all, the band members were ravenous mimics with a penchant for political satire.



It wasn’t unusual for the band to begin a live set in total darkness except for a blinding white strobe light while abruptly segueing from a off-key rendition of obscure fifties rock & roll to twangy country & western a la Buck Owens on acid. The effect was disorienting yet somehow exhilarating. Probably the most comparable live performances were by the original Mothers of Invention, who were contemporaries of The Fallen Angels.



The first album (entitled simply “The Fallen Angels”) received a very favorable response but had no top ten hits due in large part to a sub-par production effort by the recording studio and an ill-conceived promotional strategy aimed at the conventional tastes of AM listeners.




Needless to say, their music was too “far out” for the “straight” audience and received very limited exposure to the burgeoning “underground” music scene associated with west coast bands such as the Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead. Despite playing to wildly enthusiastic crowds at venues all along the east coast, The Fallen Angels had not been able to establish their identity nationwide.



Realizing the futility of trying to control this band, Roulette Records allowed The Fallen Angels almost total artistic freedom in the production of their second album, entitled “It’s A Long Way Down”. The group’s efforts resulted in what many aficionados of the psychedelic genre consider a masterpiece. Without any outside meddling, The Fallen Angels were able to craft a recording which more accurately portrayed the group’s eclectric musical approach. Song selections which especially stand out include: “Horn Playing On My Thin Wall”, “Look To The Sun”, One Of The Few Ones Left”, a soaring, jazzy “Look At The wind” and the haunting finale “I’ll Drive You From My Mind”.



Although the album was an artistic triumph, Roulette’s promotional campaign was practically non-existent. With no top ten hits, The Fallen Angels were unceremoniously dropped from the label.
The unique music of The Fallen Angels would have remained shrouded in myth had it not been for the efforts of Collectables Records, who made special licensing arrangements with Rhino Records to digitally reproduce the original master recordings (which fortuitously had been stored in the vaults at Abbey Road Studios ).

Excerpts from psychedelicized.com

Their 45 recorded immediately following this LP but not released until 1974 is also worth hearing:

https://www.45cat.com/record/nc942064us

Thanks PP for the link which reminded me I still need to gather together the singles/EPs. Seems there are others that are not on the albums.

Here's their first released 45 from 1966:





Enjoy!

Both the fallen angels albums are very good, but that second album is really pretty special, so thank goodness for those 2cds from the 90s released by collectibles/cicadelic, there's also a cd released by cicadelic of early fallen angels recordings done for the Laurie label from 1966,this cd also has recordings by the mad hatters. There's 6tracks by the fallen angels, the single have you ever lost a love/I have found, and 4 others, 3 are unreleased recordings. All from 1966,and definitely worth hearing. I personally think the second fallen angels album is a real gem in the land of psych, one of the best from the original psych era and fab crazy artwork on the sleeve to go with it,I'm sure I've saw some promo vid of some sort on YouTube of the band doing a couple of songs from that album which was trully unsettling but very engrossing!! Brilliant stuff!!!

Hey, Stuart! You're a breath of fresh air in a room full of farts, mate. [No offence intended to a handful of others here.] I can't help wondering if you've got the 'CD released by cicadelic of early Fallen Angels recordings done for the Laurie label from 1966'. If so, it'd help me in my academic research and increase my critical abilities no end if you could share it. I'd even give the other band on it a listen.
The Fallen Angels and the mostly French group Gong stretched my mind like an elastic band back in the good old days and still rattle a few loose screws within me today.
Another F.A. album you'd like is a live one - the appropriately named The Great Society Sucks. Halloween '68.

Hahaha!!! I like it Steve. Thank you. Yeh mate I do have the cd you mention concerning the early fallen angels recordings. They're really good, a mix of folk rock and garage like sounds. I'll be honest and say the mad hatters are pretty good too and one of their recordings was written by a member of the fallen angels, so that may be of interest to you Steve. I'm not the most technical minded of old fogies, but I can copy this cd onto a disc for you as I aint got a clue how to transfer via email or such. I really need to teach myself things but I'm fierd incase I mess up anything. Send me an email Steve to say if you're happy for me to do that. Or if you could give me instructions in how to send the music via email or some other means!!! This old farts away to clear an empty room..... LoL.

Here is the promo vid of "One Of The Few Ones Left". Beautiful stuff and a visual treat...

The Fallen Angels - One Of The Few Ones Left (1968) - It's a Long Way Down

Wallace has both lps on vinyl.
I be thinking the second is a early reissue - I would not be that fortunate (the 2nd lp is on another level of rarity altogether).

Would not care to be a band on Roulette. They had connections to NY gangsters.
Morris Levy was a character the likes of the shady exploito-king , Miller.
Royalties? Wot royalties.



Speaking of.....
maybe we should do a thread of bands done over by their managers/producers/promoters.
The best example Wallace can think of is Grand Funk Railroad. They were rather tough-looking blokes, yet what they allowed Terry Knight to get away with.
(Knight himself was murdered - but not by done-over musicians.)