Angelica - The Demo Sessions Artwork Discusssions

 When we licensed the Angelica CDs from Frontline, we began some conversation with Dennis Cameron.  During the course of the conversation he mentioned that he thought he might have the demos buried somewhere in a box.  To say that I was excited is really understated.  We began to discuss this along with everything Angelica from the beginning.  I was a fan just like the rest of you, but wanted to know more and wanted to learn about all the missing pieces and items that are never discussed.  So Dennis and I began one of probably 35 phone calls about everything Angelica.  So I wanted to share some insight into our thinking about the demos.  

We began working on artwork prior to listening to them which in hind-sight was magical.  At this point I have to confess that I hadn't even listened to Angelica at all for years, with the exceptions of a few songs on each album to see if it was as great a I remember.  It didn't take me long to say, heck yeah!!  Let's put these out.

I had Dennis send me a few pics from his phone.  I asked him to also send me a pic of his Guitar that had Jesus with the crown of thorns on it.  He did. He took about 25 photos of it.  I had intended on using it for the cover, but later on thought it might be better to have a guitarist in the pic on the front.  I don't think Dennis ever used a strat (Stratocaster) which is shown on the front, but the way the hair hung and the angle was going to work perfect with a angled logo, which I will explain more a bit later when I announce the new Angelica album.  hint hint.  That angled logo was created for the new album, not this one, but after creating it, I just wanted to use it and didn't even know if a new album would ever actually some to fruition.   

Ok, back to the photos.  Dennis did a lot of work scanning in photos and other elements, which I must confess if one of the biggest challenges with these reissues.  Since the label actually owns the master recordings and we are licensing from the label, the artist get very little in return. They do get mechanicals or mecanical royalties, but if they signed over their mechanicals to the label then they get nothing. So to get an artist to proving anything it generally a challenge. We often have to rely on our network of music enthusiast and collectors such as Scott Waters, and Olaf Becker and others.  That topic could go on forever so let me just digress and get back to the topic at hand, artwork.

Dennis sent us a picture of the demo tapes laid on the original Angelica hand drawn logo or early digital copy. I never got a confirmation of which it was as it was only a photo sent to me.  You can tell by the crop marks that it was done back in the 80's.  So the photo on the inside of the cover is the actual demo tapes used to make this recording and the original Angelica logo.  You can even make out the hand written songs and Dennis scratched off his mom's phone number as well.  Yes, we asked who's number that was. : ) We thought you might appreciate seeing the actual stuff, like I do.  We took the same approach in our Shout - It Won't Be Long reissue, we showed the actual 1/4" reels.

The tray card contains both a pic of Dennis as well as Andy Lyon, the original lead singer on the demos.  There is a complete 2 page Angelica history that cover the inside foldout or centerfold if you will. The back traycard shows the demos split up because there was 2 demo tapes.  We also put the explanation about those 2 tapes on the inside of the cover.  Those demos were actually recorded separately.  One was shopped to labels and the other was requested by the label.  You'll have to buy the CD to read the entire story. HA!

We have some Japanese writing that should be explained. Japan was a huge supporter of Angelica. Even more than the US or Canada. Dennis is Canadian as well is Daniel Band and others in the Christian rock scene.   Back to the continent of Asia.  Angelica signed with a Japanese label to get their product on the shelf with the help of a gentlemen named Marc Joseph.  Dennis was in nearly every guitar and music magazine in Japan, so we wanted to give a nod to Japan for the support over the years by spelling Angelica in Japanese.  It actually comes out as a translation to Angerica, and not Angelica, but someone with a correct understanding of the Japanese launguage will have to explain that to me.  We can verify that the Japanese letters are correct because if you see one of the Japanse original pressings, it looks identical. 

We added all the lyrics inside and kept the disc face simple and matching the cover. There are a few others surprises but again you'll just need to purchase it to see the entire thing. 

Thank God Dennis was able to dust off his old gear and get these tapes back to a place of being remastered.  This was truly no easy feat. but it worked and we know you'll be proud of the outcome when you hear them. 

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