''Black Angel'' is the fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter

Mica Paris Michelle Antoinette Wallen (born 27 April 1969), known professionally as Mica Paris (), is an English singer, presenter and actress. Paris was born in Islington in North London, but moved to Brockley, South London, when she was nine. She rel ...

. It was released on 10 August 1998 by

Cooltempo Cooltempo, the dance music imprint of Chrysalis Records, was revived in May 2018. The label released albums by artists such as Kenny Thomas, Milli Vanilli, Adeva, Shara Nelson, Mica Paris and Innocence. History Cooltempo emerged at the end o ...

Chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

, her first and last for these labels, and features production from

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...

and

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...

Recording

In the book, ''Straight'',

expressed, 'I wrote and produced "Black Angel" for Brit soul diva Mica Paris. Working with such a soaring voice — which could reach notes I could only dream of — was a thrilling experience.'

Reception

Critical

Reviewing the single "Carefree" for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'',

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

wrote, "Carefree" 'shows the enduring chanteuse in tip-top vocal form, floating a glorious, deceptively simple performance over a deliciously soulful groove. Equally appropriate for club turntables and home sound systems, this Cooltempo U.K. release leaves you desperate for a full-length album.' In the book ''Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture'', Derek A. Bardowell heralded Paris as 'UK R'n'B's most respected vocalist. Despite struggling to find a market to fit her raspy but classically soulful voice, Paris has been a major musical force'. Bardowell also wrote that 'Paris found musical liberation in 1998 and assumed more creative control on her fourth effort ..''Black Angel'' is the greatest illustration of Paris' innovative talent.

Commercial

''Black Angel'' debuted and peaked at number fifty-nine on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

making it Paris' first album to miss out on a place in the UK Top 40. The album only charted for one week, meaning it failed to live up to the sales of her previous three studio albums. ''Black Angel'' was Paris' last album to chart in the UK until ''

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

'' in 2020.

Singles

Three singles were released from ''Black Angel''. The lead single, "Stay", fared poorly in the charts, especially for a lead single from an album, entering and peaking at number forty then falling to number seventy-two the next week before dropping out of the charts completely. The second single from the album, "Carefree", performed worse than the previous release and became Paris' first single to fail to chart within the UK Top 200. The third and final single to be released from the album was the title track, "Black Angel". This performed better than the previous single, however it only managed to chart at number seventy-two, before falling off the charts the following week. This was Mica's last single to chart in the UK to date.

Track listing

Notes: *Track 4 contains a sample from "Let the Good Times Roll" by Little Beaver *Track 7 contains a sample from "

Could You Be Loved "Could You Be Loved" is a 1980 song by Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was released as the first single from their twelfth and last album, ''Uprising (Bob Marley and the Wailers album), Uprising'' (1980), and is also included ...

" by

Bob Marley and the Wailers Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Robert ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's information on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

and the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. ; Managerial *

Executive producers Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

– Mica Paris ; Visuals and Imagery *

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

– Ian Ross * Photography –

Regan Cameron Regan Cameron (born in Auckland, New Zealand) is a fashion, beauty and celebrity photographer. Early life Cameron was inspired by photographers such as Irving Penn, Alex Webb, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, His first photography job was assisting loca ...

, Jamie Morgan * Video image – Zoe Broach *

Calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

– Ruth Rowland ; Performance credits * Lead vocals – Mica Paris *

Background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

– Mica Paris, Chris Ballin, Jackie Farris, Jackie Gouche,

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Awards, Academy Award nominee for Academy Award for Best Original ...

, Julian Jackson, Yana Johnson, Marva King, Jackie Simley, Stephen Simmonds, Alisha Warren ; Instruments * Bass –

, Nick Hannan,

Stuart Zender Stuart Patrick Jude Zender (born 18 March 1974) is an English bassist. He is best known as a former member of the band Jamiroquai. Biography Early life Zender was born in Sheffield, England. He comes from a family with a musical background: ...

* Drums – Dodge, Julian Jackson, John Paris *

Flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

– Colin Graham * Flute – Chris Margary, * Guitar –

Kevan Frost Kevan Frost is a British Tony Award and Drama Desk Award–nominated composer, musician, and record producer. He is recognised for his work with the musical ''Taboo''; composing the musical score for the production alongside Boy George. This earn ...

, Randy Hope-Taylor,

John Themis John Themis is an Australian-born musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his long-term work with Boy George and Culture Club, collaborating on many of their songs and albums since the 1990s. He also worked on ''Taboo'', a music ...

* Keyboards – Peter Adams, Julian Jackson, Paul Johnson, Kojo * Percussion – Julian Jackson * Piano – Marcus Brown, James Ingram, Wayne Linsey, * Saxophone –

Ben Castle Ben Castle (born 1973) is a British jazz musician, the younger son of television presenter and entertainer Roy Castle (1932–1994) and his wife Fiona (born 1940). He placed first in the Jazz category of the 2003 International Songwriting Comp ...

, Chris Margary, Jay Work *

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

– Gareth Lucking, Jummy Sloan *

Trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

– Skip Waring * Trumpet – Raul d'Oliveira, Colin Graham, Skip Waring ; Technical and production * Arrangement – Mica Paris, Richard Hewson (strings), Julian Jackson (guitar) *

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

– Nick Hannan, Alan Jenkins, Avril MacKintosh, Bill Malina, * Engineering assistants – Paul Naguna * Mixing – Marcus Brown,

Guy Farley Guy Farley (born 5 February 1963) is a British musician and composer based in Battersea, south London. Farley is a film composer whose work includes orchestral scores, world music, contemporary sound design and has also collaborated with pop ar ...

, * Record producer –

, Guy Farley, Richie Stevens,

Stephen Simmonds Stephen Guy Simmonds is a Swedish recording artist born in Täby, Sweden, 26 June 1975. Born to a Jamaican father, a musician by profession, and a Swedish mother, he was raised in Sweden, the United States, and Israel. He studied at Adolf Fre ...

, Julian Jackson,

Omar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...

* Programming – Marcus Brown, Julian Jackson, Richie Stevens *Recorded at Jam Shack Recordings, Los Angeles;

Eden Studios Eden Studios was a commercial recording facility in west London. It opened in 1967, originally at 11 Eden Street in Kingston upon Thames (now under the Eden Walk shopping centre), before moving to 20-24 Beaumont Road in Chiswick in 1972. It was ...

, London; Blah Street Studios,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

; Roundhouse Studios, London; Marcus Studios, London; The Green Room

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Mica Paris albums Cooltempo Records albums Chrysalis Records albums