Top Ten Angelic Songs: Angel Dance (#7)

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Here's another angelic tune to counter the notion that a lot of people think I'm demonic for attacking all of these classic "masterpiece" songs in my "songs that make me cringe" series. This is a countdown of my favorite songs with "angel" in the title. Here's the next song. #7: Angel Dance - Los Lobos Hey, a song that you may have heard of!!!! In 2010 Robert Plant formed a band called Band of Joy and covered this song on the album. But it goes back to "just another band from East L.A." and their 1990 album The Neighborhood. In the U2 diatribe I mentioned seeing the BoDeans opening. Los Lobos was also on the bill that night. (At least I had a great time with the opening bands!) This band is an enigma to a lot of people: they've had "one hit" (a cover of the Ritchie Valens song "La Bamba," which served as the title song to the Valens biopic) but were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple of years ago (and got my fan vote!). They've worked with Paul Simon (on Graceland, which resulted in a lawsuit over the songwriter credits for "All Around the World [Or a Myth of Fingerprints]"); and, as previously mentioned, got a boost when Plant covered this song (not to mention Waylon Jennings covering "Will the Wolf Survive" in the 80s). But they remain, over 35 years after their formation, relatively unknown in the mainstream music world. That is a crying shame. Los Lobos was, and remains, one of the great American bands out there. The contrast between the growl of Louie Perez and the angelic voice (no pun intended) of David Hedalgo makes for a great sound that combines everything from their Mexican-American roots to country to straight-ahead rock and roll. What a band. Angel Dance Written by David Hedalgo and Louie Perez Recorded by Los Lobos From The Neighborhood, 1990 (Also covered by Robert Plant on Band of Joy, 2010) Good night, sleep tight: