Album: Like a Virgin (1984)
Songwriters: Madonna/Stephen Bray
Producer: Nile Rodgers

You know, I literally never realised until I started writing this review, but face it - Madonna and Stephen Bray never wrote that many great songs together. Sure, Express Yourself and Into the Groove (outside the UK, bizarrely relegated to the b-side of Angel) are masterpieces, but ultimately their collaborations are the inferior tracks on the Like a Virgin album. There’s a strange dichotomy - the outside songwriters’ work has a variety of styles and instrumentation (Tony Thompson’s drumming is a particularly strong asset), whereas the Bray cowrites fall back on more typical synthpop. Angel suffers heavily as a result - the drum machine beat comes in lightly, as if it’ll build later on, but it just never gets off the ground. The chorus should escalate, but the backing never changes, and smoothed out, it comes and goes so quickly it makes little impact. To me, it’s not even a highlight of the filler compared to, say, the far more passionate Stay, let alone worthy of release as a single. It says a lot that Into the Groove, despite being purchased by most of the world as the b-side, is so much more fondly remembered.

It’s unclear why, but Angel only has a promo video made up of clips from Burning Up, Borderline, Like a Virgin and Material Girl - which I guess has contributed to its deservedly overlooked status over the years.