Balaam And The Angel

Formed in Birmingham, England during 1984, the gothic pop outfit Balaam & the Angel originated with three Scottish-born siblings known as the Morris brothers: Mark on vocals and bass, Des behind the drums, and Jim handling guitar. The brothers had already logged years on stage as children, delivering cabaret numbers inside men’s clubs; once grown, they first pursued a pop direction yet drifted into the goth rock scene after serving as openers for the Cult. Launching their own imprint, Chapter 22 Records, the group issued the debut EP Love Me in 1985. Follow-up release Day and Night then attracted Virgin, which delivered the full-length The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1987. Extensive road work alongside Iggy Pop and Kiss preceded the 1988 arrival of second guitarist Ian McKean and the harder-edged album Live Free or Die. Neither that LP nor its predecessor registered on the charts, yet the band pressed ahead, heading to San Francisco to cut 1989’s Days of Madness. Virgin ended the relationship after the record’s commercial disappointment. Shortening their name to Balaam, the musicians surfaced again with the heavy metal EP No More Innocence in 1991, followed by Prime Time in 1993.