explained the inspiration behind the song by describing the dream as follows: In the biography Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, Hendrix historians Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek have compared "Angel"which they describe as "arguably Jimi's finest ballad"with fellow The Cry of Love track "Night Bird Flying", citing similarities in their lyrics as evidence of the more personal subject matter explored by the musician in his later career. The song has also been likened lyrically to "May This Be Love" (from Are You Experienced) and "Long Hot Summer Night" (from Electric Ladyland), in which Shapiro and Glebbeek feel that Hendrix is seeking a "mystical woman... as his only means of inner peace and personal salvation". Release and reception Following Hendrix's death in September 1970, "Angel" was among the ten songs selected by Mitch Mitchell and Eddie Kramer for inclusion on the first posthumous studio album, The Cry of Love, released in March 1971. In the same month, the song was released as a single in Europe, and it was also included as the B-side to the "Freedom" single released in North America. In 1995, the track appeared on the controversial Alan Douglas-produced Voodoo Soup album, and in 1997, it was featured on the first new release by the family-run Experience Hendrix, First Rays of the New Rising Sun. "Angel" is generally considered an important song in Hendrix's back catalogue. In a four-star review of The Cry of Love for AllMusic, critic Sean Westergaard identified the track, in addition to "Ezy Ryder", as one of the main highlights of the album, while critic Robert Christgau praised it, along with "Night Bird Flying", as an "offhand rhapsody". The song is included on several Hendrix compilation albums, including The Ultimate Experience (1992), Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix (1997), and Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection (2001). Legacy As a popular track in the Hendrix library, "Angel" has been recorded by a number of artists over the years. English singer-songwriter Rod Stewart was the first to adapt the song for his 1972 album Never a Dull Moment. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic describes it as a "soulful reading of the original". The song was also released as a single, which reached number four on the UK Singles Chart and number 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Stewart with the Faces recorded a live performance of "Angel", which appears on Coast to Coast: