When the Angels Swing

When the Angels Swing is a live album by German girl group No Angels. It was released by Cheyenne Records and Polydor on 29 November 2002 and recorded in promotion of a special one-off big band concert at the Berlin Tränenpalast on 2 October 2002. Musicians Jens Kuphal and Till Brönner were consulted to re-arrange songs from the group's first two albums Elle'ments (2001) and Now... Us! (2002) for the album which was inspired by the New York City Stork Club and several 1940s swing standards.

The album earned mixed to positive reviews from music critics who noted that it differed highly from the group's previous, mainstream pop releases. While the album failed to chart on the Swiss Albums Chart, When the Angels Swing peaked at number 9 on the German Albums Chart and reached number 22 in Austria. In promotion of the album, "All Cried out," a cover of the same-titled 1984 song by English singer Alison Moyet was issued as a single and became a top 20 success in Germany.

Background
In June 2002, No Angels released their second album, Now... Us!, which featured writing credits by all band members and received critical acclaim from many critics who had thought that the band would not last past their first album Elle'ments (2001). The album debuted at number one on the German Albums Chart and was eventually certified both platinum and double gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Its leading single "Something About Us", a musical response to what the band felt was intense and sometimes unfair and inaccurate media criticism at the time—predominantly resulting from their casting band image—became the group's third non-consecutive number-one hit in Austria and Germany. Still during the recording of Now... Us! in spring 2002, the girls thought about taking another musical direction and how their songs would sound with a different musical approach. Inspired by Robbie Williams's cover album Swing When You're Winning (2002), in September 2002, the group took a few weeks off to prepare for a special swing concert at the Berlin Tränenpalast.

Critical reception
Kronen Zeitung found that When the Angels Swing offered "little innovation, but great entertainment value." The newspaper's editorial praised the band for their decision to re-record own songs instead of adapting "old Sinatra classics," and concluded: "This album is certainly indispensable for fans and certainly worth a listen or two for anyone who hasn't heard anything about the No Angels so far." Dorothee von Peterffy from laut.de rated the album two out of five stars. She felt that the songs were too modern to fit swing style arrangements and thus, When the Angels Swing was not keeping up with other swing album releases such as Williams' Swing When You're Winning (2001).

Chart performance
Released on 29 November 2002, When the Angels Swing debuted at number 89 on the German Albums Chart in the week of 9 December 2002. The following week, it jumped to – and peaked at – number nine on the chart, becoming the band's third consecutive top ten album. The album would spend 14 weeks on the German Albums Chart. In Austria, When the Angels Swing debuted and peaked at number 22 on the Austrian Albums Chart in the week of 15 December 2002. It remained ten weeks inside the top 75.

Credits and personnel

 * Achim Hartmann – bass trombone
 * Alexander Feucht – violin
 * Andrea Thoma – violin
 * Axel Schlosser – trumpet
 * Charles Franck – piano
 * Christian Diener – acoustic bass, electric bass
 * Dan Collette – trumpet
 * Dirk Decker – vocal recording
 * Edgar Herzog – baritone saxophone
 * Grégoire Peters – tenor saxophone
 * Günter Bollmann – trombone
 * Hendrik Soll – keyboards
 * Jan Larsen – viola
 * Jens Kuphal – producer
 * Joe Giorgianni – trumpet
 * Jörg A. Keller – arranger, conductor
 * Jürgen Grimm – grand piano
 * Kai Brückner – guitar
 * Karl Schloz – guitar
 * Lucas Von Cranach – assistant production manager
 * Mark Wyand – alto saxophone
 * Martin von der Nahmer – viola
 * Meta Hüper – violin
 * Miriam Müller – violin
 * Nik Hafemann – executive producer, vocal arranger
 * No Angels – vocal arranger
 * Norbert Nagel – alto saxophone
 * Olga Holdorff – violin
 * Peter Tiehuis – guitar
 * Pino Brönner – production manager
 * Regina Weber – management
 * Roland Peil – percussion
 * Rüdiger Baldauf – trumpet
 * Sebastian Fischer – cello
 * Sibylle Strobel – violin
 * Stefan Heinemeyer – cello
 * Thomas Loup – trombone
 * Till Brönner – arranger, music director, producer
 * Tobias Lehmann – recording angineer
 * Torsten Maaß – arranger
 * Uli Plettendorff – trombone
 * Walter Gauchel – tenor saxophone
 * Wolf Kerschek – arranger
 * Wolfgang Haffner – drums