The album is often considered Wenge’s weakest, particularly due to a different strategy consisting of releasing it in two volumes. It was also during this period that the first real tensions began to be felt in the studio. Moreover, Volume 2 is the lesser-known one. One may also wonder whether the two volumes were released at the same time.
Lol, that’s not true. It’s Pleins Feux that’s considered Wenge’s weakest project. Les Anges Adorables is actually praised as one of Wenge’s best albums. At that time the public said that JB Mpiana, Werrason, Adolphe Dominguez, Blaise Bula, Makaba and Masela achieved their musical maturity. People started even respecting Alain Makaba more for the way he was involved in the project (guitars, keyboards, arrangements, compositions, vocals). It was also the first time that he released a song where he was singing, which he first only was doing in concerts
Volume 2 is maybe lesser known for people born during the 2000s. But those who witnessed the succes of it, know how big the succes of Masampu was which became Wenge 4x4's intro for concerts. The succes of Capitaine de Beneluxe, Willy Muntu, Kama Vuama, Promesse Bouboule and Sourire des Vendeurs. Different street-bands of that time used to sing Capitaine de Beneluxe. Extra Musica even took a part of it by singing it in the song Reconnaisance (1997) on their own way
Also the strategy of releasing it in two albums, was because at that time most bands were still releasing albums of 6 or 8 tracks. It were only Koffi Olomidé and Papa Wemba who released albums of 10 tracks at that time, which was seen as alot. Another thing is that at that time cds had a max of 80 min, 12 songs that last more than 7 minutes would defintely not achieve it. Also it's not the first time that Wenge was about to release an album of two volumes. Kalayi Boeing and Pleins Feux had normally to be the first project to be so. But there were sadly problems around the recording and production of Pleins Feux and the album itself being released in 1996 instead of 1992, while it wasn't finished.(guitars, vocals, cri, drums)
Before Les Anges Adorables, you had a part of the public, that was still not considering Wenge 4x4, despite being the most popular group of Zaire at that time. People also saying that their songs don’t make any sense. But the perception slowly changed because of the songs Surprise Kapangala, La Vie and Willy Muntu. Today, Surprise Kapangala is considered as one of the best songs Werrason made in Wenge 4x4. La Vie is today considered as a classic, it even became one of the songs that carried Wenge Maison Mère until the release of Intervention Rapide.The song Willy Muntu remained Wenge 4x4’s closing concert song until the release of Pentagone
Les Anges Adorables had also the song Tempete du Desert, written by Didier Masela and dedicated to Kongulu Mobutu. The song was a real game-changer in the beef between Wenge El Paris and Wenge 4x4, ultimately pushing Kongulu to fully side with Wenge 4x4 again and abandoning Marie Paul.
Before Les Anges Adorables there was alot of polemique for the way Koffi Olomidé attacked Wenge 4x4 in the Noblesse Oblige-album, Pepe Kallé in his album Diviser par Deux and Empire Bakuba’s atalaku Djuna Mumbafu in the albums Pepe Kallé - Diviser par Deux (1992) and Papy Tex - Clarification Musique (1993). Wenge Musica responded in Les Anges Adorables through Ekokota and Blaise Bula, which made the public talk about it for months.
In volume 2, artists like Titina Al Capone and Alain Mpela finally got the opportunity to put songs into Wenge through this album. Despite being part of the singing-section people were still doubting Aimelia’s ability to replace Manda Chante, but with this album Aimelia silenced delivering incredible vocals.
Les Anges Adorables Volume 1 was released in June 1994, while Volume 2 came out in October 1994. Both albums were a huge success and Wenge 4x4 delivered great shows in Kinshasa, cities of Zaire and African countries. If Les Anges Adorables flopped, it wouldn’t have been the case and they would have been able to tour the USA and Europe, which they did in 1995
The tensions within Wenge actually dated back to 1991 during Kin é Bougé. Toward the end of the 1992 tour (when they came to record Kala-Yi-Boeing and restart Pleins Feux), there were also internal tensions, Makaba threatening to leave, Blaise Bula being unhappy and according rumors requesting for the admin to be changed, etc.
