A recording angel is a traditional figure that watches over people, marking their actions on a tablet for future judgment.

Artist Theodore Birnbaum devised a modified version of this image, depicting a cherub marking grooves into a phonograph disc with a quill.

The recording angel was retained in areas where the depiction of a dog was deemed offensive, and in North and South America where the His Master's Voice trademark was controlled by RCA Victor.

They departed the label in 1957, having already accumulated a catalog of about 500 titles, when EMI merged Angel into its recently acquired Capitol Records subsidiary and moved from imported discs to U.S.

[7] In 2001, Angel released newly remastered and expanded editions of the soundtracks of three Rodgers and Hammerstein films – Oklahoma!, Carousel and The King and I.