This is a great song, and I agree I like the single version better. Same with Please. Why is that? For Please, the Album version, like other songs on the album, is U2 trying way to hard not to sound like U2, IMO. For Angels, I love the ending of the single version...
And I don't have to how
And I don't need to know why
And I don't want to promise
'Cause I don't want to lie
Just know that I need You, tonight
Ahhhhhh...
Somewhere, Someone, by your door...
As for the rest of the song, it's beautiful in it's stripped down, U2 version. All the extra noises and synths just detract from an otherwise gorgeous song.
POP was mismanaged, not a mistake. I'm still convinced that the lead single of Discotheque with U2 doing the Village People thing in the video alienated a lot of people, including some long-time fans. I agree with whoever said that a release plan starting with Gone, then Staring at the Sun, Please (single version on the album), MOFO, then Discotheque, with a Nov 1997 release, would have been a recipe for 2.5M in U.S. sales added to R.O.W. 6.5M = 9M. Critics stick with their original reviews, U2 is ready to play the songs, and POP goes down in history as one of U2's top records.
It is a Top Record anyway, the way I see it...just talking about the general perception of most of the public and now even U2 themselves, it seems.