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The Bangles
Bangles Greatest Hits
Columbia Records
CK-46125
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1. Hero Takes A Fall
(S. Hoffs, V. Peterson)
Taken from All Over The Place (39220)
Produced and engineered by David Kahne
Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli
Additional engineering by Andrew Berliner
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, CA
2. Going Down To Liverpool
(K. Rew)
Taken from All Over The Place (39220)
Produced and engineered by David Kahne
Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli
Additional engineering by Andrew Berliner
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, CA
3. Manic Monday
(Christopher)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
4. If She Knew What She Wants
(J. Shear)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
5. Walk Like An Egyptian
(L Sternberg)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
6. Walking Down Your Street
(S. Hoffs, L. Gutierrez, D. Kahne)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
7. Following
(M. Steele)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
8. Hazy Shade of Winter
(P. Simon)
7" Version - Taken from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack "Less Than Zero"
(44042)
Produced by Rick Rubin
Remix and Additional Production by Bangles, Bill Dresher and David White
9. In Your Room
(S. Hoffs, B. Steinberg, T. Kelly)
Taken from Everything (44056)
10. Eternal Flame
(S. Hoffs, B. Steinberg, T. Kelly)
Taken from Everything (44056)
11. Be With You
(D. Peterson, W. Igleheart)
Taken from Everything (44056)
Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge
Recorded at Ocean Way
Assistance: Joe Schiff
12. I'll Set You Free
(S. Hoffs, E. Lowen, D. Navarro)
Taken from Everything (44056)
Produced by Davitt Sigerson
Re-Recorded and Mixed by Bernard Edwards
Remix Engineer: Larry Alexander
Recording Engineers: Steve Rinkoff and Steve MacMillan
13. Everything I Wanted
(S. Hoffs, E. Lowen, D. Navarro)
Previously unreleased
Produced by David Sigerson
Recorded by John Beverly Jones
Mixed by Frank Filipetti
Recorded & Mixed at Studio 55
Assistance & Additional Engineering: Ken Felton
14. Where Were You When I Needed You
(P.F. Sloan, S. Barri)
Released as a B-Side to "Hero Takes A Fall" Single
Produced and engineered by David Kahne
Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli
Additional engineering by Andrew Berliner
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, CA
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Art Direction: Nancy Donald/David Coleman
Photography: Sheila Rock
____________________________________________________________
Los Angeles has been called the Dream Factory, perhaps because so many of the ones which come true are put on display - at the movies, across your radio dial or on MTV. But dreams usually begin in humbler places ... like the Recycler. in Los Angeles, the Recycler is the paper you pick up if you are in the mood to buy a used car cheap, or a sturdy stick of furniture, or even to put together a band. Which is how, in 1980, a folk-rocking singer named Susanna Hoffs rang up a couple of garage-rocking sisters, Debbi and Vicki Peterson, who'd placed an ad there. That's the thing about the Recycler: It can launch you into one of the most popular bands of the '80s, or fix you up with a nice end table. A lot still depends on your dreams.
For nearly a decade the Bangles, with their bright choral harmonies and sweet guitar crunch, created a sound as distinctive as any in pop. Of course they weren't averse to recycling a few items themselves. Part of what drew the quartet together was a shared appreciation for the music and, more subtly, the spirit of the '60s bands like the Beatles, Love, the Mamas and the Papas and even Cream. Before Michael Steele joined in 1982, finally locking the group's chemistry into place, "we asked her to describe her dream band," as Vicki Peterson recalled. "She said, 'The Yardbirds with Fairport Convention vocals.' That sounded great to me."
"We want to keep the intensity of those great guitar bands," Steele observed at the time, "but without our vocals."
On All Over The Place, the Bangles' first full-length album, that's pretty much what they did, and from one song to the next you were never sure which element would end up on top. Of the two songs included here, "Going Down To Liverpool" rocks the hardest, its chiming guitar lead perhaps buoyed by the exhilaration of traveling to that port town "to do nothing, for the rest of my life." Debbi Peterson's creamy vocal underscores that song's carefree quality. While on "Hero Takes A Fall," Susanna Hoffs fantasizes the revenge of a cast-off lover with equal conviction. All-women bands that play as hard and as well as the Bangles remain a rarity in rock 'n' roll, and, in several songs from this period besides "Hero Takes A Fall," the Bangles make it clear that they are not to be trifled with.
"I think there was more of a defensive attitude on the first LP," Susanna Hoffs has observed. "Whereas Different Light is more romantic in my mind."
That album, which catapulted the group to stardom and remains their definitive record, established that, for all their instrumental prowess, the Bangles would rest their reputation primarily on their singing. "Rhythm and vocals are the two most important things as far as performance goes," explained David Kahne, who produced both records. "And the Bangles already had a very identifiable vocal sound. Whether they want to sound commercial or not, they can't help it."
The group proved his point with lush, mid-tempo arrangements of Prince's "Manic Monday," and Jules Shear's "If She Knew What She Wants," Hoffs' plaintiff leads blending into a celestial choir. They followed with the wacky, angular dance track "Walk Like An Egyptian," written by Liam Sternberg. All three were big hits, the latter reaching #1 on the Billboard charts.
The success of those songs, however, coupled with the Bangles' famous addiction to sixties tunes, led casual fans to assume that the Bangles weren't serious enough songwriters. In fact, while the band has only written one song - "Let It Go" - collectively, individual members have written or co-written most of the songs on their albums. A few, like Michael Steele's spare ballad "Following," suggest shades of romance considerably darker than the Bangles' breezy pop hits. Others, like Hoffs' catchy, "Walking Down Your Street," are simply shoulda-been-hits that weren't. The group professed not to mind, at the time. "We wouldn't not do a great song just because we didn't write it,? Steele pointed out.
Teamed with Co-Producer Rick Rubin, the Bangles recorded their masterful version of Paul Simon's "Hazy Shade of Winter" for the soundtrack of the film "Less Than Zero." Along with P.F. Sloan's "Where Were You When I Needed You," which was the B-side of the Bangles' first Columbia single "Hero Takes A Fall," it's a fitting bookend to this Bangles collection. Both were once '60s hits, for Simon and Garfunkel and the Grass Roots, respectively. "Where Were You When I Needed You" is an innocent, immature kind of a song that depends on pure emotion, and at their start the Bangles could sing it that way. "Hazy Shade of Winter" demands more maturity, a fatalistic understanding of the world that still leaves for unfettered passions, and in their fullest flower the Bangles could sing that way too.
Nonetheless, everything on Everything was written by Bangles, albeit mostly with outside writers. "Eternal Flame," a rare torchy ballad, shot to #1 on the Billboard charts. The LP's centerpiece, however, was Hoffs' feverish "In My Room," the tension of its tight beat and the release of the Bangles' full-throated harmonies mirroring the frankly sexual narrative. Produced by Davitt Sigerson, the album, like A Different Light, puts the Bangles' voices front and center, even as the instrumental arrangements of the songs like "Eternal Flame" and "Be With You" turn increasingly orchestral. (It's telling that "Everything I Wanted," a hard-pop gem in the old Bangles tradition, was left off the disc and has remained unreleased until now.)
On the other hand, there's a kind of autumnal beauty throughout Everything that suggests - with the benefit of hindsight - a final ripeness.
And after that? "When it's over," sang the Bangles, "when it's over ... let it go."
- Mark Rowland
____________________________________________________________
The Bangles
Bangles Greatest Hits
Columbia Records
CK-46125
____________________________________________________________
1. Hero Takes A Fall
(S. Hoffs, V. Peterson)
Taken from All Over The Place (39220)
Produced and engineered by David Kahne
Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli
Additional engineering by Andrew Berliner
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, CA
2. Going Down To Liverpool
(K. Rew)
Taken from All Over The Place (39220)
Produced and engineered by David Kahne
Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli
Additional engineering by Andrew Berliner
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, CA
3. Manic Monday
(Christopher)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
4. If She Knew What She Wants
(J. Shear)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
5. Walk Like An Egyptian
(L Sternberg)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
6. Walking Down Your Street
(S. Hoffs, L. Gutierrez, D. Kahne)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
7. Following
(M. Steele)
Taken from A Different Light (40039)
Produced by David Kahne
Mixed by David Leonard
Engineers: Tchad Blake, Peggy McLeonard
Assistant Engineers: Mike Kloster, David Glover
Recorded at Sunset Sound Factory and Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA
8. Hazy Shade of Winter
(P. Simon)
7" Version - Taken from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack "Less Than Zero"
(44042)
Produced by Rick Rubin
Remix and Additional Production by Bangles, Bill Dresher and David White
9. In Your Room
(S. Hoffs, B. Steinberg, T. Kelly)
Taken from Everything (44056)
10. Eternal Flame
(S. Hoffs, B. Steinberg, T. Kelly)
Taken from Everything (44056)
11. Be With You
(D. Peterson, W. Igleheart)
Taken from Everything (44056)
Mixed by Chris Lord-Alge
Recorded at Ocean Way
Assistance: Joe Schiff
12. I'll Set You Free
(S. Hoffs, E. Lowen, D. Navarro)
Taken from Everything (44056)
Produced by Davitt Sigerson
Re-Recorded and Mixed by Bernard Edwards
Remix Engineer: Larry Alexander
Recording Engineers: Steve Rinkoff and Steve MacMillan
13. Everything I Wanted
(S. Hoffs, E. Lowen, D. Navarro)
Previously unreleased
Produced by David Sigerson
Recorded by John Beverly Jones
Mixed by Frank Filipetti
Recorded & Mixed at Studio 55
Assistance & Additional Engineering: Ken Felton
14. Where Were You When I Needed You
(P.F. Sloan, S. Barri)
Released as a B-Side to "Hero Takes A Fall" Single
Produced and engineered by David Kahne
Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli
Additional engineering by Andrew Berliner
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, CA
____________________________________________________________
Art Direction: Nancy Donald/David Coleman
Photography: Sheila Rock
____________________________________________________________
Los Angeles has been called the Dream Factory, perhaps because so many of the ones which come true are put on display - at the movies, across your radio dial or on MTV. But dreams usually begin in humbler places ... like the Recycler. in Los Angeles, the Recycler is the paper you pick up if you are in the mood to buy a used car cheap, or a sturdy stick of furniture, or even to put together a band. Which is how, in 1980, a folk-rocking singer named Susanna Hoffs rang up a couple of garage-rocking sisters, Debbi and Vicki Peterson, who'd placed an ad there. That's the thing about the Recycler: It can launch you into one of the most popular bands of the '80s, or fix you up with a nice end table. A lot still depends on your dreams.
For nearly a decade the Bangles, with their bright choral harmonies and sweet guitar crunch, created a sound as distinctive as any in pop. Of course they weren't averse to recycling a few items themselves. Part of what drew the quartet together was a shared appreciation for the music and, more subtly, the spirit of the '60s bands like the Beatles, Love, the Mamas and the Papas and even Cream. Before Michael Steele joined in 1982, finally locking the group's chemistry into place, "we asked her to describe her dream band," as Vicki Peterson recalled. "She said, 'The Yardbirds with Fairport Convention vocals.' That sounded great to me."
"We want to keep the intensity of those great guitar bands," Steele observed at the time, "but without our vocals."
On All Over The Place, the Bangles' first full-length album, that's pretty much what they did, and from one song to the next you were never sure which element would end up on top. Of the two songs included here, "Going Down To Liverpool" rocks the hardest, its chiming guitar lead perhaps buoyed by the exhilaration of traveling to that port town "to do nothing, for the rest of my life." Debbi Peterson's creamy vocal underscores that song's carefree quality. While on "Hero Takes A Fall," Susanna Hoffs fantasizes the revenge of a cast-off lover with equal conviction. All-women bands that play as hard and as well as the Bangles remain a rarity in rock 'n' roll, and, in several songs from this period besides "Hero Takes A Fall," the Bangles make it clear that they are not to be trifled with.
"I think there was more of a defensive attitude on the first LP," Susanna Hoffs has observed. "Whereas Different Light is more romantic in my mind."
That album, which catapulted the group to stardom and remains their definitive record, established that, for all their instrumental prowess, the Bangles would rest their reputation primarily on their singing. "Rhythm and vocals are the two most important things as far as performance goes," explained David Kahne, who produced both records. "And the Bangles already had a very identifiable vocal sound. Whether they want to sound commercial or not, they can't help it."
The group proved his point with lush, mid-tempo arrangements of Prince's "Manic Monday," and Jules Shear's "If She Knew What She Wants," Hoffs' plaintiff leads blending into a celestial choir. They followed with the wacky, angular dance track "Walk Like An Egyptian," written by Liam Sternberg. All three were big hits, the latter reaching #1 on the Billboard charts.
The success of those songs, however, coupled with the Bangles' famous addiction to sixties tunes, led casual fans to assume that the Bangles weren't serious enough songwriters. In fact, while the band has only written one song - "Let It Go" - collectively, individual members have written or co-written most of the songs on their albums. A few, like Michael Steele's spare ballad "Following," suggest shades of romance considerably darker than the Bangles' breezy pop hits. Others, like Hoffs' catchy, "Walking Down Your Street," are simply shoulda-been-hits that weren't. The group professed not to mind, at the time. "We wouldn't not do a great song just because we didn't write it,? Steele pointed out.
Teamed with Co-Producer Rick Rubin, the Bangles recorded their masterful version of Paul Simon's "Hazy Shade of Winter" for the soundtrack of the film "Less Than Zero." Along with P.F. Sloan's "Where Were You When I Needed You," which was the B-side of the Bangles' first Columbia single "Hero Takes A Fall," it's a fitting bookend to this Bangles collection. Both were once '60s hits, for Simon and Garfunkel and the Grass Roots, respectively. "Where Were You When I Needed You" is an innocent, immature kind of a song that depends on pure emotion, and at their start the Bangles could sing it that way. "Hazy Shade of Winter" demands more maturity, a fatalistic understanding of the world that still leaves for unfettered passions, and in their fullest flower the Bangles could sing that way too.
Nonetheless, everything on Everything was written by Bangles, albeit mostly with outside writers. "Eternal Flame," a rare torchy ballad, shot to #1 on the Billboard charts. The LP's centerpiece, however, was Hoffs' feverish "In My Room," the tension of its tight beat and the release of the Bangles' full-throated harmonies mirroring the frankly sexual narrative. Produced by Davitt Sigerson, the album, like A Different Light, puts the Bangles' voices front and center, even as the instrumental arrangements of the songs like "Eternal Flame" and "Be With You" turn increasingly orchestral. (It's telling that "Everything I Wanted," a hard-pop gem in the old Bangles tradition, was left off the disc and has remained unreleased until now.)
On the other hand, there's a kind of autumnal beauty throughout Everything that suggests - with the benefit of hindsight - a final ripeness.
And after that? "When it's over," sang the Bangles, "when it's over ... let it go."
- Mark Rowland
____________________________________________________________
