Search - Bangles :: All Over The Place/A Different Light/Everything

Great way to get all three full-length albums

PenaltyShot | CA | 04/15/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Bangles, originally labelled as part of the early Eighties "Paisley Underground" movement along with groups like Rain Parade and Salvation Army, blended the best of mid-60s pop with modern 80s style.This CD set gives you all three of their full-length albums at an inexpensive price. Different Light (there is no "A" in the title) was the blockbuster, but for my money, All Over The Place is the real winner. Meld gorgeous harmonies with guitars that have bite, along with smart lyrics, and you have this album. Their choice of cover songs is always well-infomed. Their cover of Merry-Go-Round's great song "Live" is spot-on and actually sounds better than the original. They took Kimberly Rew's (from Katrina & The Waves) "Going Down To Liverpool" and did a much cooler version than the Waves did. In fact, Katrina was so impressed that her group modified the way they sang the song live to more closely match the Bangles' version. Likewise, their cover of Big Star's "September Gurls" is a heavenly winner, with great chiming guitars. I still like Big Star's more disheveled version of that song better, but the Bangles really do it well. One of my favorite songs on Different Light.The album Everything is not up to par with the previous two, mainly because the material tries to be too "mature" and "adult," which means it got overproduced. Also, the quality of the tunes just isn't really there for the most part, compared to previous efforts. The best song on the album, for my money, is "Complicated Girl." It should've been the hit instead of "Eternal Flame." (Eternal Flame always frustrated me, because here we have Susanna Hoffs' little-girlish voice over a great big orchestral wash for the entire song, and the other members of the band don't join in vocally until the very end, when they all sing the chorus in glorious harmony...and then the song quickly fades out from there. Dang! The song would have been so much better if they had harmonized like that on the whole song.)I agree with the reviewer from Texas that it would have been nice to have the Bangles' EP too. This was when Annette Zilinskas was still the bass player (later joining Blood On The Saddle and subsequently replaced by Michael Steele). There are some great songs on this EP. "I Want You" is a wild, driving song that sounds like it could've been a long-lost gem on a Nuggets compilation. Their cover of The La-De-Da's "How Is The Air Up There?" is also good, although it is a bit too prettied up for my taste. The La-De-Da's put a whole lot more bite, snarl and fuzzbox into their original version.I actually have a CD3 (remember those? 3-inch CD singles? I miss those), which includes three of the five songs from the Bangles EP on it. But sadly, "I Want You" isn't one of the songs included, so it sure would've been nice to have had the full original EP as part of this package.Also missing is their original single which was released on Downkiddie Records. This rarity includes "Getting Out Of Hand" and "Call On Me," two great songs that never made it to any CD, as far as I know. I have the songs on an old 45, but it would be nice to have them on CD. [Update to this review: I just noticed that the Japanese version of the new album "Doll Revolution" has these two songs as bonus tracks. Yay!]There are also a lot of B-sides, like a great cover of the Grass Roots' "Where Were You When I Needed You?" that would have been great in this box. Ah well, maybe some of this stuff will appear in a Rarities compilation sometime, so we won't have to hunt them down.All in all, though, this is great stuff for the price. One of the best "girl bands" there was."

Where is the first release?

Matt2nd | Texas | 05/14/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"All over the Place is the lost classic. Beatlesque pop without a bad song in sight. Save Talk Show (and possibly The Pretender's debut), it marks the 80's best slice of girl-band rock/pop. "Hero Takes A Fall" and "Dover Beach" doncha wish someone still made songs like that? A Different Light brought fame and recognition. A worthy entry but more for the album cuts (esp."September Gurls", "Walking Down the Street" and "If She Knew.." among others)than the overplayed "Egyptian" and "Manic Monday". Everything features the great "In Your Room". Otherwise, the band moves toward maturity (read dull slickness) losing their earlier sense of abandon and joy. That is, the Bangles were better when they pretended to be Beatles than when they tried to be Heart. Everything isn't terrible (especially in contrast to current music's sorry state) but it's no great shakes either. Biggest disappointment: the absence of the Bangles EP. Released before All Over the Place it features several unknown gems such as "Mary Street", "I Want You" and "How is the Air Up There?" The 5-song ep (released before Michael Steele joined the band) comes close to All Over the Place's quality. Its never been released on cd so far as I know. Shame it wasn't included here. They should have included the ep and assorted non-cd b sides on an extra cd. For the price though, this is a good way to get the (almost) complete Bangles catalog."

Three Classic Albums For One Low Price

a music fan | Missouri | 02/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This box set was the way that I got the three full-length CDs of the Bangles. Each CD is wonderful, but All Over the Place is the best CD, with Everything in a close second. The best thing about this collection is that I was able to get three CDs for twenty-five dollars, which is a major bargain, considering the high-quality level of the CDs. I already gave individual reviews of each CD, so you can just read those to find out about what makes each one great. To conclude, the Bangles are ABSOLUTELY the best band in the history of rock and roll!"