The Bangles : Releases >>

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Greatest Hits >>

The Bangles' transformation from Merseybeat and garage-smart guitar band to near-definitive example of buffed-and-polished corporate popsters is one of the great rock mysteries of the '80s. What was up with that video for "Walk Like an Egyptian," anyway? Greatest Hits puts it all in perspective, tracing the curve from the post-Beatles group sneer of "Hero Takes a Fall" to the deadly earnest Susanna Hoffs showcase of "Eternal Flame." Shortly after that ballad hit No. 1, the group split. Now unfairly remembered as little more than space fillers on turn-of-the-decade airwaves, the Bangles here make a good case for their spirit, their own songwriting gifts, and, of course, those voices. --Rickey Wright

All Over the Place >>

Glitter Years: Rarities & Gems >>

Different Light >>

Millenium digipak edition, with original artwork. Includes the tracks 'Manic Monday' & 'Walk Like An Egyptian'. 2001.

Definitive Collection >>

All Over the Place >>

In 1984, the Bangles were just another club band from Los Angeles's Paisley Underground scene. Though their peers would disband after mere college radio success, the Bangles would parlay the Underground into superstardom. The curiosity factor then afforded to an all-girl band and their later recording of Prince's "Manic Monday" were certainly instrumental to their rise, but All Over the Place proves that the Bangles were nobody's contrivance. "Hero Takes a Fall," "James," and "Tell Me" showcase Vicki Peterson and Susanna Hoffs's knack for hooks; and covers of the Merry-Go-Round's "Live" and Katrina and the Waves' "Going Down to Liverpool" give props to their heroes. All Over the Place never approached the sales figures of the band's subsequent albums, but the Bangles would never make a finer record. --Bill Crandall

The Essential Bangles >>

Doll Revolution >>

They used to be seen as sex kittens. Now, on Doll Revolution, they look like the cast of Sex and the City. Yet 15 years after the Bangles' last album, Everything, the California power-poppers breeze back in looking and sounding as though they've been gone a mere 15 minutes. Eloquent, assured, and sensual, Doll Revolution is measured yet mesmerizing, considered yet colossal. This is one 80s comeback that really is a good idea.

So is this "doll revolution" some L.A. take on Girl Power? Or a glossy update on Riot Grrrl? Hardly. The Bangles never were ones for manifestos. Melodies are more their game, and these mostly self-penned songs display a beautifully developed sense of songcraft. "Something That You Said" is an exercise in sepia longing, while the sublime West Coast harmonies of "Stealing Rosemary" is a reminder that the quartet originally began life, 20 years prior, as Paisley Underground psychedelics named the Supersonic Bangs.

The gentle ballad "I Will Take Care of You" will have lighters aloft on the comeback tour, yet is also achingly intimate. And the yearning "Single by Choice," glancing back over a life half-done, is both a shoo-in for the soundtrack of the next Bridget Jones movie and also a knowing, experience-heavy poem that they simply couldn't have crafted the first time around. The Bangles have returned older but wiser and there is, as Doll Revolution amply demonstrates, simply no substitute for experience. --Ian Gittins