and cool little riffettes right out of a crackly car radio, circa 1967. The three- and four-part harmonies were the biggest flashback of all, loosely and gleefully quoting everyone from the Beatles to the Mamas and the Papas. Miniskirts and Jean Shrimpton hairdos notwithstanding, the Bangles made a modern statement: they dared imply that men were only a part of their solar system, not its center.
Radical social astronomy or no, the Bangles were immediately praised – and pigeonholed – as traditionalists. And like too many traditionalists, they didn't sell as many records as they deserved to. All Over the Place was an eminently lovable album, sure, but it didn't have enough – as it was so pithily phrased in pop rock's heyday – of that now sound.
Different Light puts then and now in significantly better balance. Much to their credit, the Bangles are using less hook-happy song structure and more modernized production, covering their roots without burying them ten feet under. Not that these women were ever the knee-jerk revivalists some wanted them to be, but this second LP belongs more to the Bangles than to their idols.
No doubt most of the squawking in the land of 1000 classics will be about David Kahne's production, which is more deliberate, sophisticated and airwaves ready than the production on All Over the Place. For the most part, though, squawking is unjustified. "Manic Monday" – authored by Christopher, a.k.a. Prince – yearns a little too baldly for Top Forty fame, but that's partly a byproduct of the smothering of Susanna Hoffs' lead vocal in a busy mix. Otherwise, the oversynthed bridge scoots by too fast to annoy, and seasonings like acoustic piano add too much to the momentum of the track for dismissal as production filigree. The slickest thing about the song, actually, is the song itself – it is not, shall we say, one of Prince's more painstaking efforts.
The three other nonoriginals on the record revert to the Bangles' usual terrific taste in outside material – particularly "If She Knew What She Wants," Jules Shear's should-be classic about the aggravating task of loving someone whose emotional age is around six.
As for the Bangles' own song smithery, it's plainly starting to advance past the fan-apes-idol phase. Some of this growing up may be the result of dividing the writing and arranging chores – guitarists Susanna Hoffs and Vicki Peterson now share the burden with bassist Michael Steele and drummer Debbi Peterson. At any rate, the band
