Bangles - Everything CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

make their dark visions palatable to the masses, encourages the Bangles to kick hard into their songs.

Not that they're doing this all themselves. Hired guns Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly helped Hoffs write three songs, most notably the insouciant, inviting "In Your Room." But by taking more chances, the Bangles sound more comfortable than they have since their 1982 EP Bangles. On numbers like "I'll Set You Free" and "Make a Play for Her Now," their harmonies are the clearest and most evocative they've ever been – their voices float, coalesce and soar. The only problem is the lyrics. The Bangles are indeed comfortable on Everything, but the flip side to being comfortable is being complacent. The words of "Bell Jar," "Glitter Years" and several other songs circle around ideas without zeroing in, settling for cliché when they give up on precision. But the lyrics are balanced by the strong music, which is everything the quartet wants it to be. (RS 540)

JIMMY GUTERMAN