Notes

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Miles away from the L.A. soft rock paranoia of Everything or the over-produced pop gems of their second album, Different Light, the Bangles' self-titled debut EP is a rough and ready, heavily '60s-sounding record. Produced by David Leon, the five tracks have a raw, live feel and are very similar to their first single, "Getting out of Hand." The EP only took a few days to record but half a year to release and the early Bangles lineup included Annette Zilinkas on bass instead of Michael Steele. "Want You" opens up with the familiar Bangles layered vocal harmonies, but is a rather punky affair reminiscent of the Seeds; Vicki Peterson, who always came up with the rockier tunes in the band's subsequent albums, unsurprisingly wrote it. "How Is the Air up There" is a cover of a punk classic originally penned by New Zealand 's the La De Das and the poppy and perky "Mary Street" offers glimpses of the Bangles' future sound and displays their more-than-capable songwriting abilities. Drummer Debbi Peterson said that they wanted the record to have a garage-sounding quality, so it is quite ironical to think that only four years later the girls were about to become one of the most successful chart groups of the '80s with their slickly produced synth pop. Immature sounding in places, The Bangles EP is very much an introduction to their fine first album, All Over the Place. Not as widely available as their other recordings, this EP is still well worth checking out by fans eager to discover the roots of the female quartet.