[B]Bangles
[I]Before and After Columbia[/I]
A Galemark Compilation[/B] [I]When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best[/I]
[I]Bangles are...[/I]
Susanna Hoffs - Rhythm Guitar and Vocals
Debbi Peterson - Drums and Vocals
Vicki Peterson - Lead Guitar and Vocals
Annette Zilinskas - Bass and Harmonica (Tracks 4-10)
Michael Steele - Bass and Vocals (Tracks 11-17)
[I]Tracks...[/I]
01 - Getting Out of Hand {V.Peterson}
02 - Call on Me {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson, D.Roback}
03 - No Mag Commercial {S.Hoffs, V. Peterson}
04 - Bitchen Summer (Speedway) {S.Hoffs, D.Roback}
05 - The Real World {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson}
06 - I'm In Line {D.Peterson, V.Peterson, S.Hoffs}
07 - Want You {V.Peterson}
08 - Mary Street {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson}
09 - How Is The Air Up There {S.Duboff, A.Kornfeld}
10 - Real World (Remix) {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson}
11 - I Got Nothing {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson, J.Shear}
12 - Hero Takes a Fall (live) {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson}
13 - Hazy Shade of Winter (Purple Haze mix) {P.Simon}
14 - Hazy Shade of Winter (7 inch dub mix) {P.Simon}
15 - Hazy Shade of Winter (7 inch version) {P.Simon}
16 - Hazy Shade of Winter (Shady Haze version) {P.Simon}
17 - Everything I Wanted {S.Hoffs, E.Lowen, D.Navarro}
18 - Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun) {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson, D.Peterson}
19 - Hazy Shade of Winter (Acoustic version) {P.Simon}
20 - Let It Go (Acoustic version) {S.Hoffs, V.Peterson, D.Peterson, M.Steele}
Tracks 1-2 from their self produced first single - Downkiddie Records DK001 (1981)
Track 3 from "The Best of the Radio Tokyo Tapes" - Chameleon Records CHLP-8608 (compilation date 1987, recording date 1982)
Track 4 from "Rodney on the ROQ, Volume III" - Posh Boy Records PBS-140 (compilation date 1982, recording date 1982)
Tracks 5-9 from "Bangles" (aka "The Faulty EP") - Faulty Records FEP-1302 (1982)
Track 10 from a promo only 12" single - Faulty Records FPDJ-1000A (1983)
Track 11 from "The Goonies, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" - Epic/CBS Records Canada SE-40067 (1985)
Track 12 from "Live! for Life" (AMC Cancer Research Benefit Album) - International Records Syndicate, Inc. - IRS-5731 (compilation date 1986, recording date likely 1984)
Tracks 13-16 from "Hazy Shade of Winter 12" Mixes" - Def Jam 44-07540 (1987)
Track 17 from "Greatest Hits" - Columbia 46125 (compilation date 1990, recording date 1988)
Tracks 18-20 from "Sweetheart of the Sun" 7" single - Maurices/Play Network 10-0920 (2011)
[I]Info...[/I]
This Galemark compilation brings together all of the vinyl releases from the Bangles which were not associated with one of their three Columbia albums. The title "Before and After Columbia" is somewhat of a misnomer, as seven of these tracks are from the Columbia era, and six of them were released on Columbia or a Columbia subsidiary. However, that info doesn't make for a catchy title, so Galemark took a slight liberty in this instance.
The Bangles, perhaps more than any other group, show the cautionary tale of how a major label can suck the soul out of a band in an effort to make them more "commercial". Anyone who is only familiar with radio staples "Walk Like an Egyptian" or "Eternal Flame" would probably be surprised to know that the girls started off wanting to be a tight little power-pop combo, along the lines of Big Star or Badfinger. In fact, there is an argument to be made that the tracks in this compilation represent some of the finest power-pop ever recorded. They don't often receive that recognition for two reasons. First, many folks have never heard much of this work. Second, their later fame and MTV marketability diminished much if not most of their "indie cred". Hearing the recordings in this collection should make a believer out of even the most faithless cynic. It is a criminal oversight that "All Over the Place" doesn't appear on the "Shake Some Action" top 200 power-pop albums (again, the thing about cred), and these recordings are often even stronger than that album.
Susanna Hoffs joined sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson to form a band in Los Angeles in December, 1980. They initially used rotating or no bassist. The first two tracks here come from their self released single, which was nearly impossible to find until a brief, fan club only reissue, made it merely extremely difficult to find. This release carried their original moniker "The Bangs". A legal issue forced the band to change their name at the last minute so they dropped "The" and added the letters "les" (inspired by The Beatles) to the end to become Bangles. The later reissue carried their famous name with a notation in the corner "Formerly The Bang!s". Bass credits on the sleeve state "Vicki Peterson & Debbie Peterson" (perhaps each plays one one track, it is unclear). This demo single caught the ear of I.R.S. Records owner Miles Copeland, who signed the band to his small "Faulty Records" label because the girls didn't want to become a "poor man's Go-Go's" (who were on IRS at the time). This was the period where Annette Zilinskas was added to round out the quartet. They went on to record an eponymous EP for Faulty, which was re-released by IRS when the subsidiary folded. Around the time of the very brief IRS reissue, the girls found that Columbia Records was interested in signing them. As that was the label "where Bob (Dylan) and Bruce (Springsteen) made their hits", the Bangles felt they would be a perfect fit.
Annette left to pursue another project and former Runaways bassist Michael Steele was added to complete their most well known lineup. Things did not go as planned at Columbia and the girls began a downward spiral of bitterness and frustration which would culminate in their disbanding just five short years later. The record company stripped them of much of their creative control and packaged them as a "T&A act" for the MTV generation. The change in their sound is clearly documented in listening to their three Columbia albums sequentially. It isn't that the later music is bad, just that each successive album became less of a "Bangles" album and more of a record label product.
One of the most "Bangle-y" moments in their Columbia output came when they were asked to contribute a cover to the "Less Than Zero" soundtrack. They chose "Hazy Shade of Winter", a song they had done since their earliest days as a bar band, and self produced what they felt was an excellent effort. However, when they turned in the tapes to project executive producer Rick Rubin, he didn't just remix it (as is customary with this type of project), but he replaced Michael's beautiful bass line with a trendy (but very lame) bass synth part. The girls didn't accept the decision and threatened to withdraw. A compromise was reached when Rubin gave in on using their mix, but only if it was labeled a "remix". This caused confusion as it was unclear that the single and the album version were actually the exact same master, though labeled differently. Track 13 here is a long "disco single" remix. Track 14 is the Rubin mix with synth bass. Track 15 is the Bangles mix which appeared as the album track and single. Track 16 (oddly) is just track 15 played backwards. If you don't care to listen to four versions of this song, track 15 is the one to keep. Again, it shows how good of a band they could be when they called the shots.
Their three albums for Columbia do tell a story. This collection helps fill in some of the before and after. The Bangles broke up acrimoniously in 1989 and did not record again as a quartet until 1998 when they officially re-formed to record a song for the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, at the behest of the film's director (and Hoffs' husband) Jay Roach. This led to an album, the 2002 effort "Doll Revolution" (which sadly had no vinyl releases). The most recent single "Anna Lee", in which the vinyl issue is a different mix than the CD, features just the original trio of Susanna, Debbi and Vicki (along with sidemen), and demonstrates once again what The Bangles are capable of when left to their own devices rather than being put under the thumb of corporate pressures. Galemark introduces this collection as "exhibit A" in the argument for their greatness.
[I]Lineage...[/I]
Turntable - A vintage VIP Boyscout circa 1966 recently upgraded with a custom plinth hand made of Nubian Dragon wood illegally harvested from Djibouti at great personal risk but used for it's exceptionally nubian tonal response.
Tonearm - SMEK series 1984 modded with X-1R Crawler Track Lubricant from the Space Shuttle to give an out of this world character.
Cartridge - Koetsuzuki Ivory Platinum, a very limited production run of fifty three units, each one hand carved from a white key removed from the Blüthner Grand Piano that was used by The Beatles during the "Let it Be" sessions. The resulting musicality and magical aura is thought to be obvious to all.
Phono stage - Womanley Labs Marlin all tube stage with Russian Svetlanovski tubes that have had a few hundred months burn in time as used in the system of Sergei Rachmaninov as he listened to RCA Victor Program Transcription pressings of Beethoven symphonies for inspiration.
A/D converter - Apologee Schmenke 192 converter with firewire and vintage ESDI interfaces.
Cables - Galemark exclusively uses and endorses Lardas cables. They give him his signature fat sound. (Actually, Galemark would like you to know that he never uses any product as pedestrian as Lardas, but since they are paying him big bucks for the endorsement deal, that is what he is telling people.)
Software - Audacious for Vistakon OS with proprietary dither program written for me by Peter Gotcher because we're boys.
Cleaning - VIP Monsoon machine with a top secret fluid. This special enzymatic fluid is made with several proprietary agents, including pure bile removed from Steve Hoffman's gall bladder during his recent back surgery. The Hoffman magic shines through on every one of my drops.
Ugh...okay...I made all of that up...here is the actual "mid-fi" system that was used...
JVC QL-A7 direct drive turntable (with mods).
Audio-Technica AT440MLa Cartridge.
Marantz Model 2230 Receiver (Phono Pre).
Vinyl meticulously hand cleaned.
E-Mu 1212m soundcard capturing at 32 bit float, 192 khz.
Lightly polished with ClickRepair (unless completely manually declicked - see description)
Stray pops missed by CR manually removed with Audition single click tool (never batch processed).
Resampled and dithered with iZotope RX.
No other signal processing is used (unless noted in the description).
[B]Another quality GALEMARK needledrop
[I]"When you care enough to send the very best"[/I][/B]
[I]Always traded, never sold
Always trade lossless[/I]