| Bangles | ||||
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| EP by | ||||
| Released | June 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 13:20 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Craig Leon | |||
| The Bangles chronology | ||||
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Bangles is the firstEP by Americanpop rock bandthe Bangles.[1] It was released in 1982 byFaulty Products and reissued in 1983 byI.R.S. Records when Faulty Products went out of business. The songs remained widely unavailable thereafter, with only occasional rereleases of individual songs. The whole five-song EP was eventually reissued as part of the Bangles' 2014 compilation,Ladies and Gentlemen... The Bangles!.
This would be the group's only release to feature original bassistAnnette Zilinskas, who left in early 1983 and was replaced byMichael Steele, and did not record with them again until the 2018 multigroup album3 × 4.
A three-songCD3 mini single version of the EP was released onA&M/I.R.S. Records in 1988.
The Bangles began inLos Angeles as agarage rock band called the Bangs, popularly associated with similar bands from the area in thePaisley Underground music scene.[2] After self-releasing a well-received debut single, "Getting Out of Hand" (1981), the group was signed by music industry executiveMiles Copeland to his new record labelFaulty Products, an independent US-based subsidiary ofI.R.S. Records.[2] The band quickly recorded a five-song mini-album which was released in June 1982.[3]
The EP includes four original songs penned by band members, as well as "How Is the Air Up There?", a cover version of the 1966 single byNew Zealand bandthe La De Da's (which is itself a rendition ofthe Changin' Times' 1965 single).[3] Vocals are credited toVicki andDebbi Peterson andSusanna Hoffs on every track. Vicki sings the lead vocal on "Want You" and "How Is the Air Up There?" while Debbi sings "I'm in Line"; Hoffs sings "The Real World", and she and Vicki share the lead on "Mary Street".Annette Zilinskas provides backing vocals on "Want You".[4]
Music industry veteranCraig Leon served as therecord producer.[4] Leon was already well known in rock andindie circles for his production work with theRamones andBlondie.[5] Leon also playedpiano on "Mary Street" and "The Real World",[4] and the latter song includes additional piano work byEthan James.[4] The albumcover art was designed by Ewa Wojciak with photography byBob Seidemann.[4]
Shortly after the EP's release, Zilinskas left the band and was replaced by formerRunaways bassistMichael Steele.[2]
The Bangles' early years were informed by a 1960s garage rock sensibility,[3][2] and the 1982 EP maintains a stylistic link between the "Getting Out of Hand" debut single and the band's first full-length album, the critically acclaimedAll Over the Place (1984).[3] Music critics often note the irony of their subsequent rise from guitar-based rock devotees to "one of the most successful chart groups of the '80s with their slickly producedsynth pop".[3][2] In his bookMusic: What Happened?,Scott Miller names "The Real World" as one of the top songs of the 1980s, and remarks of the EP: "Those who know only 'Eternal Flame' might be amazed at how inventive and together they were in their relative infancy".[6] The Bangles themselves consider the early material, lesser-known though it was, to be vital to their own story: as Hoffs toldBillboard in 2014, "I think it's as representative of who we really are and as authentic as anything the Bangles have ever done. There's a kind of architecture to those songs – three-part harmonies, guitar-driven, jangly over a kind of garage rock rhythm is who we are now, still, as much as we were back then."[5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B[7] |
| Rolling Stone |  [8] |
The original EP was released on vinyl in June 1982 by Faulty Products (catalog #FEP 1302), after a delay due to the change of the band's name from the Bangs to the Bangles and consequent retouching of the cover art.[9][10] The label folded soon after and Copeland's major label, I.R.S. Records, re-released it in 1983 (catalog #SP-70506).[9]
In 1988,A&M/I.R.S. Records released a three-songCD3 mini single with "Mary Street" and "I'm in Line" from the original vinyl EP release, and a very different mix of "The Real World" remixed and remastered byDavid Kahne prior to his producing the first Bangles album.
The full five-song set, however, remained out of print since its initial vinyl release until 2014, when it was included on the albumLadies and Gentlemen... The Bangles!.[5] Featuring numerous early Bangles rarities, this compilation also includes a previously unreleased demo version of "The Real World", shorter and sung in a differentkey.[5]
1988 CD3 mini single
The band's full musical credits are listed on the EP's back cover:[4]
| Studio albums | |
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| Singles | |
| Related articles | |
