Mary Street Another Vicki/Susanna composition. This is a great track. It is a favorite among dedicated fans, and has a nice melody, solid drumming work, and a very nice bridge that is, to me, the best part of the song.
How Is The Air Up There The EP closes out with Vicki singing lead on a cover of the La De Da's "How Is The Air Up There." Annette takes harmonica duties.
It wasn't so long ago that I had no idea that The Bangles could be such rockers ! and I like that fringe-dress Vicki's got on...Sometimes I think she looks a little bit like actress Amanda Peet.
The general perception of the band v. the reality could not be more different. On stage they were rough and raw (sometimes excessively so!) in stark contrast to their more polished albums. Of course, even those are much better crafted than people give the band credit for. But the main point is that the band was sold as a pop gimmick, and that impression is a wrong one. They had veritable musical chops and a great live energy. Debbi's live drumming, by the way, was quite a bit better than her studio work. She really livened things up. And, with Steele's cool, melodic solidity, the rhythm section shone very brightly.
One of the concerts I had the most fun at was a general admission Bangles concert. A girl friend and I were close to the front and when the concert started everyone was like rabid sardines moving around dancing and enjoying the music. Agree that they were rough and raw and had a ton of energy. My friend was like 5’ tall though and couldn’t see much (which she was probably used to), but started to get claustrophobic in the crowd, so we left the throng and went toward the back. Was still fun, but not nearly as fun as being in the mix of things up front.
The first time I saw the Bangles live I was quite surprised that they are much more of a rock band on stage than the pop band that they are on record. In hindsight, I think the debut album is most representative of their live sound. Vikki in particular impressed me. Not only is she a great player, she had all of the guitar hero moves. Fantastic stage presence. All four of them were so compelling, in different ways. It was hard to know where to focus my attention at any given time.
Great clip! They appear to be having fun and sound like it, too. I saw them on this tour in Nashville and they were good and they were professional, but absolutely did not seem to be enjoying it much. I went to a meet and greet earler that day and they acted like they'd rather be about anywhere on Earth - not rude (well, Micki was . . .) but totally not into it.
I was thinking '86, same as the clip. I'll dig around and see if I can find out for sure. I'm not even sure of the venue - maybe an auditorium at Belmont?
According to Live Sets 1983-1989 the show I was referring to was 4/15/86 – Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville, TN, with the Hoodoo Gurus opening. There are some inconsistencies on the details of shows listed on this site, but this one sounds right, even though I could swear this wasn't a TPAC - I've seen shows there, and this wasn't it. She also lists an '86 show at Starwood Amphitheatre, and I feel sure that venue wasn't even open at that time, I don't think the building was even finished. There's also a show listed for '84 at Vanderbilt with Cyndi Lauper, but I don't remember a thing about that - I would certainly have gone to that. She goes to the trouble of mentioning a lot of early club gigs with dates and locations, but no mention of their '82 ('83) club gig at the long-dead Cantrells. In sum, I wouldn't rely on some of this data.
Ok, the Starwood Amphitheatre gig was in 1987 - that makes sense, they had enough hits and success at that point to play a bigger venue. I can't find any evidence that they every played TPAC or at Belmont, but they definitely did an '86 show with Hoodoo Gurus that I went to. The Cantrell's club show was in April, 1983. I grabbed one of these simple posters shown aboeve as I was leaving the show - I think it was pink - and brought it to the '86 meet and greet for them to autograph it - seeing it helped break the ice a little and get them to laugh a bit - they seriously weren't very happy up to then. Sadly, the poster got destroyed in a house flood (along with several nice autographed Cheap Trick promo stuff). Anyway, while digging up this info I happened on a list of the Cantrell's shows from '83 and '84 - feast your eyes on this: Jason & the Scorchers 07/02/1982 Jason & the Scorchers Jason & the Scorchers 07/10/1982 Jason & the Scorchers R.E.M. 07/16/1982 R.E.M. Stray Cats 09/11/1982 Stray Cats Jason & the Scorchers 10/29/1982 Jason & the Scorchers Meat Puppets 11/23/1982 Meat Puppets U.K. Subs 12/16/1982 U.K. Subs Jason & the Scorchers 12/31/1982 Jason & the Scorchers Alternative Jam 3 01/22/1983 Jason & the Scorchers Minor Threat 03/16/1983 Minor Threat The Bangles 04/22/1983 The Bangles The Call 06/04/1983 The Call Dream Syndicate 06/05/1983 Dream Syndicate Violent Femmes 07/30/1983 Violent Femmes The Replacements 08/07/1983 The Replacements Green on Red 12/13/1983 Green on Red Basic Static The Dickies 08/02/1984 The Dickies Minutemen 08/05/1984 Minutemen The Gun Club 09/02/1984 The Gun Club
I absolutely adore How Is The Air Up There? (so much better than the original!). This is probably crazy, but something about the rhythm/drum pattern makes me think of Kirsty MacColl's Big Boy On A Saturday Night:
So, then, to continue. The Bangles were poised for a change. Here they are in a 1983 interview. Notice that Annette did not seem to get the style memo. Indeed, the band's 60s ethos in fashion and in music did not really mesh very well with her personality and tastes. Annette's tastes tended more in the rockabilly direction. The rest of the band tried out some rockabilly numbers to give her something to sing lead on, but it wasn't really working out. As well, though she proved a solid bass player, Hoffs and the Peterson sisters wanted to move to the next level. Annette started to drift away, missing some promotional engagements, before she decided to part ways with The Bangles to join her boyfriend's country-punk group Blood On The Saddle A bit of their work can be found here: Blood on the Saddle - Poison Love Annette's departure came at an inopportune time. After getting the thumbs-up from Bruce Springsteen, the group had been signed to CBS Records, and were about to record their debut album. So, the band found them selves in desperate need of a bassist. Michael Steele had positioned herself to fill in the role. Steele, 27, was already a veteran of the LA music scene. Born Susan Thomas, she had started out as the original bassist and lead singer of The Runaways, (calling herself Micki Steele) before being fired by the group's svengali Kim Foley over artistic and personal differences (she refused his advances). Vowing to never join an all-girl band ever again, Steele plunged herself into a largely male world, playing in more than a dozen area bands, proving herself one of the very best bassists in town. A little cross-section of her work with: The Runaways: The Runaways - Thunder Demo version and Final version Snakefinger: Snakefinger - The Man In The Dark Sedan Elton Duck: ELTON DUCK - SHE WON'T ANSWER THE PHONE After hearing The Bangles, Steele seems to have immediately taken a liking to the group, and made a "calculated decision" to become Vicki's roommate. After Annette left, the group auditioned several bassists, male and female, but, when Steele's turn came up it was, as Hoffs later put it, "like magic." She immediately gelled with the band, sharing their musical influences and artistic vision, adding a touch of 70s rock ethos to the mix. Her solid melodic playing complemented the band's sound very well, and her musicianship served to tighten their live sound. Her joining the band was the last piece of the puzzle, as it were. The four, considered the band's "classic" lineup were ready, as they somewhat ironically joked, for "world domination."
All Over The Place Sorry for the delay, but I'll try to get back into a day-by-day schedule here. We get things going again with The Bangles' first proper album, the excellent All Over The Place. I wrote on this one extensively for the 35th anniversary of its release a couple of months ago, so I won't add too much new here, before we get to the songs themselves. 35th Anniversary of All Over The Place by The Bangles Released in May 1984, the album peaked at #80 in November, led by interest in the college market. It also peaked at #86 in the U.K. For many fans and critics, this album represents their best work. I love it too, every song having something going for it. Still, I think it would be a mistake to think that all that came after is somehow lesser than this LP, as so very good as it is. For one thing, the band was still somewhat unsatisfied by it, with that view caused in part by the difficult recording sessions. The exact vocal/instrument mix they were looking for remained elusive. However, as Steele later noted, it was the one album where they truly sounded like a real band. And a real, live-focused band they truly were at this time. Do fire away with your thoughts and recollections about the album.
Looking forward to discussing the individual songs on this great album. It was after many years of being a "Greatest Hits" only fan that I finally got around to buying "All Over the Place". Funny too as my favorite songs on it weren't even on the G.H. album. Love the back cover, Vicki appears to be starting into my soul and I kinda like it. Haha.
I missed the start of this thread, but before you get too heavily into AOTP, their cameo in the short film "The Haircut" directed by Susanna's mother, Tamar Simon Hoffs, is worth a look. Here is a link to a YouTube upload of the entire film. Jump to 17:17 for the Bangs cameo.
