Manic Monday: The Best of

The 80s were a rough time for me in many ways. I was trying to grasp feminism when separatist feminist radicals like Andrea Dworkin were saying that all sexual contact between men and women was rape. At the time I had no idea how widespread her views were and it was a horrific thing to consider. Just about that time I heard the music of The Bangles. The first song I heard made me cry because it reaffirmed my gut feeling that Ms Dworkin was more than a bit looney. As their music flowed out of my radio and stereo, it was healing. I will always be grateful to The Bangles for coming along at just the right time to undo the damage inflicted by a few radical fringe feminists on men who respect, admire and love women. I wrote a letter expressing my gratitude and received an autographed photo in short order. It remains a cherished memento.

music

Bangles compilations are now a dime a dozen (AMG lists nearly 30!). This one caught my eye, however, being a 2CD set.From an audio standpoint, the mastering on this set is excellent. Several compilations ("Essential", "We Are The 80's" and "Glitter Years") released by Columbia/Legacy in recent years have been annoyingly "loudened", but this set has the correct dynamic range of the original releases. The audio presented here is definitely better than the original CD albums and slightly superior to the 1990 "Greatest Hits" disc.However, some curious and even frustrating aspects of this set are the track sequencing, the booklet and some unnecessary omissions.There was plenty of room to include all three of The Bangles albums in their entirety, plus the three non-album tracks ("Where Were You When I Needed You", "Hazy Shade Of Winter" and "Everything I Wanted") which all appeared on "Greatest Hits".Those three made it into this set, but "Glitter Years", "Make a Play for Her Now" and "Waiting For You", off their third studio album "Everything", did not.Disc 1 clocks in at 54:22, the second at 62:45. So, there was available space for the inclusion of those tracks. Heck, there was even room for "I Got Nothing" off the OOP "Goonies" soundtrack, which would have made this a complete Bangles pre-reunion studio compilation. Frustrating.Then, there's the sequencing: Disc 1 has 18 tracks (the Amazon tracklist above omits #18 "Standing In The Hallway"), which curiously commences with only 4 of the 8 charted singles, then proceeds to the remainder of the first album in its entirety, correctly sequenced. The last four tracks are from the second album, "Different Light", but out of original running order. All not a big deal, but strange nonetheless.Things get much wackier on Disc 2. Instead of starting with the remainder of the 2nd album, track 1 is 1987's "Hazy Shade Of Winter", followed by skipping to four songs from the third album "Everything", then BACKWARD for the other two non-album tracks, FORWARD for the remaining "Different Light" material, and finally finishes with the last songs off "Everything", but with the afore-mentioned omitted three tracks!If both discs had been close to being max'd out, I could understand having to jumble things to get everything to fit, but that's just not the case. Too weird!The booklet has "If She Knew What She Wants" incorrectly listed twice as track 7 on Disc 2, which is actually "Where Were You When I Needed You", but it's correct on the back of the outer slipcover. Sheesh.All of the logistical oddities aside, this set is definitely the one to own; it has the best bang-for-the-buck it terms of audio quality and depth of material. It's also a textbook example of proper remastering faithful to the original mix/mastering.

The BANGLES 2 CD SET covers their career with 36 tracks that sound fantastic. Nice liner notes and black and white photos of the leading ladies of the band. Definitely worth it for all the BANGLES fans, especially that of Susanna Hoffs.Kudos and highly recommended!

FOR YEARS I HAVE LOOKED FOR A COMPLETE GREATEST HITS COLLECTION BY THE BANGLES AND HAVECOME UP SHORT UNTIL NOW.YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND A BETTER COLLECTION THAN THIS.THE SOUNDQUALITY IS AWESOME PLUS THEY MIXED IT UP A LITTLE BIT TO BRING LIFE AND CLARITY TO THEBANGLES WORK.IF YOU LOVE THE BANGLES YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY THIS COLLECTION.

Not only do you get almost every song they recorded but it sounds great and has a cool design to the packaging. What I didn't know is how many songs they recorded that are better than their hits.

great collection of the Bangles, they were the most talented all female group giving us Manic Monday to Not like You, they were the most influential all girl group kind of like the Beatles were in the 60's. Enjoy

This is a thorough collection that gives you 3 of their albums, plus 3 previously unreleased songs... every song is great and I'm a big fan. My only problem with it is, like another reviewer stated, the order of songs is all mixed up and disorganized... fans will figure out this is 3 albums put together, why not put the albums in order from the original albums' list of songs and make it clear that all 3 albums are a part of this compilation? It seems like they try to keep this fact a secret, so I'm kind of baffled by that, otherwise it's a great buy.

Great DVD. Brought back so many memories you will enjoy these songs whether you're young or old. Enjoy

Tra i brani più belli delle loro realizzazioni, rimangono per me sempre al top. Ottima registrazione.

Si vous aimez les Bangles, n'hésitez surtout pas à acheter ce produit. Vous avez le premier album, complet, plus le second, complet, plus la quasi totalité du 3ème dans un Best Of de deux CD. Ca coûte largement moins cher que d'acheter les trois individuellement... A moins que vous souhaitiez posséder les pochettes de ces derniers, mais dans ce cas là, il vaut mieux se tourner vers les vinyls.

活動最盛期に発売されたフルアルバム３枚(1984年、1986年、1988年)とグレイテストヒッツ(1990年)からセレクトされた全36曲を収録。オリジナルアルバムからは、１st、２ndは全曲収録、残念ながら３rdのEverythingから、”Glitter Years”、 “Make a Play For Her Now”、”Waiting For You”の３曲が漏れています。ただし、１stの”Hero Takes a Fall”、２nd の”Walking Down Your Street”、”I'll Set You Free”はアルバムヴァージョンではなく、グレイテストヒッツからのシングルミックスを収録している点に要注意。グレイテストヒッツからはその他、”Where Were You When I Needed You“、”Hazy Shade Of Winter”（サイモン＆ガーファンクルのカバー）、”Everything I Wanted”のアルバム未収録曲３曲を収録。ＣＤ１は約58分、ＣＤ２は約62分の収録なので、どうせならオリジナルアルバムから漏れた３曲も入れてくれていたらと思いますが、この安さでこれだけの大盤振る舞は本当にありがたい。リマスターの有無は不明ですが、所有している輸入盤オリジナルアルバム３枚組セットと比較して、当ＣＤの方が、明らかに音質が良いです。まさに最強のベスト盤といえると思います。

Demasiado material. Dos CDs se hacen largos, con muchas canciones de relleno. Una selección de (digamos) la mitad de canciones (bien escogidas) habría sido lo mejor.