The Bangles / Christmas

The newspaper review:

Bangles' sound at home on Dorney Park stage By AMY LONGSDORF Conventional wisdom says that concert success eludes the Bangles because the sound they create in the studio layered vocal harmonies soaring over lush, synthesized textures - is impossible to replicate in a live setting. Last night, at Dorney Park's Stargazer Showcase, the Bangles made it clear that nothing could be further from the truth. Amid billows of smoke, the Los Angeles foursome stepped onstage and began serving up one luminous radio hit after another, stretching from the Prince-composed "Manic Monday" through the current "Be With You." Onstage, as in the studio, the Bangles have the resources to bring out the rich colors and stylistic echoes that make their finest music a cheery distillation of '60s Southern Californian pop and '80s- styled high-tech rock. Lead singer Susanna Hoffs' wistfully nasal voice was 1 in fine condition. But, as is usually the case with the Bangles, it was the evening's harmonically rich midtempo numbers that showed the quartet's bubble-gum romanticism to its best a advantage.

Unlike many other "girl groups," the Bangles don't go out of their way to generate sexual heat. With songs like "Eternal Flame" and "In Your Room," they aimed for a more ethereal eroticism that die-hard romantics (and love-struck teens) may understand best. The expanded band - rhythm guitarist Hoffs, guitarist Vicki Peterson, bassist Michael Steele and drummer Debbi Peterson; plus an unintroduced keyboard player whizzed through a set that included mesmerizing versions of Paul Simon's "Hazy Shade of Winter" and Jules Shear's "If She Knew What She Wants." The later song was, by far, the show's high point. Beginning with a quote from Bobby Fuller's "I Fought The Law" and segueing effortlessly into deliciously long a capella preamble, "If She Knew What She Wants" was pop music at its brightest and most singalong-ish. During a 45-minute set, opening band Christmas made the mistake of turning guitar breaks into long, atmospheric noodling sessions.

Often, the trio, which records for I.R.S. Records, would flash glimmers of a pleasing melodic sense, but weird stop-start tempos and ragged vocals one song virtually indistinguishable from the next. So much for Christmas in July. Amy Longsdorf is a free-lance reviewer for The Morning Call. With songs like "Eternal Flame" reviewer for The Morning Call..

United States
Pennsylvania
Allentown
The Morning Call
1989
Jul
27
Page 43
The Bangles