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The Bangles - Manic Monday: The Best of the Bangles Audio CD

A fair review of the The Bangles "Manic Monday: The Best of the Bangles" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Bangles reviews here, or go back to the The Bangles tabs.

The Bangles Band: The Bangles
Title: Manic Monday: The Best of the Bangles
Rating:
Release Date: 2007-10-01
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Manic Monday 2: Going Down to Liverpool 3: Walk Like an Egyptian 4: If She Knew What She Wants 5: Hero Takes a Fall 6: Live 7: James 8: All About You 9: Dover Beach 10: Tell Me 11: Restless 12: He's Got a Secret 13: Silent Treatment 14: More Than Meets the Eye 15: Walking Down Your Street 16: In a Different Light 17: Following 18: Standing in the Hallway 19: Hazy Shade of Winter 20: In Your Room 21: Eternal Flame 22: Be with You 23: I'll Set You Free 24: Return Post 25: Where Were You When I Needed You 26: Let It Go 27: September Gurls 28: Angels Don't Fall in Love 29: Not Like You 30: Complicated Girl 31: Bell Jar 32: Something to Believe In 33: Watching the Sky 34: Some Dreams Come True 35: Crash and Burn 36: Everything I Wanted

GREAT AUDIO, BUT A LITTLE MESSY IN COMPILATION
This one caught my eye, however, being a 2CD set.
Bangles compilations are now a dime a dozen (AMG lists nearly 30!).

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, 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 finishing with the last songs off "Everything", but with the afore-mentioned omission of 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.
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You can see a complete list of all The Bangles discography, or go back to the The Bangles tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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