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Bangles - Playlist: The Very Best of the Bangles (Eco-Friendly Packaging) Audio CD

A fair review of the Bangles "Playlist: The Very Best of the Bangles (Eco-Friendly Packaging)" 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 Bangles reviews here, or go back to the Bangles tabs.

Bangles Band: Bangles
Title: Playlist: The Very Best of the Bangles (Eco-Friendly Packaging)
Rating:
Release Date: 2008-06-17
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Manic Monday 2: If She Knew What She Wants 3: Walk Like An Egyptian 4: Walking Down Your Street 5: Hazy Shade Of Winter 6: In Your Room 7: Eternal Flame 8: Be With You (single mix) 9: Hero Takes A Fall (single remix) 10: Going Down To Liverpool 11: Complicated Girl 12: September Gurls 13: Live 14: Dover Beach

Best Bangles collection
The two other popular collections are "Greatest Hits" and "The Essential". There are a few Bangles Grestest Hits collections out there. . . this beats both for a few reasons. This collection takes the popular hits from "Different Light" and puts them right out in front and puts some of the lesser known album tracks in the back. This makes for a very pleasant listening experience. The album tracks used are all very well picked and hold their own against the hits and they aren't too overly poppy which makes these songs easier to enjoy. If fact some would argue that they are better than the hits. To me the hit "Eternal Flame" hasn't held up well over the years but the way this collection flows that song is much easier to take without hitting the skip button. Especially since all the songs that are similar to it like "I'll Set You Free" are no where to be found on this collection.

Another thing that works very well here is this CD clocks in at a little over 45 minutes. Many best of collections try to max out the CD or even carry over to a second CD. 45 minutes is the right amount of time to enjoy these songs without getting bored. I honestly couldn't sit through 79 minutes of Bangles songs.

If you like the Bangles and like 80s pop/rock check out this collection. This could easily be the only Bangles collection you would need.

NOTE: If you have the "We Are The 80s" Bangles collection you don't need to buy this one. It is the exact same track list and mastering. The only difference is this one has the booklet in PDF form on the disk.


+1/2 - Greatest hits with a few twists
Rather than a strict chronological recitation of an artist's chart hits, the song selections are meant to gather those tracks a fan might compile for themselves. Legacy's latest version of the single-disc artist overview has a few novel twists. The 14-track playlists are still hit focused, but don't always provide a full accounting of an artist's chart success. Mono singles, longer album versions, out-of-print and non-hit tracks are sequenced to optimize song-to-song segues and draw out an impression of the artist's overall catalog. The results are intended to deliver a listening experience rather than a hits archive. As a physical disc, Legacy's marketing these as CD-quality alternatives to MP3s, improving on the package's ecological aspects with a plastic-free digipack made of 100% recycled paperboard, and including additional materials (pictures, liner notes, credits, wallpapers) on the disc itself, rather than in a printed booklet.

The Bangles edition of Playlist partly reneges on the premise by reeling off their eight U. S. chart hits in order, starting with the 1986 Prince-authored breakthrough "Manic Monday" and concluding with 1989's "Be With You. " Unlike other artists in this series with more extensive hit catalogs, The Bangles chart run fits snugly into half a disc. Also included is the group's AOR hit "Hero Takes a Fall" from 1984's All Over the Place, and five album tracks from All Over the Place, Different Light, and Everything. The non-hits favor covers, including Katrina and the Waves' "Going Down to Liverpool," The Merry-Go-Round's "Live," and Big Star's "September Gurls. " This is the same track sequence offered on 2006's We Are the `80s.

While these fourteen selections provide a fair representation of the Bangles' commercially successful years, they could have better captured the fan's view. Missing are tracks from the group's pre-Columbia EP on Faulty/IRS, their paisley-underground compilation appearances, 12" remixes that accompanied their hits, and material from their various reunions. Perhaps those are too arcane for a 14-track once-over, but without them this set offers only one compilation producer's selection of album tracks over another's. Many will find the album tracks included here (particularly the covers and the original "Dover Beach") an improvement over the selections on Greatest Hits, but your mileage may vary. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com].


You can see a complete list of all Bangles discography, or go back to the Bangles tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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