Also available in a 3-pack with A DIFFERENT LIGHT and EVERYTHING.
The Bangles: Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson (vocals, guitar); Michael Steele (vocals, bass); Debbi Peterson (vocals, drums).
Recorded at Crystal Sound, Skyline Recorders and Sound Castle, Los Angeles, California.
The first full-length by this underappreciated Los Angeles quartet--as well as their first album to feature sterling bassist/vocalist Michael Steele, replacing original member Annette Zillinkas--ALL OVER THE PLACE is a masterpiece of '80s power pop, and one of the best, most rocking albums of the decade. Kicking off with the no-nonsense beat-pop of "Hero Takes A Fall," perhaps the group's best single ever, ALL OVER THE PLACE lives up to its title, ranging from tough rockers like "Tell Me" to moodier tracks like "James," a fantastic reading of Kimberley Rew's "Going Down To Liverpool," and a languid, defeatist rewrite of "Hey Joe" (that in Vicki Peterson and Susanna Hoffs' delicate, nuanced vocals turns into a complete heartbreaker). The album's other cover, the Merry-Go-Round's '60s nugget "Live," did much to reintroduce its author, McCartneyesque auteur Emmitt Rhodes, to a new pop generation. This album is essential power pop.
Professional Reviews
Q (7/93, p.104) - 3 Stars - Good - "...[In 1984] The Bangles' debut album was hinting at the quartet's potential as a kind of post-punk surfing Shangri-Las...[the album] has an identity forged not only in its impressive harmonies and spiky Rickenbackers but in the strangeness of Bangles' songs..."
CMJ (1/5/04, p.14) - Ranked #9 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1984"
Record Collector (magazine) (pp.72-73) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "ALL OVER THE PLACE, from 1984, fizzes and flirts with power-pop sensibilities..."
