The 1986 album 'Different Light' was the commercial breakthrough for the Los Angeles hard-harmony quartet the Bangles, but it was also the sound of their careers getting away from them. All of the hits were written by outside writers; many of the instruments were played by session players; and the slick sound was different from – and softer than – the sharp, harmony-laden power pop of...

The 1984 debut of Los Angeles' Bangles, All Over the Place, was a poprock formalist's wet dream. For thirty minutes and eleven songs, the listener was dizzied by a frighteningly complete compendlum of the greatest bits from the genre's greatest hits – quintessentially scruffy acoustic and electric guitar sounds, Brit-pop chord voicings, Irresistible progressions and turnarounds and cool...