The Bangles Return With New Material On “Sweetheart Of The Sun”

Contest details below This is the group’s first album of new material in nearly eight years. It’s filled with a fresh batch of definitive Bangles songs from guitarist/singer Susanna Hoffs, […]

Contest details below

This is the group’s first album of new material in nearly eight years. It’s filled with a fresh batch of definitive Bangles songs from guitarist/singer Susanna Hoffs, guitarist/singer Vicki Peterson and drummer/singer Debbi Peterson.

“As we were finishing the record,” says Vicki, “we started to realize there was a unifying theme–paradise lost in Southern California, the perception juxtaposed with the reality of it.” Susanna picks up the thought: “L.A. is like paradise–the sun shines 360 days a year, the flowers are always in bloom–but meanwhile, so many people are walking around alienated, depressed and anxious.”

Some of the 10 original songs on this 12-song album are new, while others had extremely long gestation periods, tucked away, but not forgotten, as Susanna puts it. The oldest, dating back to the early ’90s, is Debbi’s high-revving aggro kiss-off “Ball N Chain”; while the three of them jointly came up with the newest song, the shimmering opening track “Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun),” during the recording sessions.

“I think it’s important for all of us to keep moving on and creating,” says Debbi. “Because that’s why we got into this in the first place.”

SWEETHEART OF THE SUN was recorded by Matthew Sweet (Susanna’s frequent collaborator) at his home studio in the Hollywood Hills, with much of the overdubbing done at the home studios of Vicki and Susanna, and mixed by Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Wilco). The Bangles cut the album with bassist Derrick Anderson and keyboard player Greg “Harpo” Hilfman, both of whom have been playing with the band for some time. String wizard Greg Leisz, one of the most in-demand players in contemporary music (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Matthew Sweet, Lucinda Williams, Bon Iver) adds pedal steel, lap steel and mandolin to a number of tracks.

Track listing:

Annalee (Sweetheart Of The Sun)

Lay Yourself Down

Under A Cloud

I Will Never Be Through With You

Through Your Eyes

Ball & Chain

One Of Two

What A Life

Mesmerized

Circles In The Sky

Sweet And Tender Romance

Open My Eyes

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Contest is over. Winners will be announced soon!

Contest info – read this! You can win this Bangles CD. Enter now and be sure to tell us your favorite Bangles song. This next part is important: Put your answer in the “Message” field of the online entry form! If you don’t do that, you won’t win. Click on this sentence to enter the contest! Contest ends on November 8, 2011.

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