{"id":27350,"date":"2024-03-29T05:30:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T09:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27350"},"modified":"2024-03-29T08:22:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T12:22:18","slug":"book-review-all-over-the-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/29\/book-review-all-over-the-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: All Over the Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Rise of The Bangles from the L.A. Underground<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For a time, The Bangles<\/a> were ubiquitous. The all-woman foursome from Los Angeles earned the right to be all over the place (as it were) thanks to their hard work, dedication, authenticity and \u2013 most of all \u2013 appealing sound. The group drew inspiration from classic ear-candy pop like the Cowsills<\/a>, Emitt Rhodes<\/a> and sixties jangle-pop, but when they processed those influences through their own unique sensibility, the result rocked.<\/p>\n

Whether they were turning in memorable covers of classics (Simon and Garfunkel\u2019s \u201cHazy Shade of Winter,\u201d The Merry-Go-Round\u2019s \u201cLive,\u201d Kimberley Rew<\/a>\u2019s \u201cGoing Down to Liverpool,\u201d Big Star<\/a>\u2019s \u201cSeptember Gurls\u201d), songs written for them (Jules Shear<\/a>\u2019s \u201cIf She Knew What She Wants,\u201d Prince\u2019s \u201cManic Monday\u201d) or their own superb, too often overlooked original compositions (\u201cHero Takes a Fall,\u201d \u201cFollowing,\u201d \u201cIn Your Room,\u201d etc.), The Bangles were always<\/i> a musical force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

Based on everything we knew about them, it stood to reason that there was a good, compelling story behind the music. Turns out there was\/is. And while it\u2019s strictly classified as an unauthorized biography, Eric M. Shade\u2019s new book All Over the Place<\/i> does justice to that story. Drawing from a wide array of accounts (though written in a style that doesn\u2019t make it appear to be built on firsthand interviews), his book chronicles more than just the forming and progression (and breakups, and reunions) of the foursome. Shade recounts the life stories of its core members \u2013 sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson, Michael Steele and Susanna Hoffs<\/a>, presenting their stories in a manner that makes The Bangles and their success seem not only a logical progression, but one they rightly deserved. The group insisted on being taken seriously and on doing their on their own terms. And when those goals were in danger of being thwarted, they did what they could to set things right.<\/p>\n

Shade doesn\u2019t give short shrift to the other characters who figure into The Bangles\u2019 story; bassist Annette Zilinkas, producer David Kahne and \u2013 most significantly \u2013 all of the members of the so-called Paisley Underground (less a scene than a close group of musically like-minded, extraordinarily talented friends). Shade doesn\u2019t shy away from controversy or scandal, but the fact is that there wasn\u2019t all that much of either where The Bangles were concerned. And they all come off as genuinely nice<\/i>, kind, creative people. And really: how often is that<\/i> the case?<\/p>\n

Sure, there were personal dust-ups, hurt feelings about Hoffs\u2019 perhaps getting more than her share of the spotlight, fractured relationships and whatnot. But at its core, The Bangles\u2019 story is not a tragedy. It\u2019s a tale of four musicians (and passionate music lovers) who pursued their dream and \u2013 though they had some perilously close calls \u2013 managed to avoid being irrevocably chewed up and spit out by the machinery of the music business. Eric M. Shade\u2019s All Over the Place<\/i> might not have the official seal of endorsement from the band, but it serves their story well. And it\u2019s a fine companion to the group\u2019s body of work. At more than 400 pages, the story never once drags. As such, it\u2019s enthusiastically recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rise of The Bangles from the L.A. Underground For a time, The Bangles were ubiquitous. The all-woman foursome from Los Angeles earned the right to be all over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,33,49,51,62,65],"tags":[2834,5402,4510,1641,2100],"class_list":["post-27350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-garage","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-bangles","tag-eric-m-shade","tag-hozac-books","tag-paisley-underground","tag-susanna-hoffs","cat-10-id","cat-33-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27350"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27385,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27350\/revisions\/27385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}