Album IntroductionDifferent Light is the second studio album by The Bangles — Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson and Michael Steele — released in January 1986 on CBS Records and produced by David Kahne. The Los Angeles quartet had established themselves as one of the most critically respected acts of the American indie and college rock scene with their debut All Over the Place (1984), and Different Light delivered their commercial breakthrough on a global scale. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 in the United States, and spawned two of the most immediately recognisable pop singles of the decade. Manic Monday — written by Prince and credited as “Christopher” to avoid contractual complications — reached UK No. 2 and US No. 2. Walk Like an Egyptian — written by Liam Sternberg — reached US No. 1 and UK No. 3. If She Knew What She Wants was written by Jules Shear, and September Gurls is a cover of Big Star's 1974 cult classic, demonstrating the band's deep roots in the American power-pop and jangle-pop tradition.Stand-Out Tracks Walk Like an Egyptian — One of the most immediately recognisable pop singles of 1986; Liam Sternberg's driving, rhythmically irresistible song with its distinctive guitar hook and Hoffs's completely assured vocal gives the album its biggest commercial moment and one of the defining sounds of the decade. US No. 1. UK No. 3. Manic Monday — Written by Prince and credited as “Christopher”; a warm, melodically irresistible pop song with a lyric of Monday-morning reluctance that gives the album one of its most immediately charming and emotionally direct moments. UK No. 2. US No. 2. If She Knew What She Wants — Jules Shear's composition, given a warm, jangle-pop reading that showcases the band's vocal harmonies at their most appealing and demonstrates their ability to inhabit a song of romantic ambivalence with complete conviction and melodic generosity. September Gurls — Big Star's 1974 cult classic, one of the most beloved songs in the American power-pop canon; The Bangles' reading is warm and completely at ease with the song's melodic sophistication, and demonstrates their deep roots in the jangle-pop and college rock tradition. Return Post — One of the album's most musically ambitious and atmospherically distinctive deeper cuts; a slow-building, guitar-driven track that demonstrates the band's ability to operate beyond the three-minute pop single format and gives the album one of its most sonically rewarding and surprising moments. Record Details Artist: The Bangles Title: Different Light Year: 1986 Label: CBS Records / Columbia Catalogue No.: CBS 26659 Format: Vinyl LP Pressing: UK pressing Genre: Pop Rock / Jangle Pop Decade: 1980s Barcode: 8719262046160 ConditionCondition: VG+/VG+ — see our Condition Grading Guide.Browse our 1980s Vinyl collection, our full Vinyl Records range, or our Compact Discs.
