The Bangles' reunion is burning longer than an "Eternal Flame."
Four years after reuniting to record a cut for an Austin Powers soundtrack, and three years after hitting the road on a reunion tour, the all-girl group is issuing an all-new reunion album.
The 15-track Doll Revolution will be released September 9, Koch Entertainment announced Friday. The first single, "Something That You Said," hits radio stations July 28.
The album is the Bangles' first collection of new tunes since 1988's Everything, which intro'd the hit "Eternal Flame."
Then as now, the Bangles consist of: Michael Steele on bass, Vicki Peterson on lead guitar, Debbi Peterson on drums and Susanna Hoffs on posters (and, yes, guitar). As is the Bangles way, all the Bangles sing--Hoffs just does more of it standing at center stage, batting her eyes in time with the music.
Doll Revolution, lifting its title from the Elvis Costello tune "Tear off Your Own Head (It's a Doll Revolution)," which appears on the album, was released in March in Europe and Japan.
"The Bangles step back in time to glue the broken shards back together," BBC.com judged. "So effective have they been, you can hardly see the cracks."
Amazon.com's U.K. site was equally enthusiastic, its reviewer deciding, "This is one '80s comeback that really is a good idea."
The Beatles-influenced Bangles formed in the early 1980s, when they issued an EP that predates Michael Steele. The group, not to be confused (although it sometimes is) with Los Angeles' other girl band of the era, The Go-Gos, broke out with 1984's All Over the Place, yielding the hits "Hero Takes a Fall" and "Going Down to Liverpool."
As any ardent student of the Behind the Music/E! True Hollywood Story canon could guess, bigger hits ("Manic Monday," "If She Knew What She Wants," "Walk Like an Egyptian") followed, before the inevitable infighting and solo dreams led to the inevitable breakup.
The first reunion came in 1999, when the quartet, in the wake of the Go-Go's own regrouping, recorded the single "Get the Girl" for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, directed by Hoffs' husband, Jay Roach.
In September 2000, after turning down a chance to join the Go-Gos on a double bill, they embarked on a coast-to-coast mini-tour. At the time, the band spoke of its plans for a new album.
"I think the four of us just started writing songs together to see if the magic was still there," Hoffs told a press conference. "It feels like the beginning again, when we were together in the garage."
The Bangles' garage currently houses a lot of experience. The members are all in their 40s, with 48-year-old Steele officially pushing 50.
On the group's official Website, bangles.com, Vicki Peterson talks about the inspiration for the new song "Stealing Rosemary." (Warning: Soccer-mom story ahead.)
"I got the idea cooking dinner with my 12-year-old niece," Peterson says. "We were talking about going out to the neighbor's garden and stealing some rosemary."
Making good use of the summer break, the Bangles hit the road again this summer, albeit with just a handful of dates, including July 18 at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California, and July 19, at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.