The Bangles - Sweethearts of the Sun

If you have a fear of growing old leave the room now.
Okay for those of you who are left think about this.
The Bangles formed in 1981.
Now where did those thirty years go.
From the jangly 60's influenced pop of the Paisley Underground scene to now there has been a generation change.
That guy in the street holding the hand of his daughter wasn't born when the Bangles released their first single.
That doctor who is telling you about your prostate problem was an inkling in his fathers eye when you originally gazed at the loveliness of Susanna Hoffs.
A sobering thought.
This has made me feel old far more than any middle aged spread or receding hairline ever could.
I'll get over it though.
Anyway now you can tell the the more fragile of us oldies to come back in, but don't breath a word about this as they might not be able to handle it.
So anyway. How are the Bangles doing? Have they got anything to offer us in 2011?
The answer is yes.
A resounding yes.
Truth be told nothing much has changed, but do we really want them to wade in with a vocoded dance anthem version of 'Going down to Liverpool' anyway?
Of course not.
What we want is lovely harmonies and that jangly pop with a bit of a garage undertone, and then we can all play at being happy little sand bunnies in the warm Californian sun, and that's what we get.
Things may have slowed down a little and there are less up tempo tracks that some may expect, but that's not to say that they can't rock out when required.
Let's just say that this is a band growing old gracefully
I doubt many will be disappointed with this.
Put simply they still have it and I think they always will.
To also put it into a bit of context consider this. Most bands at this point in their career are celebrating with a reissue, yet here we have The Bangles bringing something fresh to the table with barely any fanfare.
It's sort of refreshing isn't it?