The Bangles - The Loft, Berlin, Germany, 2-10-1986

The Bangles have never released an official live album. I find this surprising, because the band has been very good live, and a live recording allows one to hear them without the sometimes overly slick production of the studio versions.

When it comes to 1980s Bangles, I prefer their earliest stuff the most, because they were more raw and rocking then. They got very slick and overproduced by the time they broke up in 1988. Unfortunately, the sound quality on live recordings is pretty rough for their first years, until 1986. 1986 was when they hit ir really big with "Manic Monday" and "Walk like an Egyptian," so several of their concerts were recorded for live broadcast by radio stations.

I've listened to parts of those, and the other alleged best recordings from 1986, and I came to the conclusion that the sound quality for a show at The Loft in Berlin, Germany sounds the best. In my opinion, it's about as good as what you'd expect for an official 1980s live album. That's why I'm posting it here.

There's one other 1986 concert that also sounds very good, in my opinion - the Syria Mosque Ballroom Arena (Pittsburgh, PA, 10-29-1986). The Loft recording missed the opening song, plus part of the start of the next song. So I've used the Syria Mosque recording to fill in the missing song, as well as patching in the first half of a minute of the second song. Furthermore, some really great songs were played there that weren't played in Berlin, especially "I Want You" (which would have been a number one hit in my ideal alternate universe) and "Walk like an Egyptian." So I've added three songs to the end. That makes the album an hour and three minutes long.

In terms of fixes, there were a few occasions where there was a burst of unwanted feedback during a song. I mostly managed to patch those up, using bits from the Syria Mosque concert. But if there are any I missed, let me know and I'll fix those too.

01 In a Different Light (Bangles)
02 talk (Bangles)
03 Live (Bangles)
04 Restless (Bangles)
05 talk (Bangles)
06 Walking Down Your Street (Bangles)
07 James (Bangles)
08 Manic Monday (Bangles)
09 talk (Bangles)
10 I'm in Line (Bangles)
11 He's Got a Secret (Bangles)
12 talk (Bangles)
13 If She Knew What She Wants (Bangles)
14 Return Post (Bangles)
15 Let It Go (Bangles)
16 Going Down to Liverpool (Bangles)
17 talk (Bangles)
18 Angels Don't Fall in Love (Bangles)
19 I'm Not Talking (Bangles)
20 Hero Takes a Fall (Bangles)
21 Dover Beach (Bangles)
22 talk (Bangles)
23 September Gurls (Bangles)
24 I Want You (Bangles)
25 Walk like an Egyptian (Bangles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15535013/TBangls_1986_TheLoftBerlinGrmany__2-10-1986_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a New Year's Eve concert at the end of 1986.