The Bangles DOLL REVOLUTION (Koch)

Fifteen years ago, the Bangles won the hearts of mainstream America and lost the respect of their core audience with Eternal Flame, a sappy star vehicle for Susanna Hoffs that tore the band apart in a mess of hurt feelings and industry disillusionment and put them on the A-list for a future Behind the Music special. Hoffs went on to a solo career that proved as uninspired as it was uneventful. Now, having watched the Go-Go’s settle their differences, the Bangles have buried their individual hatchets and rekindled the spunky pop chemistry that fueled their unadulterated debut, 1984’s excellent All over the Place (Sony).

But after scoring a hit in England, they still had to wait almost a year for Koch to get an American licensing deal done for Doll Revolution, a disc that suggests the Bangles were as much victims of bad ’80s production as horrible ’80s hairdos. It blasts off with a rock-solid reading of Elvis Costello’s "Tear Off Your Own Head" (from last year’s When I Was Cruel) before strolling through a couple of Byrdsy guitar-pop numbers ("Nickel Romeo," "Here Right Now"). Although "Single by Choice," "Song for a Good Son," and "Grateful" lack urgency and hooks, there’s enough top-notch material here to mark Doll Revolution as a fulfillment of the melodic promise the band showed early on. What’s more, they take turns singing lead, and that makes Hoffs’s trademark Encino Valley delivery (on just four of the 15 tracks) all the more savory.