A box set from Cherry Red this fall will offer nearly everything from the first decade of The Bangles' discography.

Watching the Sky: The Bangles Box Set will join together on four CDs the band's three studio albums (All Over the Place (1984), Different Light (1986) and Everything (1988)) - most with non-LP single, B-side and remix material - plus a further bonus disc of rare material, including the group's pre-major label studio material. It's 27 bonus tracks in all, plus a liner notes essay on the group by John Earls of Classic Pop. It's due out September 26.

Perhaps unfairly considered the yin to The Go-Go's yang - both were female bands from Los Angeles - The Bangles started out as part of the cult-favorite Paisley Underground scene, blending power pop and psychedelia into their sound. Singer Susanna Hoffs and siblings Vicki Peterson (guitar) and Debbi Peterson (drums) first joined forces with bassist Annette Zilinskas in 1981 under the name The Bangs, recording a fistful of razor-sharp material on singles and EPs (one of which was distributed by Faulty Products, a label masterminded by The Police's manager Miles Copeland III; he would later co-found I.R.S. Records). After a change in name and line-up, subbing Zilinskas for former Runaways bassist Michael Steele, The Bangles signed a deal with Columbia, collaborating with 415 Records hotshot David Kahne on their debut LP All Over the Place. Featuring catchy originals like "Hero Takes a Fall," a cover of a pre-fame Katrina and The Waves' "Going Down to Liverpool," and rich lead vocals and harmonies from all four members, the album was a strong effort but only a modest success.

Things changed considerably with 1986's Different Light. The Bangles' increasingly polished sound was augmented by their willingness to accept songs submitted by other writers: power-pop hero Jules Shear offered the memorable "If She Knew What She Wants," composer Liam Sternberg (who'd go on to write the memorable theme for the series 21 Jump Street) offered a quirky novelty dance tune called "Walk Like An Egyptian," and there was even a cover of Big Star's "September Gurls." But the crown jewel was "Manic Monday," a bright pop track that a smitten Prince sent the group to record. In a rare move for a song bestowed on a band by The Artist, they arranged and played it themselves - and saw it rise to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept out of the top spot by Prince and The Revolution's "Kiss." "Egyptian" soon rang the bell on the charts, thanks in no small part to a popular video featuring a smoky-eyed glance from Hoffs that fans would not soon forget.

The Bangles would next hit it big with another cover, taking a killer rock version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" to No. 2 from the soundtrack to Less Than Zero in 1987. Everything followed a year later, produced by singer/songwriter Davitt Stigerson and featuring co-writes from every band member. The Debbi Peterson co-write "Be with You" was an effective uptempo rocker, while Steele contributed the wistful jangle-pop of "Glitter Years." Hoffs contributed to the album's biggest hits, working with songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly ("Like a Virgin," "True Colors") on the dramatic prom ballad "Eternal Flame" and the psychedelic "In Your Room," which respectively hit Nos. 1 and 5 on the pop charts. Sensing that Columbia was trying to position Hoffs as the leader of the group, the quartet disbanded before the decade ended. They'd reunite in 1998, releasing two albums since; the latter, 2011's Matthew Sweet co-produced Sweetheart of the Sun, was done as a trio after Steele departed again in 2005. The group has lately focused on their early Paisley Underground material, releasing a compilation of pre-Columbia material through Omnivore and even reuniting with Zilinskas. (A hefty corrective meant to establish the group's place in the pop/rock firmament came in the form of an authorized biography earlier this year.)

Each of these albums has been reissued and expanded by Cherry Red before; nearly all of the tracks included on those sets are here. (The sole missing bonus cut: the dub version of "Walk Like An Egyptian" featured on the 2CD expansion of Different Light.) The set also includes way more, including rare single edits and remixes (particularly of the non-LP "Hazy Shade of Winter") as well as all the pre-Columbia studio material; it does, however, miss a few Columbia-era cuts including "I Got Nothing" (from the soundtrack to 1985's kid adventure flick The Goonies) and the Everything outtake "Everything I Wanted," released on the band's 1990 greatest hits album after the group broke up.

September 26 is the fun day - some might even say the I-don't-have-to-run day - for The Bangles' Watching the Sky

Watching the Sky: The Bangles Box Set (Cherry Pop CR4POPBX288 (U.K.), 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: All Over the Place (released as Columbia BFC 39220, 1984) and bonus tracks

1. Hero Takes a Fall
2. Live
3. James
4. All About You
5. Dover Beach
6. Tell Me
7. Restless
8. Going Down to Liverpool
9. He's Got a Secret
10. Silent Treatment
11. More Than Meets the Eye
12. Going Down to Liverpool (Single Edit) (single A-side - Columbia 38-04634, 1984)
13. Hero Takes a Fall (Remix) (single A-side - Columbia 38-04770, 1985)
14. Where Were You When I Needed You (B-side to "Hero Takes a Fall" - Columbia 38-04479, 1984)

Disc 2: Different Light (released as Columbia BFC 40039, 1986) and bonus tracks

1. Manic Monday
2. In a Different Light
3. Walking Down Your Street
4. Walk Like An Egyptian
5. Standing in the Hallway
6. Return Post
7. If She Knew What She Wants
8. Let It Go
9. September Gurls
10. Angels Don't Fall in Love
11. Following
12. Not Like You
13. Following (Single Edit) (U.K. single A-side - CBS BANGS 2, 1987)
14. Walking Down Your Street (Remix) (U.K. single A-side - CBS BANGS 1, 1986)
15. Manic Monday (Extended Version) (U.K. 12" A-side - CBS A 13.6796, 1986)
16. Walking Down Your Street/James (Live @ Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow University, Glasgow, Scotland - 3/1/1986) (U.K. 12" B-side to "Going Down to Liverpool" - CBS TA 7255, 1986)

Disc 3: Everything (released as Columbia C 44056, 1988)

1. In Your Room
2. Complicated Girl
3. Bell Jar
4. Something to Believe In
5. Eternal Flame
6. Be with You
7. Glitter Years
8. I'll Set You Free
9. Watching the Sky
10. Some Dreams Come True
11. Make a Play for Her Now
12. Waiting for You
13. Crash and Burn

Disc 4: Bonus tracks

1. Getting Out of Hand
2. Call on Me
3. The Real World
4. I'm In Line
5. Want You
6. Mary Street
7. How is the Air Up There?
8. Bangles Hit Medley Mix
9. What I Meant to Say
10. Hazy Shade of Winter
11. In Your Room (7" Remix)
12. Hazy Shade of Winter (7" Dub Mix)
13. Walk Like An Egyptian (Extended Dance Mix)
14. If She Knew What She Wants (Extended Remix)
15. Walking Down Your Street (Extended Remix)
16. Hazy Shade of Winter (Purple Haze Mix)
17. In Your Room (12" Extended Version)
18. Walk Like an Egyptian (A Cappella Mix)
19. In Your Room (12" Instrumental)
20. Hazy Shade of Winter (Shady Haze Version)

Tracks 1-2 released as Down Kiddie single DK001, 1981
Tracks 3-7 released as Bangles EP - Faulty Products FEP 1302, 1983
Track 8 released on "Following" U.K. 12" - CBS BANGS T2, 1987
Track 9 released on "Eternal Flame" single - Columbia 38-68533, 1989
Track 10 released on Less Than Zero (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Def Jam/Columbia C 44042, 1987
Track 11 released on "In Your Room" single - Columbia 38-08090, 1988
Tracks 12, 16 and 20 released on "Hazy Shade of Winter" 12" - Def Jam/Columbia 44-07540, 1987
Tracks 13 and 18 released on "Walk Like An Egyptian" 12" - Columbia 44-05935, 1986
Track 14 released on "If She Knew What She Wants" U.K. 12" - Columbia TA 7062, 1986
Track 15 released on "Walking Down Your Street" 12" - Columbia 44-06760, 1987
Tracks 17 and 19 released on "In Your Room" 12" - Columbia 44-08170, 1988