DRAWING A BEAD ON THE BANGLES

“DIFFERENT LIGHT.” The Bangles. Columbia.

Local-cum-national favorites the Bangles have been lumped in with the whole “Paisley revival,” a movement resuscitating the pop of the ‘60s between the British Invasion and the drug invasion. It’s not an unfair tag, but no lava lamp is required to shed the proper glow on “Different Light,” the quartet’s third release and the first to really escape the faint taint of nostalgia. The title and the glamour-girl cover shots suggest a slightly modified modus operandi , and return producer David Kahne deserves credit for tempering the 20-year-old roots (Seeds?) this time with the odd funk riff or synthesizer or even--what a concept--stereo separation.

That’s not to say that the sound isn’t still real retrograde. The first single, “Manic Monday,” represents slumming songwriter Prince’s attempt (mostly successful, save for the inevitable “getting down” interlude) to concoct a modern-day Mamas and the Papas hit. The wonderfully pointless “Walk Like an Egyptian” couldn’t sound more dated. And charmingly low-key four-part female harmonies and fuzzy trash-rock guitar tones are still the predominant order of the day.

So what’s different? You could chalk it up to the less self-conscious production, or the fact that the outside material is all contemporary this time (choices from Jules Shear and Alex Chilton in addition to Prince), but it’s really something more subtle--like attitude--that makes this a more happily and willfully ‘80s record than its predecessors.

The slight changes in image and sound may cause charges that the gals have gone Hollywood, which is hogwash. Yet it would be equally unfortunate if the album inspired the same hype that greeted the last record, because “Different Light” is the kind of unassuming delight that’s apt to collapse under the weight of too much praise and scrutiny. Records this strong and modest were a dime a dozen in the ‘60s. But there hasn’t been one remotely like it since the Bangles’ last, and there’s been a lot of interest adding up on all those unspent dimes.