The Pretenders - "The Pretenders II" (1981) - Sire
Hello Friends,
We're listening to some early 1980's New Wave courtesy of the Pretenders tonight. Notable because (a) its the second LP by the Pretenders and (b) the last Pretenders record to feature the original line up of Chrissie Hynde, Pete Farndon (bass), James Honeyman-Scott (guitar) and Martin Chambers (drums). (By the time Learning To Crawl would be released in 1984, both Farndon and Honeyman-Scott would die of drug overdoses! Just say No, kids!)
A great album overall, although Tiki T. and I both prefer Learning to Crawl.
The album's opener-- "The Adultress"-- is one of those Chrissie Hynde as homewrecker/femme fatale songs. This idea is taken to its extreme on the very next song, "Bad Boys Get Spanked" complete with sneers, grunts and whipping sounds. Whats not to love about a sexy brunette rock star who likes to get into some rough stuff?
Side One also includes the singles "Message of Love" (like Brigitte Bardot!) and "Talk of the Town", as well as a second great Ray Davies/Kinks cover in as many albums with the lucid "I Go To Sleep" (Hynde and Davies would have a baby girl together in 1983... Scandalous!)
Also on Side One is the sad and mysterious ballad, "Birds of Paradise" about a childhood romance with jangly, argpeggio guitars and the great lyric:
When I was a little girl
With clay horses and lambs on the shelf
I caught frogs in ditches, listened for elves
Side Two doesn't quite live up to Side One.
"Pack it Up" is a decent punk song; "Waste Not Want Not" is a forgettable reggae-ish tune.
"Day After Day" is some good pop and if you listen with just the right ears you can hear a little bit of early R.E.M. in there.
"Jealous Dogs" kind of sucks, however "The English Roses" is pretty amazing. Some great lyrics and some shredding guitar solos.
"Louie Louie" closes out the album (not the famous Richard Berry/Kingsmen song)-- a horn-laden, dance number with some guitar fills reminiscent of "London Calling".
Because of the deaths of Farndon and Honeyman-Scott, in retrospect, Pretenders II is a melancholy affair. Listening to some of the guitar work on the album its really sad to think about what James Honeyman-Scott might have accomplished either in this band or some other one if he just took it easy with the booger sugar!
RATING: 4.5 skies closing on the English roses out of 5
"Pack it Up" is a decent punk song; "Waste Not Want Not" is a forgettable reggae-ish tune.
"Day After Day" is some good pop and if you listen with just the right ears you can hear a little bit of early R.E.M. in there.
"Jealous Dogs" kind of sucks, however "The English Roses" is pretty amazing. Some great lyrics and some shredding guitar solos.
"Louie Louie" closes out the album (not the famous Richard Berry/Kingsmen song)-- a horn-laden, dance number with some guitar fills reminiscent of "London Calling".
Because of the deaths of Farndon and Honeyman-Scott, in retrospect, Pretenders II is a melancholy affair. Listening to some of the guitar work on the album its really sad to think about what James Honeyman-Scott might have accomplished either in this band or some other one if he just took it easy with the booger sugar!
RATING: 4.5 skies closing on the English roses out of 5
Who would snort sugar?
ReplyDelete