Pretenders - "Don't Get Me Wrong" (1986)

Here's a fun little throwback to help pass the time on this shitty, shitty Friday!

Enjoy!

Oh Hi Chrissie Hynde!

The One With Kid

The Pretenders - "The Pretenders" (1980) - Sire

Hello Friends,

For some reason, Spring seems to put us in a Pretenders kind of mood and tonight we've got their debut record on the turntable.

Featuring their first single, a cover of the Kinks' song "Stop Your Sobbing" and their first chart-topper, "Brass In Pocket", The Pretenders eponymous record is the perfect balance of punk rock 'tude with big arena rock sounds and production. Raven-haired hottie Chrissie Hynde writes and sings songs with a sneering sexuality that are both radio-friendly and subversive.  Punk rock for the yet-to-be-named MTV Generation.

The manic-sounding "Precious" gets things off to a fast start.  With Hynde's sultry vocals front and center and James Honeyman-Scott's noodling lead guitar providing a gritty counterpoint, the stage is set for one of the defining rock sounds of the 1980's.

"Up the Neck" is a New Wave ballad that sounds like early R.E.M. covering Blondie!

There's a definite Clash influence on "The Wait".

At six and half minutes, "Private Life" is a little meandering.

The heartbreaking ballad, "Lovers of Today" has a nice Beatles/McCartney-esque feel to it (think: "Maybe I'm Amazed").

"Mystery Achievement" sounds like it was a big influence on early U2.

And then there's "Kid"...

Perhaps our all-time favorite Pretenders song!   Its one of those perfect songs... sad & hopeful, nostalgic & haunting.. is it about a prostitute?  Infidelity? A break-up?  All of the above?  Who cares, its awesome, has a great riff and you can dance to it!  Full of grace, you cover your face...  

RATING: 4 Tattooed Love Boys out of 5

Pretenders Deux

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

Way to go, Ohio!

Learning to Crawl (1984) is the third Pretenders LP and pretty much every song is good.   The album's title probably refers to the baby Chrissie Hynde recently had with Kinks frontman, Ray Davies.  A lot of the songs (especially "Back in the Chain Gang") contain hints of longing & regret most likely due to the fact that two former members of the band had recently passed away from drug overdoses.  Just say no kids!

Besides "Chain Gang", there's "Middle of the Road", "Show Me", "My City was Gone" and the xmasy, "2000 Miles."  This is Chrissie Hynde at her peak.  Her voice is gritty and sultry, oozing her devil-may-care sexiness.  Her lyrics poignant and nostalgic.  Great riffs throughout.  

RATING: 4.5 black eyeliners out of a possible 5