Pretenders - Pretenders

This nearly perfect debut album showcases both the extraordinary songs of Ohio-born singer Chrissie Hynde and the rhythmically complex performances of her U.K.-bred band, Pretenders. The band tramples through the sexual aggression of "Precious," "Up the Neck" and "Tattooed Love Boys"; the classic pop of "Kid" and "Brass in Pocket"; and a brilliant cover of the Kinks's "Stop Your Sobbing." Hynde's sneering vocals add resonance to these tales of sexual revenge, abuse, and longing appropriately fleshed out with blood, guts, and guitar. --Rob O'Connor Amazon.com

Ohio Telecaster Queen and her Mates

28 years after it's debut, I still shake my head in wonderment when I listen to this monumental debut. The only thing different is that I now listen to it on compact disc instead of vinyl.
And when I hear the UK national anthem, I will always remember the Pretenders show I was lucky enough to see in 1980 (at Golden Hall in downtown San Diego)with Bow-Wow-Wow opening for them. They always played the UK anthem standing facing the Union Jack before they played a single note at all of their live performances. James Honeyman Scott instantly won me over as the new king of the Stratocaster. Hynde, looked so damned sexy in tight black leather pants with that butterscotch Tele slung over her shoulder, her voice defining an attitude never equaled by any female singer of the rock genre since. (Levigne and Phair only Chrissie wannabe's). Farndon and Chambers power playing couldn't be touched by any other rhythm section- just listen.
This should be on everyone's desert island disc list. I'm afraid it's just that good. January 25, 2008

Inconsisent but with some good highlights

I have always been a fan of the Pretenders' radio hits, and wanted to start listening to their original albums. The only other one I heard so far was Learning to Crawl, which I do recommend highly. Learning to Crawl is essentially a different band with the same songwriter, Chrissy Hynde. This album, on the other hand, could use improvement.

"Mystery Achievement" is certainly the crowning uh... achievement on this album. It's a poignant, tense track that WILL still give you goose bumps near the end, even after multiple listens. Other songs, however, could use improvement. "Brass in Pocket" is a nice song but is overplayed and a bit too bland; "Precious" is a good song, but suffers from poor production, even during this day. Actually much of the album really does suffer from garage-quality production. I suppose that should be the charm of music rooted in punk, but this was produced in 1980 and now sounds quite dated. Contrast this to their contemporaries - Steely Dan comes to mind with their albums "Gaucho" and "Aja" - and you have polar opposites on the production spectrum. What can I say, I am a fan of detailed, perfected production, and this album does not even have acceptable production. It just sounds too raw and scratchy. I do have to admit, I have a copy of the original album and not the remastered. And this album HAS been remastered, so I recommend you do try that out first.

And therein lies the problem. Songs that could have been great like "Precious," "the Wait," and "Private Life" are marred by poor production. Several other songs like "The Phone Call" and "Up the Neck" really are too generic and don't stand out at all. "Private Life" especially suffers from poor sound volume mixing, so the whole track is very quiet and there are intermittent bursts of loud wails lasting about 5 seconds. I have not tried it, but if you can, try the remastered copy first!
December 26, 2007

My favorite music

Creative. I've been listin' to this type of music for many years & still love it. August 11, 2007

Pretenders to the throne of Rock n' Roll

I'd trust Chrissie Hynde driving; in fact, I want her behind the wheel in the driver's seat. I believe she'd get me there fast and with a minimal amount of wasted time or fuel. There aren't many people I'd feel comfortable relinquishing control to, but Chrissie is one of them. Finally a band came along that has the scorching "raw power" of THE STOOGES, and the in-control Pop song writing ability of THE BEATLES, melds the two, and lays a cornerstone upon which the next 10 years of Rock rests, unmoved until the Grunge movement a decade later. It had to take an American woman in an English group to marry these influences (and later, literally marry Jim Kerr of SIMPLE MINDS, after having leader of the KINKS Ray Davies' baby. She later divorced Kerr). With tongue-in-cheek, I must inquire: how could a band fronted by a girl get it all so right? This album does not feature Chrissie Hynde, but rather the band she founded (though she is the genius who wrote most of these tunes including the sizzling "The Phone Call," scorchers "The Wait," "Up The Neck" and "Tattooed Love Boys," the classic "Brass In Pocket," and the unforgiving "Mystery Achievement.") The Pretenders truly were pretenders, in this case, to the throne of rock n' roll, vacant since ELVIS' death, the demise of THE BEATLES, and the soft phase of THE ROLLING STONES . . . and Chrissie Hynde is the Queen. For a moment, the Pretenders were the greatest Rock n' Roll band in the world. Also, I must correct myself, since the Pretenders could get away with referencing the "Space Invaders" game on the song of that title on this awesome debut album. It is the record's weakest moment without doubt, and that's saying a lot for this incredibly strong, superb album (that "Space Invaders" track is not composed by Hynde). My self-correction references David Bowie's timely 1977 LOW album and my Amazon review of same, a record which uses some of the same sound of that game 3 years prior to this release.
Loaded with strong rockers, hot pretension, and superb songwriting, this is one of Rock's best records by a band that came out of nearly nowhere.
April 14, 2007

The rave reviews are right...

It defined an era, was an exceptionally tight band, and Chrissie is a punk goddess...Listening to this defines being 18 and falling in love for me. One of my top ten, stranded-on-an-island albums, and that's saying a lot... January 27, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...