 |  | Let's Hear It For The Girl! |  |
The obvious dilemma facing any female who fronts an otherwise all-male group is that she can easily be classified as nothing more than eye candy either onstage or on the subsequent CD covers. Such is not the case with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders anymore than it is the case with Debbie Harry of Blondie or Theresa Starr of the Echoes. All three ladies plainly govern their groups with their musical partners often being interchangeable, save for Martin Chambers of the Pretenders, Chris Stein of Blondie, or Mark Alexander of the Echoes. Just as behind every great man there stands a great woman, each of the aforementioned males lends both moral support and strong instrumental backing behind the stellar seductresses who front their acts. On the Pretenders' debut disc, Hynde finds herself backed by expert musicianship and two ready-made hits with "Brass In Pocket" and the Kinks' classic "Stop Your Sobbing," produced by none other than Nick Lowe. Hynde would try to mine the Ray Davies' catalog yet again on the group's second release, but it would be this remake that garnered the most attention and that Hynde would sing at Wembley Stadium during her Live Aid set several years hence.
August 6, 2008| | | The "original" Pretenders at their Best. | |
When the Pretenders' self-titled album was released in January 1980, it immediately captured my attention with the single, "Brass in Pocket (I'm Special)," and with the hard-rocking vocals of the woman leading the band in her schoolgirl bangs, scary dark eyeliner, and tight jeans. The "original" Pretenders (1978-1982) consisted of Chrissie Hynde on vocals and guitar, James Honeyman-Scott on guitar, vocals, and keyboards, Pete Farndon on bass guitar and vocals, and Martin Chambers on percussion and vocals. (In 1982 Honeyman-Scott died of a cocaine overdose, and in 1983 Farndon overdosed on heroin.) The album is a seamless mix of hard rock, post-punk and New Wave, and not only set a benchmark for '80s music, but is one of the greatest albums of all time (in my opinion). It sounds just as good today (particularly in this remastered edition) as it did in the early '80s. Tracks include:
1. Precious
2. The Phone Call
3. Up The Neck
4. Tattooed Love Boys
5. Space Invader
6. The Wait
7. Stop Your Sobbing
8. Kid
9. Private Life
10. Brass In Pocket
11. Lovers of Today
12. Mystery Achievement
Disc: 2
1. Cuban Slide (outtake)
2. Porcelain
3. The Wait (demo)
4. I Can't Control Myself (demo)
5. Nervous But Shy
6. Swinging London
7. Brass In Pocket (demo)
8. Kid (demo)
9. Stop Your Sobbing (demo)
10. Tequila (demo)
11. I Need Somebody (live BBC)
12. Mystery Achievement (live BBC)
13. Precious (live)
14. The Phone Call (live)
15. Tattooed Love Boys (live)
16. Sabre Dance (live)
G. Merritt
March 15, 2008 | | Good (Not Great) Remastering and Weak Bonus Tracks | |
I recently gave this reissue a listen. For starters, as other reviewers have noted, the Pretenders first five LP's have sorely needed to be updated and remastered, and for this I give Rhino kudos for answering that call. I have some issues with the process, however. First, I agree with other reviewers that the packaging should be improved. While I am somewhat biased against digipaks, my real issue is that the CD's on this release must be tucked into the cardboard packaging (like a vinyl record) and are difficult to remove. I think the digipak design could have been kept intact but a clear "holder" should have been used for the discs. I also think the remeastering is good but some of the tracks seemed to be missing an edge that I recall from the vinyl. "Kid" and "Brass In Pocket" seem OK but some of the others seem to be missing some punch. After listening to the bonus disc, I felt disappointed that buyers are forced to commit to paying the extra price for a double CD. Its nice to have "Cuban Slide" and "Porcelain" from the 'Extended Play' EP and the live versions of "Precious" and "Tattooed Love Boys" are worthwhile, but this disc is too heavy on demos which are not that spectacular. I would much rather have more live tracks from one of their concerts from 1980-81. The bonus disc clocks in at under one hour which also leaves me scratching my head. I would rather have a one disc LP with a handful of bonus tracks (like what was done on the one-disc reissue of 'Learning to Crawl') or a double CD with a generous helping of live material (like the 'Pretenders II' reissue) than what is presented here. Another oversight is the live version of "Precious" on the bonus disc is not the one from the 'Extended Play' EP. The version on this release was recorded in March 1980 while the EP version was recorded in New York in August of that year. Also, the bonus disc on 'Pretenders II' omitted the B-side "in The Sticks" (a Martin Chambers instrumental) presumably because of space constraints. In contrast, the bonus disc on 'Pretenders' does not have space constraints and the track could easily have been included to allow listeners a complete offering of the band's 45 and vinyl releases. While this CD still offers good material, I think the reissues of 'Pretenders II' and 'Learning to Crawl' are superior in terms of the decisions on track selection.
October 17, 2007| | | Gonna make you, make you, make you notice | |
Those prophetic words come from the breakthrough single "Brass In Pocket," and they completely sum up the debut album from The Pretenders. This band of English scruffs backed up ex-pat Chrissie Hynde and made one of rock's all time great debut albums. At a time when female singers either had to be disco wailers or blues chicks (the sole exception being Heart), Chrissie completely smashed all the old stereotypes and marked a new era in female singers. She, along with vocalists like Pat Benatar and Patti Smith, made it cool for independent women to make music that was sexy because it wasn't sexual. Remember Pat Benatar's classic quote of "you break my heart and I'll kick your a**"? Chrissie was that to the n'th degree.
"The Pretenders" mixed hard rock and pop sense so flawlessly that the band never again came close to matching it. From the sweet longing of "Brass In Pocket" to the cool dismissiveness of "Up The Neck" ("it was all very...run of the mill"), Chrissie delivered tough and tender in equal doses with full credibility. Having James Honeyman Scott throwing inventive riffs behind almost every song certainly helped, as did the undeniable power of Martin Chambers and Pete Farndon -- listen to his bass work on "The Wait" -- as a rhythm team. (And dammit, why did James and Pete have to OD themselves? When will we ever learn?)
One of the juicy things about this double disc release is the bonus CD. You get a pair of songs that weren't on CD before (save for Pirate Radio), "Porcelain" and "Cuban Slide." The demos are interesting in just how little they changed before they came on the original album. I chuckled at the "Roxanne" quote before the demo of "Kid" and was surprised that "Brass In Pocket" started out as a down-tempo number. The live tracks show The Pretenders to be incendiary in concert. The packaging itself is a blast, including lyrics! (I guess I was singing the wrong words all these years....)
All the chemistry was in perfect coordination here. Even the one moment when Nick Lowe steps in for producer, a cover of The Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing," can't break the synergy of this album. It remains a timeless debut, standing tall alongside of first efforts of the period from Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and The Cars.
August 11, 2007After reading the conflicting reviews of the sound quality here, I figured I'd throw mine in there too.
The original CD release was very thin sounding and unpleasant to listen to. This left a lot of room for improvement in a remastered reissue. Fortunately, the sound here is significantly better in terms of resolution and fullness, but it's not the quantum leap I'd hoped for. If you're a big Pretenders fan, you'll want to get this for the excellent bonus disk alone. If you're an audiophile simply looking for a better copy, I'd recommend it too - just don't expect any miracles.
August 5, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
