I saw the Pretenders at Red Rocks in the summer of
1984. They were supporting their album Learning to Crawl. By this time, there were two new guys in the
band – Robbie McIntosh [guitar] and Malcolm Foster [bass]. They were good, almost great. They played almost every song I wanted to
hear. It was a good mix between “what
came before” and what was new at the time.
They even played something they had not released [yet]. That was a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Room Full of Mirrors. I’ll give props to anybody who covers Hendrix
well, and the Pretenders didn’t disappoint.
Guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon
were half of “what came before”. For
those unfamiliar with the tale, in the summer of 1982 Chrissie Hynde, drummer
Martin Chambers and Scott had a band meeting to fire Pete Farndon. Farndon had a serious drug problem, which
made him difficult to work with. Two
days after they fired Pete Farndon, Scott died from heart failure. He overdosed on cocaine. Farndon himself died ten months later. He drowned in his bathtub after overdosing on
heroin.
The time between the band’s formation in 1978 and the
loss of two founding members in 1982, the Pretenders recorded two albums and
one EP. These albums [Pretenders, Extended Play, and Pretenders
II] were brash and harder than most contemporary rock records, which
blended sounds of 1970s rock and roll [think “Rolling Stones”], New Wave, and
Punk that also had plenty of melody.
Chrissie Hynde may not look sexy [she isn’t ugly either by a long shot],
but she sounds sexy. She’s an
excellent songwriter who also has an affinity for the Kinks. Her rhythm guitar playing and the lead
playing of James Honeyman-Scott made for an excellent pairing.
Chris Thomas produced those records with the original
band, and is crucial to the Pretenders’ story.
His first foray into record production came when George Martin threw him
into the deep end during sessions for the Beatles’ White Album. He left Thomas a note - "Dear Chris,
Hope you had a nice holiday. I'm off on mine now. Make yourself available to
The Beatles. Neil and Mal know you're coming down." After the White Album, Thomas produced Procol
Harum, Roxy Music, Badfinger, and the Sex Pistols and mixed Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. He met Chrissie Hynde before the Pretenders
formed. She told him she wanted to be a
singer and asked for his help. His
advice to her was that singing was not enough – she needed to get a band and
take up songwriting. She obviously took
his advice.
Their first single was a Kinks cover, Stop Your Sobbing [produced by Nick
Lowe]. It was the strength of the single
[and seeing them perform live] which convinced Thomas to produce the first
album. Pretenders is one of the better debut albums one would hear from
anybody [see my playlist below for song titles]. Under Thomas’ direction, the songs are
focused and inspiring. His production
brings the band a direction and a hard edge that would be missing from records
not involving him. Extended Play appeared the next year with two songs left over from
Pretenders that didn’t make the album. It
also had two songs for the next album [Message
of Love and Talk of the Town] and
a live version of Precious. Oddly enough, one of those songs [Cuban Slide] is my favorite Pretenders
song. Pretenders II was a bit of a letdown from the first album. To be fair, the first album set the bar
incredibly high. The songs don’t rock as
hard, and some of the songs sound like filler.
However, the songs that aren’t filler equal the standard set by those
from the first album. It was these
collections of songs from the original band on which the Pretenders’ reputation
is built. One can only wonder how the
rest of the Pretenders’ music would turn out had James Honeyman-Scott and Pete
Farndon stayed away from hard drugs.
Tony’s rating for this period [on a scale of 0 (must avoid) to 5
(classic)] – 4.9.
Two months after Scott’s death the two remaining
Pretenders [Hynde and Chambers] began recording a memorial to Scott. With the help of guitarist Billy Bremner
[Rockpile], guitarist Robbie McIntosh, and bassist Tony Butler [Big Country]. This song became Back on the Chain Gang.
Robbie McIntosh was a friend of Scott’s.
The same day they fired Pete Farndon, Scott said he wanted to bring
McIntosh into the band. The B-side of Back on the Chain Gang was My City Was Gone [which I think is a
better song]. In addition to the task of
replacing two founding members, Chrissie Hynde was three-months pregnant at the
time. It was going to take a while to
rebuild the Pretenders.
Learning to Crawl
showed a band that came back from the dead.
It too was produced by Chris Thomas, whose production was as clear and
crystalline as always, but the band’s sound changed. How could it not? Musicians simply don’t “plug and play” from
one band to another and expect to sound like the musicians they replace. The
music was not as aggressive as it was on the first three releases. The punk fury that fueled the first release
was replaced by more mature melodicism.
That being said, the opening cut [Middle
of the Road] is just as raucous as anything that came before. Chrissie Hynde’s songs were, in a word,
remarkable. They were more mature, as
death of close friends and new motherhood were bound to change Chrissie’s
outlook. The first clue to this maturity
comes at the end of Middle of the Road
– “I’m not the cat I used to be/I got a
kid I’m 33, baby…” Robbie McIntosh’s playing is leaner and more muscular
than that of James Honeyman-Scott, but his style suited the new songs. Malcolm Foster was a very solid and
dependable replacement for Pete Farndon.
His teaming with Martin Chambers made them a formidable rhythm
section. 2000 Miles was written as another tribute to James Honeyman-Scott,
but since it mentions ‘Christmastime’ it’s been known as a Christmas song since
its release. The only song on the album
I don’t like is the one Chrissie Hynde didn’t write - Thin Line Between Love and Hate.
I do remember hearing this one at Red Rocks. It’s a “bathroom break” song. My favorite song from Learning to Crawl? That
would be Thumbelina, with its old-fashioned
chugging train-song rhythm. Tony’s rating - 4.5.
Get Close
followed in 1986. There were three
different producers for this one, none of them named Chris Thomas. Chrissie Hynde was the only Pretender on the
front cover. This is “truth in
advertising”. The band that made Learning to Crawl can be found on one only
song – Room Full of Mirrors. Shortly thereafter, Martin Chambers was told
his services were no longer required.
Chrissie thought his playing wasn’t good. He attributed his playing to apathy resulting
from the inability to cope with the deaths of James Honeyman-Scott and Pete
Farndon. When Chambers was canned,
Malcolm Foster had a “fuck this shit” moment and followed Chambers out of the
band. With Robbie McIntosh the only
other Pretender, he and Hynde recorded the remainder of Get Close with session players.
Some of the songs are good [see below], but others are a mess. There was a power ballad [ick!] and some
‘funk’ tunes [doubleplusick!]. I’m sorry
– white girls from Akron may be brash and ballsy with plenty of attitude, but
funky they are not. What is telling
about Get Close is that the outtakes
rock harder than the tunes that made the album.
After the tour for this album was done in 1987, so was Robbie McIntosh –
he’d had enough. He later went on to work
for Paul McCartney (1989-93). Tony’s
rating – 2.5.
In 1972 Traffic recorded a Steve Winwood song called (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired. That phrase sums up the Pretenders’ fifth
album, Packed [1990]. This was a
Pretenders album in name only, and has “contractual obligation” written all
over it. I’m not sure what this album
was packed with, but quality music was not.
The tunes are uninspiring, the production is bland. I never thought I’d say this about an album involving
Chrissie Hynde, but Packed is just
plain boring. Save your money - avoid at
all costs. Tony’s rating – 0.
Four years elapsed between the release of Packed and its follow-up, Last of the Independents. Chris Thomas was back for this one, and the
difference between this and Packed
shows. This album and the two that followed it, ¡Viva El Amor! (1999) and Loose
Screw (2002) featured a stable line-up – Chrissie Hynde, Adam Seymour
[guitar], Andy Hobson [bass], and the return of Martin Chambers. Critics labeled each of these albums as “the
best since Learning to Crawl”. Maybe if you take all the good songs from all
three albums and make your own album that might be true. That’s not to say that these are bad albums. On the contrary – they’re pretty good. Learning
to Crawl had set the bar very high.
These albums proved what Chris Thomas told Chrissie Hynde in the early
days about what she needed – good original songs and a real band to play them. Tony’s rating for this period – 3.5.
The albums that followed Loose Screw have a low-fi aesthetic. To these ears they sound like they could’ve
been recorded in someone’s garage in a couple of days. The low-fi aesthetic works well for some
acts. Their music would be much
different without it [Tom Waits, Los Lobos, and bluesmen from north Mississippi
come to mind]. The Pretenders – not so
much. Break Up the Concrete finds the Pretenders without Martin Chambers. However, he toured to support the album. Apparently he didn’t want to play on it, but
was more than happy to do the road work. Alone is another Pretenders album in name
only. Chrissie Hynde is the sole
Pretender on the record, which she did with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and
a bunch a session guys. The album title
is appropriate. Tony’s rating for this period – 2.
In 2014, Chrissie Hynde finally put out an album under
her own name after 35 years of making records – Stockholm. I have one song
on my playlist from that album - Down the
Wrong Way. It might have been a real
good Pretenders B-side, but I can sum up in two words why I included it – Neil
Young. Happily, the sexy voice was/is
still intact.
When the Pretenders were inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, Chrissie Hynde addressed the criticism that the Pretenders today
is nothing but a tribute band. Her
response was that they pay tribute to James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon
each and every night they play. Touché. That lady from Akron is pretty clever…
Here’s my Pretenders playlist:
1.
Room Full
of Mirrors [Get Close, 1986]
2.
World
Within Worlds [Get Close (Bonus
track), 1986]
3.
Down the
Wrong Way [Chrissie Hynde – Stockholm,
2014]
4.
Cuban Slide [Extended Play, 1981] à Tony’s favorite
Pretenders song
5.
Porcelain
[Extended Play, 1981]
6.
Birds of
Paradise [Pretenders II, 1981]
7.
Mystery
Achievement [Pretenders, 1980]
8.
Message
of Love [Pretenders II, 1981]
9.
Talk of
the Town [Pretenders II, 1981]
10. The English Roses [Pretenders II, 1981]
11. Jealous Dogs [Pretenders II, 1981]
12. Day After Day [Pretenders II, 1981]
13. Waste Not Want Not [Pretenders II, 1981]
14. I Go To Sleep [Pretenders II, 1981]
15. Bad Boys Get Spanked [Pretenders II, 1981]
16. The Adultress [Pretenders II, 1981]
17. Brass in Pocket [Pretenders, 1980]
18. The Wait [Pretenders, 1980]
19. Space Invader (Instrumental) [Pretenders, 1980]
20. Private Life [Pretenders, 1980]
21. Kid [Pretenders, 1980]
22. Stop Your Sobbing [Pretenders, 1980]
23. Tattooed Love Boys [Pretenders, 1980]
24. Up the Neck [Pretenders, 1980]
25. The Phone Call [Pretenders, 1980]
26. Precious [Pretenders, 1980]
27. Middle of the Road [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
28. When I Change My Life [Get Close, 1986]
29. Light of the Moon [Get Close, 1986]
30. Back on the Chain Gang [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
31. Time the Avenger [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
32. Show Me [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
33. Thumbelina [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
34. My City Was Gone [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
35. 2000 Miles [Learning to Crawl, 1984]
36. Hold a Candle to This [Get Close (Bonus track), 1986]
37. Hollywood Perfume [Last of the Independents, 1994]
38. Night in My Veins [Last of the Independents, 1994]
39. Money Talk [Last of the Independents, 1994]
40. I’m a Mother [Last of the Independents, 1994]
41. Rebel Rock Me [Last of the Independents, 1994]
42. Popstar [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]
43. Dragway [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]
44. Baby’s Breath [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]
45. Legalize Me [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]
46. Biker [¡Viva El Amor!, 1999]
47. Lie To Me [Loose Screw, 2002]
48. Fools Must Die [Loose Screw, 2002]
49. Walk Like a Panther [Loose Screw, 2002]
50. Boots of Chinese Plastic [Break Up the Concrete, 2008]
51. Break Up the Concrete [Break Up the Concrete, 2008]
52. Alone [Alone, 2016]
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