Pretenders

This is completely new to me and really not what I thought The Pretenders sounded like coming in only knowing Brass in Pocket and that Christmas song.

Feels kind of Blondie-ish

Started a bit meh but (possibly because it was Friday night when I was listening and the rum kicked in…) the album seemed to get better the further I got through it.

a great album - love the sound 4/5

forte, hein!

rockzinho new wave até meio punkzinho as vezes, bem gostosim de ouvir. nao eh um blondie, mas quebra o galho!!

This is a good rock album with strong guitar hooks and great songs. It sounds less like new wave than I expected, instead being a more traditional rock album. While the vocals work well in the context of the album, the real star is the guitar; it's hooky, muscular, and energetic in equal measure. It makes the album what it is, despite lacking the technical flash of say, Deep Purple. Essentially, this album has strong songwriting backed with a good band.

Better than Coldplay

Was gonna be a 3 but the last 2 songs were really great

Finally listened to one of my dad's all-time favorite albums. He bought it very shortly after it came out when he was 17 years old. So the album is special to me regardless of what I would rate it overall.

Good album- certainly well produced and all the performances are good. A little bit too inconsistent to fully award a 4 to, and too long. I think I prefer their softer, poppier tracks to the punk. I will say that "Space Invader" is a really cool instrumental- that track took me by surprise. "Kid" and "Brass in Pocket" are also so nostalgic and lovely.

Nicht mein Fall, aber kann man auch nicht viel gegen sagen.

An important record bringing some of the energy of punk and girl rock into the mainstream, though built around (and perhaps forgotten) a few beautiful mid tempo and ballad numbers. A remarkable first statement for Christie Hynes and her stalwart band, most importantly James Homeyman-Scott.

I am continually shocked at how praised the Pretenders are, especially by the media.

Over the course of decades there are a small spattering of decent songs that other than the take it or leave it voice of Ms. Hynde (I'll leave it) sounds just like everything else in its time frame from this genre. If it was a dude singing these songs you wouldn't remember the band name when the song you recognize comes on.

I wasn't as enamoured with this as I thought I would be based on the songs I'd already heard- but it's definitely good music! :)

Some great tracks on this album that I'd almost forgotten. Brass In Pocket of course, but also Stop Your Sobbing, Kid and Private Life, the Grace Jones version of which I loved and didn't even know this was a CH song.. and her version is as good if not better.

Extra star for Chrissie Hynde's drive, determination and desire to shag, snog, (nearly) marry and avoid her way to the top when it wasn't particularly easy for a female in rock.

A hell of a debut.
4½

this was soo fuun! At first I thought hmm, sounds like Sonic youth if they were less edgy.

Fast-paced, polished punk with elements of back-to-basics rock.

This is an interesting coincidence as a couple days ago in my review of the Who’s Live at Leeds review I mentioned seeing them in 2006. Well, who opened for them at that concert? The Pretenders! At the time I had no idea who the Pretenders were; I didn’t even catch their name during the show, so it wasn’t until years later that I figured out who I had seen that day. I remember they put on a good show, but not much else from that time.

Listening to their debut album now and I really quite enjoy it. It's a solid pop-punk album. There's maybe a bit too much 80s pop flair for my tastes on a couple of the tracks, but not enough to turn me off the album.

The sound's decent but doesn't really speak to me.

i think late 2010s - early 2020s music primed me to like 80s music more

'Bondage to lust, / Abuse of facility / Blackmailed emotions confused, / The demon and devilty.' Chrissie Hynde is neither Poly Styrene nor Patti Smith: she's Strummer + Reed w/ a little bit of Costello there for nerdy relief. The music is essentially unclassifiable - every time I'd like to call it punk or new wave, it displays an edge that's older and more fundamental, a feel for 50s rock 'n' roll and Doo-wop that brings to mind the likes of Link Wray and girl groups such as The Crystals. The reggae-rhythms on tracks like 'Private Life' are purposeful rather than a distraction, more than you can say about most whites attempting that sort of thing. There's a whole lot of joy here, but it's of a perennial kind: summer jams don't monopolize their ambition.

Fantastic debut

Didn’t like it that much