<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon®ion=GB&placement=B00R8J9XUY&asins=B00R8J9XUY&linkId=918f31d893c947caff9947a845e2c3ed&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
"...Hymn To Her..."
I have always loved Chrissie Hynde and her fantastic Pretenders band – they rocked then and they still do now. I was lucky enough therefore to have a few squid at the February 2015 time and get this bad-boy onto my shelves with a frankly naughty look of glee. Huge amounts of Tattooed Love Boys, Room Full of Mirrors and Last Of The Independents to wade through – here is the detail dirt...
UK released 16 February 2015 "Pretenders 1979–1999" by PRETENDERS on Demon/Edsel/Rhino PRETBOX01 (Barcode 5014797892620) is a 22-Disc Limited Edition Hard Card Slipcase Presentation Box Set featuring 8 Digipaks with 14 Remastered CDs of Albums, Rare B-sides, Live Tracks, Previously Unreleased Songs (189 Audio Tracks) - Accompanied by 68 Promo Videos and BBC TV Appearances across 8 Non-Region Coded DVDS. It plays out as follows:
1. "Pretenders: 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released January 1980 in the UK on Real Records RAL 3 and in the USA on Sire Records SRK 6083
CD1 "Pretenders Album & B-sides" (67:46 minutes, 18-Tracks)
CD2 "Demos & LIVE" (48:26 minutes, 13 Tracks)
DVD Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances (9 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
2. "Pretenders II: 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released August 1981 in the UK on Real Records SRK 3572 and in the USA on Sire Records SRK 3572
CD1 "Pretenders II Album" (46:24 minutes, 12 Tracks)
CD2 "Bonus Tracks & Live At The Santa Monica Civic, 1981" (77:37 minutes, 20 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (6 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
3. "Learning To Crawl: 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released January 1984 in the UK on Real Records WX 2 (923 980-1) and in the USA on Sire Records 9 23980-1
CD1 "Learning To Crawl Album" (40:43 minutes, 10 Tracks)
CD2 "B-sides/Live & Demos" (38:44 minutes, 10 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (6 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
4. "Get Close: 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released November 1986 in the UK on Real Records/Warner Brothers Records WX 64 (240 976-1) and in the USA on Sire Records 9 25488-1
CD1 "Get Close Album" (44:54 minutes, 11 Tracks)
CD2 "B-Sides, Bonus Tracks & Songs For Soundtracks...Plus" (77:26 minutes, 16 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (5 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
5. "Packed! CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released May 1990 in the UK on WEA Records WX 346 (9031-71403-1) and in the USA on Sire Records 9 26219-1
CD1 "Packed! Album + B-Sides" (45:02 minutes, 13 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (5 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
6. "Last Of The Independents: 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released May 1994 in the UK on WEA Records 4509-95822-1 (LP) and -2 (CD) and in the USA on Sire Records 9 45572-2 (CD)
CD1 "Last Of The Independents Album" (49:13 minutes, 13 Tracks)
CD2 "B-Sides...Plus Bonus Tracks + Songs For Soundtracks" (47:01 minutes, 12 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (9 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
7. "The Isle Of View: CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original live album (recorded with The Duke Quartet at Jacob Street Studios in London) released October 1995 in the UK on WEA Records 0630-12059-2 (CD) and in the USA on Warner Brothers Records 9 46085-2 (CD)
CD1 "The Isle Of View Album + B-Sides" (74:10 minutes, 19 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (21 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
8. "Viva El Amor! 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition"
Original album released May 1999 in the UK on WEA Records 3984271522 (CD) and in the USA on Warner Brothers Records 9 47342-2 (CD)
CD1 "Viva El Amore! Album" (45:04 minutes, 12 Tracks)
CD2 "B-Sides + Bonus Tracks + Songs For Soundtracks" (43:22 minutes, 10 Tracks)
DVD "Promo Videos + BBC TV Appearances" (7 Tracks, NTSC Regions Exempt)
As you can see from the above list – I have avoided detailed track lists for space reasons (we could be here for months). So what you get is the eight Deluxe Special Edition Digipaks that were issued February 2015 all wrapped in an outer Hard Card Box Set shell (no extra booklet). With 189 audio tracks and a huge 68 visuals – you are confronted with so much it’s hard to know where to start. First up – the Box Set is Edsel Records of the UK (a part of the Demon Music Group) with a Rhino logo because that’s where the Remasters come from. You can hear the Remastered muscle across the first three especially, whereas thereafter they were not really in need of audio uplift.
But if you take say album number five "Packed!" where I would say the public’s interest in the American/English hybrid band started to truly wane. The material is not the greatest – but rehearing her gorgeous cover of the Jimi Hendrix waterfall classic "May This Be Love" – the Remastered audio is lovely – Billy Bremner guitar. The same goes for "No Guarantee" – the big guitars chiming across your speakers – Tchad Blake and Billy Bremner lashing out that trademark Pretenders guitar sound. A co-write with Johnny Marr of The Smiths that features subtle backing vocals from Tim Finn of Crowded House (beside CH and Mart Hart) – "When Will I See You?" is so good. You could call it Soft Rock, but I think it’s beautiful and a typically magical melody from our lady hero – Chrissie. And there is a real sense of a woman-in-love coursing through the pretty warm kisses of "Sense Of Purpose" (Dominic Miller on Guitar). Chrissie feels like an outlaw for loving in "Criminal" – another forgotten melodic gem on a relegated album.
For me the first three albums are all great – especially the self-titled debut and the hit-laden "Learning To Crawl" (I have reviewed both in depth separately). Although "Get Close" had just a little too much filler – it also had devastatingly brilliant stuff like "My Baby", "Don't Get Me Wrong", "Hymn To Her" and their kick-ass cover of Jimi's "Room Full Of Mirrors". She came a-roaring back in my books with the 1994 outing "Last Of The Independents" – kicking Rock songs and huge production from courtesy of Ian Stanley. Most songs were co-writes with the duo of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly – a different approach for her that really delivered. "Night In My Veins" was always going to a winning lips/hands everywhere dancing single, but it is trashed in my world by the stunning Punk-Angry Rock of "Money Talk" (begging at the feet of the Devil).
The late great Andy Rourke of The Smiths plays Bass on Seven tracks of "Last Of The Independents" – one of which is the typically musical "Revolution" (I wanna die for something). You get Ian Stanley on Organ and Adam Seymour of The Katydids on Guitar – her old mucker Martin Chambers on Drums. A lovely kiss-the-world take on "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan ends a great album. And again CH goes to cover versions for TV and Compilation contributions – "Friends" gets the Chip Taylor song "Angel Of The Morning" while the Stone Free Tribute compilation gets Jimi Hendrix in "Bold As Love". There is even a take on the 1975 10cc number 1 "I'm Not in Love" for the Soundtrack to "Indecent Proposal" (give us a mil Rob) and "Every Day Is Like Sunday" by Morrissey for the "Boys On The Side" Soundtrack (Andy Rourke of The Smiths plays Bass on that too).
B-sides include the superb "Talk Of The Town" EP that followed the debut LP right through the guitar-jangle-lovely Meg Keene cover version "Spirit Of Life" that was the Non-LP flipside to the 1990 single for "Sense Of Purpose". But far better is the Soundtrack LP songs like the Timothy Dalton James Bond tracks from "The Living Daylights" – co-writes with the legendary John Barry on "Where Has Everybody Gone" and "If There Was A Man" or her cover of the Bacharach/David classic "Windows Of The World" for the movie "1969". The live tracks are perhaps a tad disappointing in that the passion is there (and how – they play like madmen), but it always appears to be let down by bad Production values where most only rise a bit above acceptable bootleg standard.
The 1995 Unplugged Live Set that is "The Isle Of View" seems to be the one that got away in her catalogue. The band consists of Adam Seymour on Guitar, Harmonium and Vocals with Andy Hobson on Bass and Martin Chambers on Drums. Complimenting her on Vocals and Acoustic Guitar is Damon Albarn of Blur on Piano. But the duo real difference is crystal clear muscular top-quality Production from Stephen Street and the softening of every song by the arranged accompaniment from The Duke Quartet – Three Violins from John Metcalfe, Louisa Fuller and Richard Koster with One Cello by Ivan McCready. Every Rock song is taken out of bombast and brought back to basic melody so that stuff like "Chill Factor" is even more haunting and you can literally feel the tingle of the crowd as the band goes into the debut album masterpiece "Private Life" – the other three getting those vocals just right as it acoustic Reggaes its way across your speakers.
The addition of the four-piece strings to "Back On The Chain Gang" is a sensation – the loveliness of the melody suddenly swarming around your speakers – a perfect remake that compliments the original. They slow down "Kid" to a sadness that the violins and cello only accentuate. Unusual and clever too to choose the vicious riffage of "I Hurt You" from the third album – the flickering strings brilliantly arranged to underpin the menace. Her voice is just shimmering throughout "Criminal" from the underrated "Packed!" album. Then to a real crowd-pleaser – the one that started it all in late 1979 - "Brass In Pocket" (gonna use my sidestep). Not surprisingly Hynde goes immediately into the seasonal beauty of "2000 Miles" – a song now forever associated with Christmas – and it is just gorgeous. She opens with only a guitar but is soon joined by strings and Tambourines and its Christmas in London. Albarn of Blur puts in a lone funereal organ for the Meg Keene song "Hymn To Her" which Chrissie sings without any other instrumentation. It is a surprise to hear "Lovers Of Today" from the debut suit the Strings/Acoustic format so well. And on it goes to four worthy bonuses - "Creep" by Radiohead with three of her own - "Happy Christmas", "Night In My Veins" and "Tequila" (the DVD has 18 tracks that includes a different arrangement of songs).
Produced at three different locations by Stephen Street and Stephen Hague - you may have to turn down the Stereo for album number eight "Viva El Amor!" because it comes out at you with a Rock Rage Energy in the fantastic "Popstar" – wailing Harmonica like a guitar solo – Chrissie on the lyrical assault like a Dave Chappelle gig. "Human" calms a little but in that great commercial Pretenders kind of a way – an obvious single – only human on the inside. Adam Seymour gets to show his guitar chops on the deceptively good "From The Heart Down" – Chrissie reemploying Duke Quartet and their strings to give it gravitas. Riffage abounds with "Nails In The Road" – her patience worn thin and her tires near exploding. But for me the album masterpiece is the truly brilliant gee-tar rawk of "Dragway 42" – a sort of "You Wreck Me" by Tom Petty slice of slow killer riffage that most bands would bump-off a close relative to acquire (dirty deeds done dirt cheap). You feel the dirty streets of a city – bleak artificial light – walking - waiting like a heartache junkie for love to pull up and save the day. The same slow drum menace permeates through the pings of "Biker" – CH pining for her outlaw in a Godless society. For her B-sides she covers the Neil Young "Harvest" classic "The Needle And The Damage Done" and on the Soundtrack front is the Goffin/King written Byrds gem "Goin’ Back" for the football movie "Fever Pitch" and a Steve Earle goody in "Goodbye" for the Demi Moore film "G.I. Jane".
To sum up – it looks cool – gives Remasters for albums that needed it and throws in so many great extras in both Audio and Visual that it can only be described as an embarrassment of riches.
Pretenders have always been the business for me and this heffalump only marinates their back catalogue even more tenderly. Brilliant...
FEBRUARY 2015 PRETENDERS
'Deluxe Special Edition' Reissue Series by Edsel/Rhino
1. "Pretenders" (January 1980 debut) - Edsel EDSG 8047 (Barcode 740155804732) - 2CDs + DVD
2. "Pretenders II" (August 1981) - Edsel EDSG 8048 (Barcode 740155804831) - 2CDs + DVD
3. "Learning To Crawl" (January 1984) - Edsel EDSG 8049 (Barcode 740155804930) - 2CDs + DVD
4. "Get Close" (November 1986) - Edsel EDSG 8050 (Barcode 740155805036) - 2CDs + DVD
5. "Packed!" (May 1990) - Edsel EDSX 3022 (Barcode 740155302238) - CD + DVD
6. "Last Of The Independents" (May 1994) - Edsel EDSG 8051 (Barcode 740155805135) - 2CDs + DVD
7. "The Isle Of View" (October 1995) - Edsel EDSX 3023 (Barcode 740155302337) - CD + DVD
8. "Viva El Amor!" (May 1999) - Edsel EDSG 8052 (Barcode 740155805234 - 2CDs + DVD
9. "Pretenders 1979-1999" (February 2015) - Edsel PRETBOX01 (Barcode 5014797892620) - 22-Disc Hard Card Slipcase Wrap Box Set with all of the 1 to 8 gatefold card digipaks above inside (no extra booklet)
