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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 14, 2007
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.
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.
