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Pretenders: Deluxe and Then Some
by Doug Collette
In the cover photos of the first two Pretenders albums, vocalist, guitarist and chief composer Chrissie Hynde looks like her best songs sound: forthright, earnest and without affectation. That she and the quartet possess those virtues as they play, both in the studio and on-stage, is testament to their chemistry. No vinyl LPs are included to warrant the 12"-by-12" format of these fortieth anniversary packages, but the three-CD sets nevertheless contain a wealth of previously-unreleased tracks (thanks no doubt to ...
read moreThe Pretenders: Break Up The Concrete
by Mike Perciaccante
At first look, with the exception of Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders circa 2008 bears little resemblance to the band that blasted its way onto the musical landscape with “Brass In Pocket" and “Mystery Achievement" in 1980. Besides Hynde, only one other original Pretender is still alive--drummer Martin Chambers, and he doesn't even play on this CD. Even though he's still part of the band, he didn't record on the new release because Hynde was looking for a slightly different sound, ...
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