Hey let's poll the Pretenders' Greatest Hits

I've been going on a bit of a YouTube jag for the last half hour. Brilliantly crafted songs.

Haven't heard a few of them since I was a kid I don't think.

i've always loved that "message of love" has a chorus that isn't repeated. the same music shows up a second time as the song's coda/outro, but without vocals save for the "talk to me darling" vamping as it's fading out.

i could easily vote for half the songs here, but especially "message" along with "brass in pocket," "kid" and "stop your sobbing."

whoa at disc 2 of pirate radio on stream. i don't know "tradition of love" but i'll need to listen to that more closely again later.

"Hymn to Her" is gorgeous, ain't it?

yes

I find it almost unbearably moving without having much of a clue as to what it's actually about.

Keep beckoning to me
From behind that closed door
The maid and the mother
And the crone that's grown old

I hear your voice
Coming out of that hole
I listen to you
And I want some more
I listen to you
And I want some more

"Hymn to Her"? It's a conflation of motherly/sisterly and lesbian love.

Oh kay

I know it's a very basic musical move, but the one thing about Chrissie's voice that totally kills me is when she spreads a word at the end of a line over two or three notes ending up on the root note of the chord in that low register she has. And she does that all the damn time and I should be tired of it but no, not at all.

what is the hole?

It is a mystery!

Anyhow, this greatest hits is not perfect is it? A few clunkers perhaps, I could certainly live without the UB40 stuff.

"Kid" forever and for always.

Album wasn't on Spotify afaict so I made a playlist for it:
http://open.spotify.com/user/lumpygravy/playlist/2sMVIv4rXG1oLTJKXLuGpZ

What the hell is this Spiritual High garbage?

Not as good as the Donna Summer version of that song, that's for sure

"Back on the Chain Gang" has my favorite bridge ever

― rip van wanko, Thursday, November 14, 2013 4:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

YES! It has

I was gonna vote "Day after Day"

but.

"Brass In Pocket" is like one of the greatest songs of all time, so that.

goddamn it I may listen to Pretenders tonight

In the absence of "Tattooed Love Boys" and "Mystery Achievement," it's "Talk of the Town."

i don't know "tradition of love" but i'll need to listen to that more closely again later.

That is the absolute hidden gem on Get Close.

the synths are gunky but her bending notes is as thing of wonder (lo-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ooove)

Talk Of The Town

is her vibrato rated by actual singers? because it sounds so unusually slow and controlled to me.

god i love her voice, vulnerable or bulletproof and authoritative, whenever or however it suits her.

talk of the town one of the greatest songs ever written by anyone

^^^^ especially the unexpected "I want you-uh-HOOOO" in the last verse

"Night in My Veins" is one of the greatest late-career songs ever (or what I think of as late career -- I realize we are now farther away from "Night in My Veins" than "Night in My Veins" was from "Brass in Pocket"). But I'm still going to vote "Message of Love."

"Night in My Veins" was my first new Pretenders song, and it lived up to whatever idea I'd formed about them.

talk of the town one of the greatest songs ever written by anyone

yeah, I can't express how much I love this song. Once in a while I forget how good it is, then hear it again and get bowled over by Hynde's singing or the guitars or lines like "You arrived like a day/and passed like a cloud"

"Chain Gang" is my automatic answer and i'm comfortable with it.

Love "Chain Gang." Would also consider "Don't Get Me Wrong" and even "Middle of the Road." "Kid" is kind of a masterpiece, too.

"You arrived like a day/and passed like a cloud"

"I made a weesh"

"ahnd said it ow-loud"

"don't get me wrong" is the best.

my folks had get close on cassette, i was taken aback years later when i got the cd and discovered that "don't get me wrong" was not the album opener.

Aside from generally perfect pop construction and emotional connection, I have noticed that many of the Pretenders peaks have immaculate bridges.

folks had get close on cassette, i was taken aback years later when i got the cd and discovered that "don't get me wrong" was not the album opener.

"My Baby" is pretty sweet though.

listening to brass in pocket again and i'm probably the last person on the planet to have this thought but it sounds like it could have been a massive influence on karen o, both in the vocals and maybe the whole persona too?

I think Chrissie Hynde has been a massive influence on almost every singer, but particularly female singers.

ah that might be a bit too broad a statement

this is tough. "Don't Get Me Wrong" narrowly over "Back On The Chain Gang," "Middle of the Road," "Night In My Veins," etc.

xpost Hyperbole for sure, but her influence is pervasive nonetheless. I'd say she's influenced at least ... 321 singers.

Where's the write in option for Tattooed Love Boys?

stop snifflin'!

Fuck it, I'm going for 'Kid'. Such an incredibly hurt, but simultaneously beutifully gentle song.

I never liked "Don't Get Me Wrong." After the onslaught/radio saturation of the Learning To Crawl singles, and eagerly waiting to hear what they'd come up with next, this twee, gently jaunty romp was a huge disappointment.

(Not that when they rocked out in '86 it was much better, cf "Room Full Of Mirrors")

So, "Middle Of The Road."

yeah I gotta admit I'm surprised by the affection for "Don't Get Me Wrong," although I think it's perfect.

I'll be the voice of dissent there -- Ive never warmed up to "Don't Get Me Wrong." I won't go quite as far as saying I hate it.

"Don't Get Me Wrong" is actually their 2nd most popular track on Spotify (also their 5th, which if you added them together would put it at #1 ahead of "I'll Stand By You").

if you asked me how many rock singers since Chrissie Hynde have been influenced by her i'd sooner say "not nearly enough" than "all of them"

tbh i probably don't listen to the right kind of music most of the time to notice her influence. i mentioned karen o already but who would be some other singers that have an obvious chrissie h influence?

my top twenty-five

"Mystery Achievement" FTW!

WHERE'S MY SANDY BEACH

OTM both for Mystery Achievement at #1 and for Chrissie Hynde being awesome vocalist.

ILX correct for once

i love this band so much -- hearing almost any of their singles or really anything from the debut never fails to cheer me up.

I may have said this before, but the transition from the middle 8 back to the verse in Chain Gang is one of the finest moments in all of pop music

There was a BBC4 documentary about Chrissie the other night. It badly needed some editing, but it really came alive when she jammed with some rockabillies in her local pub. If anything, her voice has gained in power over the years.

Yes. Mystery Achievement and Up the Neck are the two best Pretenders songs.

Does anybody else really like her single from a few years back, Dark Sunglasses? I thought that was her best song in many many years but it seems like nobody heard it.

Ooh would love to see that BBC doc!

It badly needed some editing

I'm sad to say I switched off after ten minutes of not much happening - will try again.

You didn't miss much, it was a flabby mess, with too much Sandra Bernhard for a start. The performance bits were great though

It was a bit of a disappointment and a missed opportunity overall. Tough there were some interesting bits like the performances and also her paintings.

I enjoyed her autobiography a lot, especially when it sped up after she leaves Kent State University. Her descriptions of arriving and living in London show her strong visual side.

She has such a great way with melody, which is what I think helped "Dark Sunglasses." I think "Boots of Chinese Plastic" was more "Pretenders-y," though, which I guess makes sense, since "Sunglasses" was from her solo album, whatever difference the distinction makes, since "Break Up the Concrete" doesn't even feature Martin Chambers.