THE PRETENDERS – DEBUT LP – Nr MINT UK 1980 ROCK PUNK CHRISSIE HYNDE

The Pretenders
(Real Records  1980  RAL3)
Matrix No’s: A3/B3 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– a little discolouration along top edge – hype sticker top right
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

The Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in Hereford, England, in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). Following the drug-related deaths of Honeyman-Scott and Farndon, the band has experienced numerous subsequent personnel changes, with Hynde as the only consistent member, and Chambers returning after an absence of several years.

Hynde launched a solo career in 2014, and the Pretenders were dormant as a band between 2012 and 2016. However, The Pretenders are once again active, having issued an album and toured in 2016.

Pretenders is the debut studio album by the British-American new wave band The Pretenders, released on 27 December 1979 under Real Records (Sire Records in the United States). A combination of rock, punk, and pop music, this album made the band famous. The album features the singles “Stop Your Sobbing” “Kid” and “Brass in Pocket”.

Nick Lowe produced the Pretenders’ first single, “Stop Your Sobbing”, but decided not to work with them again as he thought the band “wasn’t going anywhere”. Chris Thomas took over on the subsequent recording sessions.

Pretenders debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart in the week of its release and stayed there for four consecutive weeks. It also made the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum during 1982 by the RIAA. Pretenders has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#52). In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 155 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and, in 1989, ranked it the 20th best album of the 1980s. The track “Private Life” was covered that same year by Grace Jones, on her album Warm Leatherette. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #64 on its list, “Best Albums of the 1980s”.

Track listing

All songs written by Chrissie Hynde unless otherwise indicated.

Side one

1. “Precious” – 3:36
2. “The Phone Call” – 2:29
3. “Up the Neck” – 4:27
4. “Tattooed Love Boys” – 2:59
5. “Space Invader” (Pete Farndon, James Honeyman-Scott) – 3:26
6. “The Wait” (Hynde, Farndon) – 3:35
7. “Stop Your Sobbing” (Ray Davies) – 2:38

Side two

8. “Kid” – 3:06
9. “Private Life” – 6:25
10. “Brass in Pocket” (Honeyman-Scott, Hynde) – 3:04
11. “Lovers of Today” – 5:51
12. “Mystery Achievement” – 5:23

Personnel

The Pretenders

• Martin Chambers – drums, backing vocals
• Pete Farndon – bass guitar, backing vocals
• James Honeyman-Scott – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Chrissie Hynde – rhythm guitar, lead vocals

Additional musicians

• Geoff Bryant – horn
• Henry Lowther – trumpet
• Chris Mercer – saxophone
• Chris Thomas – keyboards, sound effects, production
• Jim Wilson – trumpet