I'm a bit of a fair-weather Pretenders fan; able to see the good in almost every album (including Chrissie Hynde's new one JP & The Fairground Boys) yet without a strong favourite past the first one. My loss, likely. But if punk rock had kicked off a bit of a uncivil war between the rock n' roll generations, Hynde and her highly-skilled band-mates were the re-constructionists bringing together America and Britain (Ohio meets London), the punks and the old guard (Chrissie, the former NME journo even married Ray Davies!), the critics and the radio (they had plaudits and hits) not to mention feminists and drunken rock fans (I didn't say that all these rapprochements were necessarily permanent).
For proof of some of that here's the band playing live at Heatwave 1980 in Toronto, a New Wave-styled festival that featured one HELL of a line-up.
The fierce-as-fire set sounds loud and clear and includes much of the debut album as well as a cover of "Louie, Louie".
Live at Heatwave (1980) link is in the comments
Speaking of comments, give us your take on the works of Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders.
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IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO START ALL OF YOUR COMMENTING....
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?o9tbb7a6g4k1mb6
I haven't checked out the download yet but are you sure "Louie, Louie" isn't the Pretenders original from their second album?
ReplyDeletewow, that is a helluva lineup. i've taken my 11-year old son to shows, why o why couldn't my dad have taken me in 1980?!?
ReplyDeleteand, of course, thanks for the upload.
i was over at a friends house the other day and we listened to the pretenders first album- forgot how awesome it truly is!
ReplyDeleteWhen James Honeyman-Scott died, I was truly sad. His talent screams on those first two Pretenders albums.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to hear what he would have continued on with in the future.
cpb
ReplyDelete"Original" is a bit of a strong word for it as Chrissie introduces it as "A rip-off of an old song by the Kingsmen". Maybe I could've used a word like 'homage' or 'pastiche' or something else French.
brink
Such a cool thing will never pass this way again!
Nazz
That remains my fave despite Chrissie's on-going vitality.
Shriner
I read a recent interview where she said she kept the band going for so long in tribute to her dead bandmates.
Thank you! Yeah, the first one was hard to beat, but there are many good songs on most of the other ones. It's a thin line...
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Hey, I was at that show! It was my first festival, I was 15 at the time, it was a great day out. I got appendicitis the next day--not sure if that was related or not. The Clash cancelled a couple weeks earlier, and didn't play--still upset I never got to see them.
ReplyDeleteI saw the Pretenders last year at the Parkpop festival (The Hague, Netherlands) and Chrissie Hynde still has an amzingly good voice (and also far better looks than should be expected at her age - although I was standing quite far from the stage).
ReplyDeleteHaven't kept up with their latest releases, but live, they were a very pleasant surprise. Great to hear them do 'Back on the chain gang', for instance
I was at that show.. we saw B52's & T Heads @ the Holiday Inn the next morning. They slept better than we did.
ReplyDeleteA+ recording. Really enjoyed the listen. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeletethis concert sounds really good. The guitars sound awesome and the vocals are a little louder than everything else. is this live or is it memorex?
ReplyDeleteAh, well, and now it's gone...
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