PRETENDERS - II LP

40th anniversary edition. 180 gram vinyl. Remastered.

Highly recommended.

Pretenders II is an uncommonly sweet assortment of 12 delectable morsels, key ingredient being young Chrissie Hynde's bold, nasty song structures, her grooves and rhythms ranging from odd, off-kilter counts (Message of Love, Waste Not Want Not) to simple, driving rock clichés (Louie Louie).

The frosting that makes every song so delicious stems from the late-great James Honeyman-Scott's remarkable, sparkling guitar melodies that can take the most basic, even dull bridge or chorus and transform it into a hummabe, unforgettable passage, accented by Farndon's solid bass playing.

Vocals are the full gambit of flavor. Hynde imparts desperate loneliness (I Go to Sleep), bitchy dominatrix commands (Bad Boys Get Spanked - complete with Clint Eastwood samples, "You don't listen do ya, asshole?"), and dreamy pop coos (Talk of the Town), shifting from mood to mood, that sweet, sexy voice soothing, shrieking, and strutting at any given moment.