I just got the Pretenders new box set "Pirate Radio" Ask me anything

[Beaverhausen]

:bounce:

There is a DVD of live stuff too! Can't wait till I can watch it tonight!

:bounce:

[taterguy]

1. Do they give John McEnroe songwriting credits?

[Beaverhausen]

3. for what song?

I haven't read through the great booklet that comes with it yet.

[taterguy]

13. You can't be serious

The song is Pack it Up. Its lyric "You're the pits of the world" was taken from something that McEnroe yelled to an umpire. You're obviously not a real fan and should forward your box set to someone more deserving, like myself :)

[Beaverhausen]

16. Hey- I did way too many drugs in those days to recall things like that!

:hippie:

and no, believe it or not, that song isn't on here. The guy where I bought it pointed out this depressing fact. :cry:

[blondeatlast]

2. Wow--I know what I want for my birthday now!

I had the BIGGEST schoolgirl crush on James Honeyman-Scott back in the day...

[Shakespeare]

4. ooooooooooooooooooh....I want that!

Chrissie Hynde is a complete badass.

[Phillycat]

5. How is it?

I loved them back in the day. Ahead of their time...

[Beaverhausen]

7. So far so good. I'm glad to get these older songs on CD

I think their second album is a masterpiece but still only had it on vinyl. Every song from it isn't here but most of the good ones are.

It's a great package...lots of photos and notes.

[Beaverhausen]

6. Here's a review from Rolling Stone

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9474465/new_cds_pretenders_fagen?rnd=1145567587520&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.872

Pretenders Pirate Radio (Sire/Rhino/Warner Bros.)

There have been many Pretenders, but there is just one Chrissie Hynde: a walking combination of Fifties rockabilly, Sixties girl-group soul and Seventies punk who created some of the greatest rock and pop of the Eighties and beyond. The five-disc box set Pirate Radio documents the fluctuations of the Pretenders -- through good albums and bad, and through a series of lineup changes -- with Hynde serving as the immovable object. Blessed with an emotional range as broad as her musical interests, this Ohio-born, London-based songwriter possesses one of rock's most charmed voices and a no-bullshit charisma that has inspired nearly every female rocker who has followed in her path.

Before the Pretenders became little more than Hynde's backing group, they were three Brits and an expat singer, and most emphatically a band. In the few short seconds of his "Tattooed Love Boys" guitar break, James Honeyman-Scott condenses decades of rock soloing. Elsewhere during the Pretenders' first two albums, he lays down unconventional chords, pedal effects and layered guitar harmonies that U2, the Cure and countless other acts built upon for years. Drugs soon claimed the lives of Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon, and Hynde continued with competent but less crucial bandmates, even firing drummer Martin Chambers after 1984's triumphant Learning to Crawl before bringing him back during 1994's cautious but frequently transcendent Last of the Independents. This instability makes patches of Pirate Radio very spotty. But if Hynde's songwriting sometimes falters, her singing rarely does. From a punky 1978 "Precious" demo to adventurous Loose Screw cuts from 2002, Hynde radiates both erotic vigor and uncommon sensitivity.

Among the box's rare and previously unreleased tracks are several gems, but its DVD of TV appearances and raw concert footage is even more fascinating: It affirms that Hynde kept improving her performance chops into middle age. During the reciprocal domestic abuse of "977," the most lyrically disturbing and yet most musically beatific song of her complex career, Hynde applies her vibrato as thickly as her trademark eyeliner, staring down the camera as if she had nothing to hide. Which, of course, she never has. (BARRY WALTERS)

[jonnyblitz]

8. Pretenders is the band I have seen the most live of all bands.

and I have been to a brazillion concerts in my day. I have seen them so many times not so much because I am a huge Pretenders fan( I do love them live) but because they always played with other bands i wanted to see also. I saw them with Iggy Pop, Pretenders, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Alarm, The English Beat (i was way young) and the B-52's. not all at the same show, btw. I am sure I am forgetting something..

[Beaverhausen]

9. I saw them live at a small club in Philly the night before Live Aid

way back in 1984. It was one of the first shows they did after losing two of their original members. When she did "Back on the Chain Gang" it moved everyone in the place.

I saw them a few more times (once with Iggy Pop), but just missed them on their latest tour. I was bummed.

[Lady Effingbroke]

10. Does the box set have the songs from "Extended Play"?

Specifically, "Cuban Slide" and "Porcelain"?

[Beaverhausen]

12. YES!!! I haven't heard Porcelain in forever and it just played

then it was the longer version of "Talk of the Town"

Now playing...Message of Love!!!

Cuban Slide is next!That is the only other one from EP.

Then something I've never heard -"What You Gonna Do About It."

[Lady Effingbroke]

14. The extended version of TOTT, as well?

The only time I have heard that version was on MTV with the accompanying video - they added a second chorus - (in the early years, they played Pretenders videos fairly often).

I have the EP on vinyl and cassette, but I believe this is the first time "Porcelain" and "Cuban Slide" have been released on CD.

I am a HUGH fan of the Pretenders!

[Beaverhausen]

15. YES!!! I am in heaven and only on the first CD!

[blondeatlast]

17. "Porcelain." Oh, the memories...

That one touched a nerve deep within me the first time I heard it.

[devilgrrl]

11. I just download some stuff from The Adicts...

they're that punk rock band that looks like the droogs in 'A Clockwork Orange'. I've always known who they were but never heard any of their stuff - they're pretty good, a pleasant discovery. :-)

I'm sure The Pretenders box set is just fine.