PRETENDERS II is an excellent album when appraised on its own merits, but does fall a little short in recapturing the magic of their fantastic debut. Once you've located all of those reasons why PRETENDERS II isn't equally as powerful as their debut, you may also begin to realize that it is still quite a fine record. Chrissie Hynde's lyrics are still quite alluring on the opening cuts "The Adultress" and "Bad Boys Get Spanked" or even wryly amusing on "Pack It Up". "Day After Day", a song about the seemingly never ending grind of touring, is another fine hard rocker showcasing some nice guitar work from James Honeyman-Scott. The ballads "I Go To Sleep" and "Birds Of Paradise" are so mellow they could easily serve as lullabies, but provide some balance to the album.
Time has only made me grow fonder of this album, especially given that this was the final artistic statement by the original incarnation of The Pretenders lineup. Losing Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott both to drug overdoses within a year still seems unfathomable. There was a wonderful chemistry here within the original band that would be forever lost to us with these dual tragedies. Therefore, I'm thankful to have this final full length album from the original band and have become more forgiving its minor faults.
Bump |
