Pretenders (CD - 1980)

Additional personnel: Chris Thomas (keyboards, sound effects); Gerry Mackleduff (drums).

Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, England.

Personnel: James Honeyman-Scott (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Chrissie Hynde (vocals, guitar); Martin Chambers (vocals, drums); Pete Farndon (vocals); Chris Mercer (saxophone); Jim Wilson , Henry Lowther (trumpet); Geoff Bryant (horns); Chris E. Thomas, Chris Thomas (keyboards).

Audio Mixers: Mike Stavrou; Bill Price .

Recording information: AIR Studios; Wessex Studios, London, England.

Photographers: Chalkie Davies; Des Letts; Tom Sheehan.

Former rock critic Chrissie Hynde launched the Pretenders with an engaging, yet passive, version of the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing." She unveiled her own persona fully on The Pretenders, which contains a series of excellent compositions marked by her sensual vocals and brilliant sense of dynamics. An understanding of pop's structures allowed Hynde to exploit them to her own ends while sympathetic support, particularly that of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, used the excitement of rock without reference to its cliches. Tough and opinionated, Chrissie Hynde's first declaration of independence established the formula she proceeded to follow. minimize