Pretenders - Original Album Series - Music & Performance - CD

When the Pretenders burst on the scene in 1979 with the singles "Kid," "Brass in Pocket," and "Stop Your Sobbing," they were a breath of fresh air, a band that combined the energy and attitude of punk with top-shelf songwriting courtesy of Chrissie Hynde, and an appreciation of the best of rock's past and present. The original lineup of the Pretenders cut two superb albums -- 1980's Pretenders and 1981's Pretenders II -- before the deaths of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon forced Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers to reinvent the group on their third album, 1984's excellent Learning to Crawl. Original Albums Series is a box set that features the Pretenders' first three albums in full, along with two other fine titles from their catalog, 1986's Get Close and 1994's Last of the Independents, providing a well-detailed picture of this group at their best and most influential. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi