"When A Man Loves A Woman + Warm And Tender Love" by PERCY SLEDGE - June and November 1966 US Debut and Second Studio Albums on Atlantic Records in Stereo (November 2016 UK Edsel Compilation - 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD with Four Bonus Tracks - Number 1 in a Series of 3 CD Compilations) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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June 1966 US Debut Album "When A Man Loves A Woman" on Atlantic Records

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"...Loving Eyes Can Never See..."

The first in an series of three Edsel CD compilations for that great Southern Soul Man – Percy Sledge - and his immaculately coiffured stay at Atlantic Records (see list below for the other two titles).

 

This leanly priced card-digipak offers up his June 1966 debut album "When A Man Loves A Woman" followed by the November 1966 second studio platter "Warm And Tender Soul" plus four appropriate stragglers – two Non-LP B-sides and two later-released alternate version rarities. Lots to warm your soul and the woman you love (put your best friend down). To the details...

 

UK released 11 November 2016 - "When A Man Loves A Woman + Warm And Tender Soul" by PERCY SLEDGE on Edsel EDSA 5063 (Barcode 740155506339) is a Compilation offering 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD with Four Bonus Tracks. It plays out as follows (73:33 minutes):

 

1. When A Man Loves A Woman [Side 1]

2. My Adorable One 

3. Put A Little Lovin' On Me

4. Love Me All The Way 

5. When She Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters)

6. Pouring Water On A Drowning Man 

7. Thief in The Night [Side 2]

8. You Fooled Me

9. Love Makes The World Go Round 

10. Success 

11. Love Me Like You Mean It 

Tracks 1 to 11 are his debut album "When A Man Loves A Woman" - released June 1966 in the USA on Atlantic 8125 (Mono) and Atlantic SD 8125 (Stereo) - in the UK on Atlantic 587015 (Mono) and Atlantic 588015 (Stereo). The STEREO Mix is used for this CD. 

 

12. It Tears Me Up [Side 1]

13. I'm Hanging Up My Heart For You 

14. You Really Got A Hold On Me 

15. That's How Strong My Love Is 

16. A Sweet Woman Like You 

17. Love Me Tender

18. Warm And Tender Love [Side 2]

19. Try A Little Tenderness 

20. So Much Love 

21. I Stand Accused 

22. Heart Of A Child 

23. Oh How Happy 

Tracks 12 to 23 are his second studio album "Warm And Tender Love" - released November 1966 in the USA on Atlantic 8132 (Mono) and Atlantic SD 8132 (Stereo) - in the UK on Atlantic 587048 (Mono) and Atlantic 588048 (Stereo). The STEREO Mix is used for this CD.

 

BONUS TRACKS:

24. When A Man Loves A Woman - Remake recorded in 1966, but unreleased until 1998 as an 'Alternate Take' on the CD compilation "The Very Best Of..." on Rhino R2 72969

 

25. Sugar Puddin' (July 1966 US 45-single on Atlantic 45-2341, Non-LP B-side of "Warm And Tender Love")

 

26. You've Got That Something Wonderful (February 1967 US 45-single on Atlantic 45-2383, Non-LP B-side of "Baby, Help Me")

 

27. (With) Every Beat Of My Heart (First Appeared on the 1981 UK LP "The Golden Voice Of Soul" on Atlantic K 20085)

 

PACKAGING - the card digipak opens to offer a superb 16-page booklet with properly in-depth and affectionate liner notes from Soul Expert TONY ROUNCE (October 2016). Our Tone is a name Sixties Soul and Southern Soul fans trust implicitly - a man whose vast knowledge on the subject has penned loads of booklets for England's Ace Records and other champions of the genre. You get pictures of both albums, their rare UK plum-coloured Atlantic labels, some rare 7" 45-single picture sleeves for "When A Man Loves A Woman", "It Tears Me Up" and "Warm And Tender Love". The booklet even reproduces the original LP's rear sleeve liner notes (both) alongside full track-by-track annotation. The last page pictures the threesome of generous CD compilations in the series (see list below). 

 

AUDIO is licensed from WEA (the 90s Rhino Remasters) and has been mastered for these compilations for Edsel by PHIL KINRADE at Alchemy Mastering. The debut album ranges from great to just good while the second LP is fabulous - and something of a missing masterpiece of slow torch-song Southern Soul. For sure some of the cuts rattle at the edge of obviously worn tapes, but most all of it feels alive and in your face for all the right smooching reasons. To the tunes...

Climbing to an impressive No. 2 slot on the Billboard LP charts, the debut album is of course dominated by the monster that is "When A Man Loves A Woman". A slow starter single in March 1966 yet still a sure fire hit, this stunning slice of sexy Southern Soul eventually nabbed the No. 1 slot months later on both US R&B and Pop - a huge feat for a male Soul Singer starting out. In fact (as Rounce quite rightly points out), the practice of placing a picture of a pretty white lady on the front cover of the album with the darker than dark singer on the rear was commonplace then (it actually affected shop sales) - but even now it grates big time.

 

The smooch of "When A Man Loves A Woman" is carried through with tracks like the soft-shuffling "My Adorable One" and take my cold hands and warm them of "Love Me All The Way" and "You Fooled Me". Upside the neck-breathers are a few dancefloor boppers like "Put A Little Lovin' On Me" and the makes the tree grow tall of "Love Makes The World Go Round". Forgotten nuggets come in the shape of the don't-come-easy organ grind of "Success" and the very Otis Redding bottom-wiggle of "Love Me Like You Mean It" - the B-side to the March 1966 classic "When A Man Loves A Woman". Speaking of which, I can hear why the 'brass' additions to that song were dropped (Bonus - Track 24) - it's a nice listen but one that clutters the mix up too much, thereby diluting the song's staggering hurt-power. Still, a fascinating listen to my ears after all these decades knowing the original...

 

The "Warm And Tender" album is even more amazing and in my book, a genuinely lost classic on the vast Atlantic Records catalogue. 

 

These Edsel sets are unfortunately deleted now in 2022, but if you get a chance to pick them up cheapish, then take the advice given in "You Really Got A Hold On Me" where Percy pleads "I don't want you, but I need you..." You do need it peeps...

 

PERCY SLEDGE Edsel Series of CD Compilations (November 2016)

 

1. When A Man Loves A Woman + Warm And Tender Love (Edsel EDSA 5063 - Barcode 740155506339) - 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD with Four Bonuses

 

2. The Percy Sledge Way + Take Time To Know Her (Edsel EDSK 7116 - Barcode 740155711634) - 2LPs Remastered onto 2CDs with Eight Bonuses)

 

3. My Special Prayer + Singles And Rarites (Edsel EDSK 7113 (Barcode 740155711337) - Final LP Remastered onto 2CDs with 27 Bonuses)

"The Studio Album Collection" by JIM CROCE (March 2015 Edsel 7CD Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Photographs And Memories..."

South Philly singer-songwriter JIM CROCE was a strange one in Blighty. A massive star in the USA when his first solo album proper "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" hit the racks in May 1972 on ABC Records - within a year and a half he'd had two No. 1 singles and one number one album.

Yet in England (where most of his catalogue was carried by Vertigo Records) - his music meant little and saw bugger all chart action. Even a killer single like "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" with the equally impressive and touching ballad "Photographs And Memories" on the flipside (issued August 1972 on Philips 6000 069 in the UK) did zip despite the incredibly radio-friendly hooky A-side that American DJs sent all the way to the top (and back in the days when those 45 sales figures were huge).

Tragedy struck too. In late September 1973, Croce and other band mates were on their way from Louisiana to a gig in Sherman, Texas when their light aircraft crashed on take off killing all six inside (including the pilot). Croce was only 30 and it was already over. Yet his way with a melody, his raconteur wit and his great lyrical songs stayed with people and saw a Greatest Hits set grab an impressive No. 2 spot on the Stateside Rock LP charts in October 1974 (even then there was still nothing in the UK by way of chart action). And that's where this rather cool little CD Box set comes swaggering in.

UK released 16 March 2015 - "The Studio Album Collection" by JIM CROCE [featuring Ingrid Croce] on Edsel CROCEBOX01 (Barcode 5014797891036) is a 7CD Box Set with Card Repro LP sleeves and Booklet that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Facets", 26:39 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. Steel Rail Blues [Side 1]

2. Coal Tattoo

3. Texas Rodeo

4. Charley Green, Play That Slide Trombone

5. The Ballad Of Gunga Din

6. Hard Hearted Hannah (The Vamp From Savannah) [Side 2]

7. Sun Come Up

8. The Blizzard

9. Running Maggie

10. Until It's Time For Me To Go

11. Big Fat Woman

Tracks 1 to 11 are the privately financed and issued "Facets" LP - released August 1966 in the USA on CROCE-101 (No Label), 500 copies only, most sold by JC at gigs

Disc 2 "Jim And Ingrid Too", 17:39 minutes, 7 Tracks

1. Child Of Midnight

2. Marianne

3. Railroads And Riverboats

4. Hard Times Are Over

5. The Railroad Song

6. Maybe Tomorrow

7. Pa (Song For A Grandfather)

Seven Studio Outtakes first issued March 2004 in the USA as Disc 2 in the 2CD Deluxe Edition reissue of "Facets" (Shout! Factory D2K 34724 - Barcode 826663472424). No recording dates or musician credits provided then or now. The recordings are probably 1967 and 1968 and are far better recorded quality than the bootleg feel of the original 1966 privately made "Facets" LP

Disc 3 "Croce" by Jim and Ingrid Croce, 27:23 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. Age [Side 1]

2. Spin, Spin, Spin

3. I Am Who I Am

4. What Do People Do

5. Another Day, Another Town

6. Vespers

7. Big Wheel [Side 2]

8. Just Another Day

9. The Next Man I Marry

10. What The Hell

11. The Man That Is Me

Tracks 1 to 11 are the US LP "Croce" originally issued September 1969 on Capitol ST-315 in Stereo and credited to JIM and INGRID CROCE. It was reissued 1974 in the USA and Canada as "Another Day, Another Town" on Pickwick SPC-3332 in different LP artwork (railway tracks sleeve) with nine rearranged tracks (the two dropped were "The Next Man That I Marry" and "I Am Who I Am"). That 1974 LP variant can be sequenced by using the following CD tracks – Side 1: 5, 6, 7, 4 and 2 / Side 2: 1, 8, 10 and 11. It was reissued yet again by Pickwick with the same catalogue number and nine tracks sometime in 1976 (Pickwick SPC-3332), but again with different artwork (painting/cartoon side profile face sleeve).

Disc 4 "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", 33:12 minutes, 12 Tracks

1. You Don't Mess Around With Jim [Side 1]

2. Tomorrow's Gonna Be A Brighter Day

3. New York's Not My Home

4. Hard Time Losin' Man

5. Photographs And Memories

6. Walkin' Back To Georgia

7. Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) [Side 2]

8. Time In A Bottle

9. Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)

10. Box No. 10

11. A Long Time Ago

12. Hey Tomorrow

Tracks 1 to 12 are the US LP "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" issued May 1972 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-756 - July 1972 in the UK on Vertigo Records 6360 700 (peaked at No. 1 on the US LP charts, didn't chart UK)

Disc 5 "Life And Times", 29:51 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. One Less Set Of Footsteps [Side 1]

2. Roller Derby Queen

3. Dreamin' Again

4. Careful Man

5. Alabama Rain

6. A Good Time Man Like Me Ain't Got No Business (Singin' The Blues)

7. Next Time, This Time [Side 2]

8. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

9. These Dreams

10. Speedball Tucker

11. It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way

Tracks 1 to 11 are the LP "Life And Times" - released January 1973 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-769 - June 1973 UK LP on Vertigo Records 6360 7011 (peaked at No. 7 on the US LP charts, didn't chart UK)

Disc 6 "I Got A Name" , 31:47 minutes, 11 Tracks

1. I Got A Name [Side 1]

2. Lover's Cross

3. Five Short Minutes

4. Age

5. Workin' At The Car Wash Blues

6. I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song [Side 2]

7. Salon And Saloon

8. Thursday

9. Top Hat Bar And Grille

10. Recently

11. The Hard Way Every Time

Tracks 1 to 11 are the LP "I Got A Name" - released December 1973 in the USA on ABC Records ABCX-797 - April 1974 UK LP on Vertigo Records 6360 702 (peaked at No. 2 in the US LP charts, didn't chart UK)

Disc 7 "The Lost Recordings", 31:46 minutes, 12 Tracks

1. You Don't Mess Around With Jim

2. New York's Not My Home

3. Tomorrow's Gonna Be A Brighter Day

5. Walkin' Back To Georgia

6. Operator

7. Time In A Bottle

8. Seems Like Such A Long Time Ago

9. Mississippi Lady

10. These Dreams

11. A Good Time Man Like Me Ain't Got No Business (Singin' The Blues)

12. Lover's Cross

Tracks 1 to 12 are early home studio recordings for the 1972 LP "You Don't Mess Around With Jim". Edsel have reissued that 1972 album as a standalone CD in 2015 on Edsel EDSA 5025 (Barcode 740155502539) with the above 12 tracks - 1972 Home Demo Recordings for the "You Don't Mess Around With jim" Album added on as Bonuses.

Each of the 7CDs listed above are in individual singular card sleeves that repro the front and rear of their original vinyl albums - excepting of course the two specially created compilations - "Jim and Ingrid Too" and "The Lost Recordings" (both with newly made up artwork). All seven slide into a hard card slipcase box sided by a very tastefully laid out 36-page accompanying booklet featuring lyrics, recording credits (if known) and a new essay on Croce's life and legacy by ALAN ROBINSON written in December 2014. As with so many Edsel reissues, although the titles are licensed from the majors, there is precious little by way of Remastering credits except that their long-time Audio Engineer - PHIL KINRADE – has mastered this compilation.

The "Facets" album from 1966 reflects its privately pressed and recorded origins and has what can generously be described as bootleg quality - good but never great. The rest are thankfully a whole lot better - especially the core trio of solo LPs "You Don't Mess Around With Jim", "Life And Times" and the album that was recorded before he was tragically taken and released after his passing "I Got A Name". And I'd swear they're the Rhino Remasters. All the instruments are clear and clean. The second CD called "Jim & Ingrid Too" (Disc 2 in the Shout! Factory 2004 Deluxe Edition reissue of "Facets") has shockingly good audio for all of its seven cuts. But that 2004 Shout! Factory reissue unfortunately gives absolutely no indication of when, where or who played on these songs (not elaborated on here either). But given their audio, it might be enough to surmise that they were recorded circa 1967 to 1968 in a professional studio – put down no doubt before the husband and wife "Croce" set on Capitol Records in 1969. Although neither the booklet nor the rear sleeve of the other rarities set here (CD7 entitled "The Lost Recordings") gives any info on those 12 tracks - they're 1972 home demos for the "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" album and their audio quality reflects that. The real studio albums however sound great.

The first bare bones album is OK, the outtakes second CD far, far better despite its short playing time, but whilst the husband and wife Sonny & Cher routine of "Croce" has some pretty and funny moments – mostly it comes over as twee 60ts and is terribly dated (Ingrid hasn’t the best of voices either). The leap to May 1972 and the first solo album proper "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" on ABC Records in terms of audio and quality songs is enormous. It's as if Croce had been crafting and saving up for years because the songs on "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" are fantastic. While the radio-grabber title track gets all the hooky plaudits, to this day there are people who can’t listen to the emotive ballad "Time In A Bottle" without getting soppy. It’s a truly affecting song and the great audio feels like that of Steve Hoffman when DCC reissued and remastered his material. Terry Cashman and Tommy West (trading as Cashman and West on ABC Records in the USA and Probe Records in the UK) aided and abetted on all three of the proper solo albums and with smashes like "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)", "One Less Set Of Footsteps" and "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song)"– Croce found himself up there with the likes of Don McLean, Gordon Lightfoot and even James Taylor as being beloved by the public and admired by music critics at one and the same time.

This is a nice set and a reminder of his sad loss – a legacy that shows (some say) that Jim Croce might have taken on the singer-songwriter big boys had his wit and charm been given a chance. In the meantime, try to seek this out rather elusive box set and enjoy those musical photographs of simpler times...

"Pretenders: 2CD + DVD Deluxe Special Edition" by PRETENDERS (October 2015 Edsel/Rhino 3-Disc Reissue/Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Got Brass In Pocket...Gonna Use It..."

Prepped for a whole year by killer 7" singles like "Stop Your Sobbing" (January 1979), "Kid" (June 1979) and the total winner that was "Brass In Pocket" (a UK No.1 in November 1979) - The Pretenders incendiary self-titled debut album finally arrived on Real Records (Sire in the USA) in the first week of a new decade - January 1980. 

And the public went quietly doolally for it. In the same organic way the sassy "...I'm so special..." single of "Brass In Pocket" had captured a nation's heart, hips and head-shakers in those last months of 1979 – the Pop, Rock and New Wave musical combo that was "Pretenders" went to No. 1 in Blighty and even cracked a No. 9 slot in Chrissie Hynde's own USA. It remains one of the great debut LPs of all time in my books and holds a special place in fan's hearts...

But which CD variant of it do you buy? I'd argue there are two real contenders in 2017 - the Rhino 2CD Remaster from October 2006 in a gatefold card sleeve with 16 Bonus Tracks - or this - Edsel's October 2015 upgrade on the Rhino issue that offers 19 music tracks across 2CDs (three more than before) and a 3rd disc - a DVD with 9 Videos some of which is Previously Unreleased. I'm gonna suggest that the Edsel reissue edges it on several fronts - here are the tattooed love boys...

UK released October 2015 - "Pretenders: 2CD + 1DVD Deluxe Special Edition" by PRETENDERS on Edsel EDSG 8047 (Barcode 740155804732) is a 3-Disc Reissue/Remaster that plays out as follows:

CD1 (67:46 minutes):
"Pretenders"
1. Precious [Side 1]
2. The Phone Call
3. Up The Neck
4. Tattooed Love Boys
5. Space Invader 
6. The Wait 
7. Stop Your Sobbing 
8. Kid [Side 2]
9. Private Life
10. Brass In Pocket 
11. Lovers Of Today 
12. Mystery Achievement 
Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut album "Pretenders" - released January 1980 in the UK on Real Records RAL 3 and January 1980 in the USA on Sire Records SRK 6083. Produced by CHRIS THOMAS ("Stop Your Sobbing" only produced by NICK LOWE) - it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 9 in the USA. 

B-Sides: 
13. Swinging London
14. Nervous But Shy
Tracks 13 and 14 are two non-album B-sides to "Brass In Pocket" (both instrumentals) - a UK 7" single released November 1979 on Real Records ARE 11
15. Cuban Slide
Track 15 first appeared as the non-album B-side to "Talk Of The Town" - a UK 7" single released March 1980 on Real Records ARE 12. It was also one of five tracks on the March 1981 American "Extended Play" 12" EP on Sire MINI 3563. 
16. Porcelain 
Track 16 first appeared as the non-album B-side to "Message Of Love" - a UK 7" single released February 1981 on Real Records ARE 15. It was also one of five tracks on the March 1981 American "Extended Play" 12" EP on Sire MINI 3563. 
17. Precious (Live in Central Park, 30 August 1980) - one of five tracks on the March 1981 American "Extended Play" 12" EP on Sire MINI 3563. 
18. Kid (1987 Extended Remix by Bob Clearmountain) - first released October 1987 as the A-side to a UK 7" single on Real/WEA YZ 156   

CD2 (48:26 minutes):
Demos
1. The Phone Call (Late 1977)
2. Brass In Pocket (Air Studio, 6 February 1978)
3. Precious (Regent’s Park, 12 April 1978)
4. The Wait (Regent’s Park, 12 April 1978)
5. Stop Your Sobbing (Regent’s Park, 12 April 1978)
6. I Can't Control Myself (Regent’s Park, 12 April 1978)
7. Tequila (Regent’s Park, 12 April 1978)
8. Kid (Olympic Studio, 7 December 1978)

LIVE
9. Sabre Dance (The Marquee, London, 2 April 1978)
10. I Need Somebody (The Kid Jensen Show, BBC Radio 1, July 1979)
11. Mystery Achievement (The Kid Jensen Show, BBC Radio 1, July 1979)
12. Precious (The Paradise Theatre, Boston, March 1980)
13. Tattooed Love Boys (The Paradise Theatre, Boston, 23 March 1980)

DVD (NTSC, No Region Restrictions):
PROMO VIDEOS 
1. Stop Your Sobbing 
2. Kid
3. Brass In Pocket 

BBC TV APPEARANCES
1. Stop Your Sobbing (Top of the Pops, February 1979)
2. Kid (Top of the Pops, July 1979)
3. Brass In Pocket (Top of the Pops, November 1979)
4. Brass In Pocket (Top of the Pops, December 1979)
5. Kid (Swap Shop, December 1979)
6. Brass In pocket (Top of the Pops, January 1980)

The stocky and chunky digipak on Edsel EDSG 8047 certainly looks the part. It folds out into four flaps and pictures the black and white theme on the three discs that was on the original labels of the English Real Records album (RAL 3). The 16-page booklet features lyrics - front and rear picture sleeves for key singles like their cover of The Kinks classic "Stop Your Sobbing" (from their 1964 "Kinks" debut album on Pye) and Chrissie Hynde's own "Kid" as well as a more interesting foreign pic sleeve for "Brass In Pocket" than the rather plain black and white UK issue. There are a couple of photos of the four-piece band looking suitably biker-moody - Ohio-born American Vocalist, Guitarist and Principal Songwriter Chrissie Hynde leading with her equally spiky British cohorts - Guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, Bassist Don Farndon and Drummer Martin Chambers. Although it looks good (see photos provided) and apart from the usual reissue credits - disappointingly Edsel have taken the lazy way out and provided no new liner notes. 

But Audio-wise they have used Warners Tape Archives for those 'Special Deluxe Edition' multipacks and their resident Engineer PHIL KINRADE has done the transfers at Alchemy Mastering. I loved the Rhino Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch Remasters from 2006 that featured extra oomph given to a notoriously long and cramped debut album sonically compromised by the limitations of a single vinyl LP. Here we get more of the same - all of it sounding fabulous - even those great B-sides like the groovy "Cuban Slide" and the sexy "Porcelain". I'm also thinking the visuals are a huge bonus too over the Rhino twofer. The DVD authoring was done by LARA RUFFLE at Sony DADC. 

Amped up and ready to let rip - "Precious" opens the album with Chrissie screaming and off we go into a lethal Punk slasher riff. What I loved about The Pretenders was their 'sound' that seemed to straddle Rock and New Wave and Punk - like it was all three - and with the most ballsy, sexy and expressive woman singer out front giving the Clash boys a run for their White Riot money. A dial tone opens the aggressive riffage of "The Phone Call" where the band sound lean and mean and hungry - but "Up To The Neck" gives the first real indication of that 'Pretenders' sound Chrissie gets as the notes ping and chime across her shimmering voice. It takes of waking up in a strange room but as lust turns to anger - she takes jabs as he previous chap's bedroom abilities. "Tattooed Love Boys" has always been a stormer for me. Here is the anger of Punk corralled like The Clash into a new rocker - that crazy pace - stunning lyrics and that brilliant guitar solo that now roars out of your speakers. I used not think much of the Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott instrumental "Space Invader" but as the years have passed it's wormed my way into heart. I'm honestly not a huge fan of "Stop Your Sobbing" - but "The Wait" is a whole different buttered bun. What a fantastic little rocker and always a crowd-winner live. 

Side 2 opens with the very Nick Lowe-esque "Kid" but is soon blown out of the water by the magnificent "Private Life" - six and half minutes of female rationalising as some dweeb bemoans his fate with drama and crisis tactics that aren't working on savvied Chrissie. Grace Jones would of course take this most ballsy of songs and almost immediately make it her angry own on the May 1980 "Warm Leatherette" LP over on Island Records. The remaster keeps that strummed menace just sizzling on the surface until those guitar jabs come roaring in - no sentimental gestures here. The mood is lightened with the irresistible "Brass In Pocket" - surely a contender for one of the Top 20 singles of all time. The last two tracks "Lovers Of Today" and "Mystery Achievement" are the overlooked bedfellows - both lifted up from vinyl cramp into something more expressive as Chrissie's voice warbles on "Lovers" and the rhythm section anchors the chugging guitars of "Mystery Achievement". It’s a fantastic end to a fab album. 

Of the Bonus Material I can live without the dismissible instrumental "Nervous But Shy" - but the two studio B-sides "Cuban Slide", "Porcelain" and a further Live in Central Park version of "Precious" (August 1980) from the American "Extended Play" 5-Track EP are superb extras (stuff I find as exciting as anything on the core album). The very Patti Smith sounding demo of The Troggs track "I Can't Control Myself" is close to "The Wait" in structure and again another brilliant inclusion but the 5:19 minute Remix of "Kid" is an 80ts tinker I can do without. The BBC stuff (which was Previously Unreleased in 2006) also has some corkers too like "I Need Somebody" and a more fulsome "Mystery Achievement". But their safe studio sterility is trashed by another version of "Precious" this time recorded live 23 March 1980 in Boston along with "Tattooed Love Boys". The band and the audience are on fire - so tight - so frigging exciting - barely taking a breath between songs. And as far as I can see all of the BBC TV Appearances are new to this release – best of which is band having a laugh enjoying the hit "Brass In Pocket" in three different studios as adults and children look on bemused and ever so slightly turned on at one and the same time. 

They would return with "Pretenders II" in August of 1981 cementing the reputation they’d struggled for years to achieve - followed in 1984 with the stunning and svelte "Learning To Crawl" LP – a bit of a 1-track unsung hero in our New Wave boudoir. 

"...Gonna use my arms...gonna use my legs...gonna use my style..." – Chrissie Hynde sang nearly 40 years ago. And I for one am still listening...

Releases in the October 2015 
PRETENDERS 'Deluxe Special Edition'

 Reissue Series by Edsel/Rhino:

1. "Pretenders" (January 1980 debut) - Edsel EDSG 8047 (Barcode 740155804732) - 2CDs + 1DVD
2. "Pretenders II" (August 1981) - Edsel EDSG 8048 (Barcode 740155804831) - 2CDs + 1DVD
3. "Learning To Crawl" (January 1984) - Edsel EDSG 8049 (Barcode 740155804930) - 2CDs + 1DVD
4. "Get Close" (October 1986) - Edsel EDSG 8050 (Barcode 740155805036) - 2CDs + 1DVD
5. "Packed!" (May 1990) - Edsel EDSX 3022 (Barcode 740155302238) - 1CD + 1DVD
6. "Last Of The Independents" (May 1994) - Edsel EDSG 8051 (Barcode 740155805135) - 2CDs + 1DVD
7. "The Isle Of View" (September 1995) - Edsel EDSX 3023 (Barcode 740155302337) - 1CD + 1DVD 
8. "Viva El Amor!" (May 1999) - Edsel EDSG 8052 (Barcode 740155805234 - 2CDs + 1DVD
9. "Pretenders 1979-1999" - Edsel PRETBOX01 (Barcode 5014797892620) - 22-Disc Card Wrap Box Set with all of 1 to 8 above (no extra booklet)