Two of her band members were dead or dying, but Chrissie Hynde still had a need to express herself musically (plus a recording contract that required her to do so). She started out with a few singles to mark time until a replacement band would come together, and when it did, she successfully pieced together an album from those singles, in a similar fashion as both previous Pretenders albums.Learning To Crawl doesn’t have the rebellious edge of the first two Pretenders albums, but it does deliver tight rock and roll, tempered with a certain maturity that came as a result of not just the death of her mates, but also the birth of her first child. This fact is pointedly brought up in the climactic verse of “Middle Of The Road”, which opens the album with a drum solo before cascading through an infectious riff and hearty backing vocals. The year-old single “Back On The Chain Gang” had already been a huge hit on the radio and MTV, and taken as something of a tribute to James Honeyman-Scott within her typically evasive lyrics. “Time The Avenger” and “Watching The Clothes” offer opposing views of daily life, the former of a businessman, the latter of someone literally doing her laundry. Her slightly softer side emerges on “Show Me” a rocking lullaby-cum-apology to her baby daughter.
The single mom theme seems to continue through the rockabilly-flavored “Thumbelina”, but a more autographical story emerges on “My City Was Gone”. A remarkably simple song (and the B-side to “Chain Gang”), it effectively updates the concern about urban sprawl originally voiced by Joni Mitchell on “Big Yellow Taxi” with the sad recognition that one can’t go home again. (This was made even more apparent once it got co-opted by Rush Limbaugh, who obviously hasn’t listened to the words.) Apparently not about to do any more Kinks covers, this time Chrissie puts her best aching croon on the obscure Hey Love soul classic “Thin Line Between Love And Hate”. That song’s themes about abusive relationships are reflected somewhat in “I Hurt You”, the weakest track on the album. But the album ends well with the modern Christmas classic “2000 Miles.”
Having survived such losses, it was hoped that the Pretenders would continue to make albums as strong as Learning To Crawl. But by the time the next one came out, drummer Martin Chambers was gone, and even Robbie McIntosh would soon find work with Paul McCartney. For many, this album is where the story ends. Or should have. But that would have gone against her survival instinct.
The Pretenders Learning To Crawl (1984)—3½
2007 expanded, remastered CD: same as 1984, plus 7 extra tracks
This was the last Pretenders album that did anything for me as well, although I agree "Don't Get Me Wrong" was a good single.
ReplyDeleteI suppose, in the sake of completeness, I should do reviews of the albums after this one. But I really don't want to, not least because it would entail listening to them again. Maybe someday.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's possible for any musician to ever top something as brilliant as this album.
ReplyDeleteIt's the past, present, and future -- that's why it's so significant. There's no point from which she can return or advance after she made this album. It's like how fossils are made.
Personally, I think she's an alien. She's from Cuyahoga Falls and most people from there are aliens.
When I first heard “Back on the Chain Gang” and “My City Was Gone”, I thought they were great. However, I thought the sound was tame, lacking the crunch of the original group. I didn’t think they could really carry on.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the balance of the album did prove me wrong, somewhat, although I still think those two songs sound out of place. Once again, Chris Thomas is the unsung hero, creating a reasonable facsimile of the original Pretenders sound. That works only up to a point, since Foster was an ordinary bassist, and there’s no way MacIntosh could have been as inventive as Honeyman-Scott.
It helped, of course, that Chrissie came up with another great batch of songs, but they are of a different sort. She keeps the sneering out, instead painting forceful portraits of ordinary people like “Watching the Clothes”, “Thumbelina”, and even “Time the Avenger” (ok, there might be a tiny bit of snark in that one). She gets more autobiographical in “Middle of the Road” and “Show Me”, and possibly in “I Hurt You”. “2000 Miles” is a nice enough ballad. The only real dud for me is her cover of “Thin Line Between Love and Hate”, mainly because of that annoyingly tinkly piano. It doesn’t really sound like the Pretenders. But 9 out of 10 is still an “A”!
The expanded version is interesting. The B-side "Fast or Slow (The Law's the Law)" (from the “..Chain Gang” session) is the 2nd and final songwriting contribution from Chambers. It’s the only Pretenders song that Chrissie didn’t sing – he did! The demos include the full version of “Tequila” and "When I Change My Life". Thomas rejected both, which may have been the reason she dumped him after this album. He complained that latter sounded too much like “Birds of Paradise”. I don’t hear that, but I do hear that the demo sounds better than the subsequent versions.
I had a front row seat for this tour, on a very hot summer night. That made it a bit weird when an image of a Christmas tree was projected on the screen during “2000 Miles” (which she introduced as “Brick Shithouse”). She announced her 2nd pregnancy when she introduced “Show Me”, and herself as “Mrs. Jim Kerr” (!) at “Mystery Achievement”. The first encore was “Room Full of Mirrors”, which I had never heard. It came across as a glorious wall of noise. Every track on the album was performed except for “I Hurt You”, probably because Chambers couldn’t play the drum part (it’s a drum machine on the album). The group was at its peak of popularity and the whole show was marvelous. The opening act was Simple Minds, pre “Breakfast Club”. I didn’t know there was nepotism involved! Jim Kerr was a real spaceshot as a performer, but they were well received, particularly the song “Waterfront”.