Pretenders albums 1980–2016

Your favourite?

• Pretenders (1980)
• Pretenders II (1981)
• Learning to Crawl (1984)
• Get Close (1986)
• Packed! (1990)
• Last of the Independents (1994)
• Viva el Amor (1999)
• Loose Screw (2002)
• Break Up the Concrete (2008)
• Alone (2016)

What a great band! What a singer!

 

I voted 1st album.

The first 2 albums and Extended Play EP well ahead of anything else.

 

Just one? Then the debut has to beat everything else

(It's a shame though the classic line-up didn't get to make a third album)

 

I love the early ones, like the rest. The premier is the ONE though.

 

Got to see them three times in 1980. Great shows. I went with the first release.

 

First two and extended play.

 

Yes, it feels like there should have been at least one album between Pretenders II and Learning to Crawl.

 

I voted for their 1st album, a candidate for finest debut by any band imo.

 

Pretenders II

Not being snarky... I like it even more than the first one, and I like the first one a lot.

 

What he said.

 

That was easy.

 

Voted for the first one but I also really like the next one.

 

Their debut album of course no competition.

 

debut

 

Wow. Had no idea there was such a consensus.

 

Debut, no question.

My 2nd is Learning to Crawl, but after that, who were the Pretenders, really?

Hynde says she kept the name and tried to keep the sound as a continuation of what
she did with Honeyman-Scott, but how could his death not be a profound loss and
fundamental change to that band. He was integral.

 

Nothing like their first album. Great songs and great band. The loss of Honeyman-Scott was fatal to their sound, they were never the same after his death.

 

No votes for 'Packed'? (joking). First album above all others, but every album worthwhile.

 

One enthusiastic vote for Learning To Crawl. It may not contain the same group of musicians on each track, but, song for song, it's my pick.

 

My favorite (not mentioned here) is The Isle Of View. Of course, it was done and released on the wave of all other unplugged concerts. Nevertheless, I play it quite often (omg, for 20 years). And I like that Damon Albarn bit.

 

Not to diminish the fairly consistent caliber of their work, but who would have thought they could pull out an album like 'Learning to Crawl' after such a profound loss? The B-52's with Cosmic Thing and the Allman's 'Eat a Peach' are in the few that rival that. so, for me, Learning to Crawl resonates a little deeper.

 

Debut, most certainly. Affection for the next two as well, but you can't beat side 2 of the debut.

You just can't.

 

This had to be a landslide by allowing only one pick, stop the fight.

 

I've gotta go with Learning to Crawl. I would've picked the debut, but LTC has my favorite Pretenders song; Middle of the Road. Now that I think about it, it may even be one of my favorite songs of all time!

 

While I can only vote for one (and I voted for II), I'd call out "Loose Screw" as a really, really solid album. Packed is probably the only one I don't listen to very much...