Pretenders & Pretenders II Albums get 40th Anniversary Box Treatment

Are there any different cuts on the Edsels that aren’t on this reissue?

 

Second thing to do: wait and see if the sound on this release is as bad as the sound on those!

 

It says on the product “2018 remaster”, so is it new or not?

 

Only "Sabre Dance" (The Marquee, April 1979) and the extended remix of "Kid" from the first one. And the videos of course, the 2021 sets do not include the DVDs.

 

I can live without the DVDs. Which probably aren’t great quality anyway. I really hope she does the entire catalogue.

 

There were 2 edits of "Talk Of The Town". The shorter version included on the Pretenders II and the longer version included on "Extended Play"and the original 45. . The only place I see the studio version listed is on the "II" CD, so did they forget the longer version.

 

Both mine are on their way apparently. Didn't think they came out until next Friday?

 

Seeing that they didn’t mention a word about master tapes or them being analog at all. Anyone know if these are AAA?

 

I'm in even if I have both the earlier remasters and the original vinyl. Pretenders II is one of my favorite albums evah, so good that they had to try to spoil it by including the worst final track ever.

James Honeyman-Scott

 

Just received both issues today.
They are beautiful.

* haven't cracked them open yet

 

Would you please let us know how they sound? Thanks in advance! I'd really love to have II on vinyl but not going to pop for it until I hear what folks think.

 

I can't imagine that the CD mastering would be much different than the previous re-issues, but the vinyl dynamic may very well be an entirely different story.

 

The Spotify version of these deluxe editions says "2018 remaster" on the main album tracks. Some of the additional tracks (mainly disc 2 of the first album if I am not wrong) are labelled "2021 remaster" but the main album tracks are all "2018".

PS: I notice that a post from September had already clarified the same thing.

 

When the Edsel box was announced in 2014, I was very excited. A lot of audio and visual content, for all of the albums, what's not to like?
Unfortunately, the audio was a letdown - compressed, flat and lifeless, particularly the early albums, and - to me - just unlistenable (I wrote a a few posts on SHF at the time).
Edsel didn't own the tapes, was not leased the tapes, so they had to work with whatever digital files they were given. I inquired with Alchemy, who did the mastering for Edsel, and their honest, disheartening reply confirmed everything I thought:

"...it often depends on the source that we are supplied with to work from which a lot of the time are already heavily compressed files... When working with compressed digital files you are limited to what can be achieved. In the case of Pretenders the first two albums were significantly lower level to the bonus tracks that were supplied with it and all of the other albums. Dropping the level of the bonus tracks was done to a degree but with no magical uncompress button being available the dynamics are not going to return, lower frequencies were added to a lot of the Pretenders tracks and not removed".

So much for the Edsel box set.
Too bad, because ironically the videos were extremely good, as if they had been restored (but even there, the Isle of View DVD had an imbalance in the audio channels, which Edsel aknowledged, but said it was already there in the master - which is just not true since I already owned a copy of the Warner DVD, and it didn't present any issue).
I was soooo disappointed with the whole thing that I never listened to that box ever since.

Anyway, time to move on... the 2021 Warner reissues just arrived, listening to the first album and it sounds very good to me. The dynamics are there. Yes it's better then the Rhino. A/B with my 1979 LP, I can't honestly say if it is "better", but it's the closest thing to the original LP I have ever heard.
Demos and live tracks, many already released, nice to have them, don't expect the same audio quality of course (even the B-sides for some reason don't seem to have the audio quality of the main album).
The booklet is very nice, just 20 pages in LP format but well done, lots of pictures very well printed.
Why Warner didn't reissue these themselves in 2014, is beyond me.
Anyway, better late than never

 

Sure looks like it, which is a drag. The longer/single version of TOTT has always felt to me like the "true" version of the song. Not sure why they couldn't have found room to include it on one of these reissues.

 

Once again the process of compiling tracks for these deluxe editions misses a track. They just looked at track titles and probably never realized there were different edits of "Talk Of The Town". Totally agree with you AlmondRoca that the longer version is the definitive version of this song. No excuses for this being missed.

Were both versions included on previous expanded editions?

 

That’s a shame. I’m on the fence about these reissues. I have original vinyl, original CDs, 2006 reissues, Pirate Radio — thought the 2014 was the last time I’d have to draw the line (unless used, which is how I found Get Close). Just can’t decide.

 

I don't know about the 45, but Talk of the Town on my Extended Play copy (Sire, 1981) is exactly the same version that's on the album (2:42, same mix). Wikipedia says it's 3:13, but it's a mistake.
Discogs got it right:
Pretenders – Extended Play (1981, Vinyl)

 

Talk of the Town has to be included in it’s “extended” version as it’s the single version and as others said, definitive.

What I’d like to understand is that as these remasters are digitally tagged as 2018, did they sit on them for 3 years or have they been released in some form previously?

I’m also still holding out for Loose Screw to get a vinyl release but I may be alone on that one.

 

I thought the only (?) place to get the longer version of TOTT on CD was on the "Pirate Radio" box set? Am I wrong about that?

 

Went back and listened to both original albums. I’m reminded what a great band they were. Chemistry, talent, and attitude to burn. The loss of Farndon and Honeyman-Scott was tremendous.

 

Gradese is correct. The edit is on the LP and the 12inch. My mistake on my original post. Either way the 45 version (longer version) is not on this set.

The single version is on the "Singles" CD.

 

I just remembered that I DO have the Talk of the Town single, so yes:
45= extended version (3:13)
Extended Play=same as album (2:42).

The 1979-1981 singles have been reissued two years ago, it was a RSD thing if I am not mistaken

 

Having seen this band, I agree 100%.

 

The longer, 7” version of Talk of the Town is on Singles, their first greatest hits album from the 80s (I think it was 87).