Customer Reviews

Learning to Crawl

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you don't have this album in your collection, it's a must have... period.

The high points of CD are some, but there are some low points, too. The high points are: My City Was Gone(which in case your'e wondering is Rush Limbaugh's theme), Middle Of The Road, and Back On The Chain Gang. The low points are: Watching The Clothes, which is a silly song about sitting in laundromat, I Hurt You, Thumbelina, and just about every other song on the album. I gave this album a whole 3 stars because the high points are really high, in spite of the lows.

If your looking for Rush's theme song, this is the CD you want to buy. I bought it for that tune alone and keep my CD player on repeat because it's really the best tune on it and it's been made kind of famous.

If you've been looking for Rush's theme song, here it is- "My City Was Gone". Rush was looking for the best base line he could find, and here it was.. And, as he says, ".. it was icing on the cake that it was [written by] an environmentalist, animal-rights wacko--and an anti-conservative song. ... It is anti-development, anti-capitalist. ... Here I am going to take a liberal song and make fun of [liberals] at the same time."

Worth getting for this song alone :-)

It seems to be fairly unanimous that this CD and the first Pretenders album are the must-haves. This is a nearly-perfect album, no bad songs, several truly great ones. Some reviews suggest the band was never as good after the loss of two founding members. I'm not sure that's true, though of course it was never exactly the same, and I was struck by how much of that original sound re-emerged with this album - especially the guitars I'd thought were all Honeyman-Scott. After the letdown of Pretenders II, this album was a musical treat from the opening drums on Middle of the Road, which starts things off with as much force as Precious does on the first album. There isn't a better Pretenders song. Back on the Chain Gang was brilliant and brave. Time the Avenger has a great guitar riff that is reminiscent of the old pop song, Time Won't Let Me, and the lyrics are absolutely scathing. I disagree with the spotlight review about Watching the Clothes being abysmal - it's good musically, describes a universal tedious lonely experience, and is part of a perfect first side that ends with the touching "Show Me" written for her then-new daughter. As was the first song on side two, Thumbelina, which boldly appropriates a Johnny-Cash-like country riff and mixes it with the Pretenders sound in an experiment that turns into a great song. My City Was Gone isn't a personal favorite, but seems to be loved by everyone else. Thin Line and I Hurt You are the two weakest songs to me, but even these are both well done, well-loved by others, and 2000 Miles is a beautiful song and perfect wistful ending. You can't go wrong with this album. If you want to try the Pretenders, this is the obvious CD to start with, and if you're already a fan then you already know it's an essential.

There are a couple good hits ("My City was Gone" and "Back on the Chain Gang"), a couple so-so ("Middle of the Road", "Time the Avenger" and "Watching the Clothes"), but that is about it. A good greatest hits, but that is about it.

A good way to understand this band is to see their first three albums (Pretenders, Pretenders II, Learning to Crawl) as a trilogy, with the latter being the most refined. This isn't meant to depreciate the others; for a group that started as a punk band, refinement is relative! Chrissie Hynde is a great singer/songwriter.

When "Thumbelina" kicks in, I can feel the rigors up and down my spine. This is a timeless recording that mixes beautifully wonderful lyrics with memorable music. This recording is like a great road trip.

"Middle of the Road" and "Back on the Chain Gang" were big hits, but there are other wonderful gems on this. Robbie McIntosh on guitar is possessed: his "outside" playing on "Watching the Clothes" is positively stunning. And his relaxed melody on "Thumbelina" is chilling, while his finger-picking on "Middle of the Road" just about makes me cry.

There are no throw-aways on this CD. "I Hurt You" is a true-to-life song of vengeful feelings run amok, while "2000 Miles" is a beautiful piece of how many of us "middle-aged" rockers deal with separation from time to time: it's part of the business life you know?

But, of course, "My City Was Gone" is an anthem to all of us oldesters who remember when they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. The simplicity of this song is its strength and what makes it timeless. This CD is pure genius. My only regret is that I never saw this particular phase of the Pretenders play live. I envy those of you who have.

Even though I'm a guy, Chrissie Hynde's amazing words resonate almost 20 years later. "Middle of the Road" is something all adults have to face at some point or another - are we really just like our parents?! Many others have alluded to the commentary of "My City Was Gone," and how it's been appropriated by Limbaugh and the "government that had no pride" (how ironic). I don't think any of the previous reviews mentioned the life-altering song that is "Show Me." Though this album has always been amazing from start to finish, for me "Show Me" has always been the tour de force. "Welcome here from outer space/The Milky Way still in your eyes" What a line! I saw the video to this one on VH1 Classic the other day and had tears in my eyes! It's just one of those songs that makes you glad to be ALIVE! The fills played by Martin Chambers on this song also elevate it to another plane (Martin deserves much of the credit for the way he DRIVES all these songs; he's certainly one of the most underrated drummers to ever hit the skins!). Add to that, the greatest Christmas song from the last 30 years ("2000 Miles") and you've got an album that just about exhausts all superlatives. At this ridiculously low price, you'd have to have permanent dain bramage to not make this a part of your life.

The alst worthwhile PRetenders album... The first three CD's are their best, but this one here has the merit of showing the strong character of the "surviving" members of the band. Smasrt songwriting, great hooks, rocking hard. Unfortunately, their creative genius soon vanished...