The Pretenders – Loose in L.A.

 

Picture: B     Sound: B+     Extras: B-     Concert: A-

 

 

The Pretenders broke loose in the year 1980 with a solid initial release of pure rock and well-written material by frontwoman Chrissie Hynde.  That first self-titles album contained songs like Precious, Kid, Brass in Pocket, and Mystery Achievement, all of which established the band as a powerful force and would lay forth their path into the 1980’s.  Strange things happened though to both the band and to music in general. 

 

Music, more specifically rock music, was starting to head a different direction leading to more one-hit-wonders than just about any decade.  Synthesizers were becoming commonplace in the music industry and people just weren’t feeling the same about plain old rock.  Still The Pretenders pressed on with their follow-up Pretenders II, which slammed home hits like The Adultress, Message of Love, and Talk of the Town.  The death of James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitarist) and departure of bassist Pete Farndon only slowed the remaining two members, Martin Chambers on drums and Hynde for a little bit.  They came back strong in 1984 with Learning to Crawl, which truly showed the power of Hynde’s lyrical style and force.  Songs like Middle of the Road, Back on the Chain Gang, and My City Were Gone highlighted the release.  The remainder of the 80’s had some ups and downs until 1994’s Show of Independence, which contained the hit track I’ll Stand By You, which brought back to life this talented group once again.  Since then they have stuck together releasing material here and there. 

 

Loose in L.A. is a terrific concert from February 2003 showing just how relentless this group is after all these years.  You wouldn’t believe from the performance that age had any factor in their work, other than for maturity.  Brought forth by Eagle Vision this is by far one of their best releases in terms of content and quality.  Filmed in High-Definition, this actually looks pleasing, especially with the various camera angels and editing, which makes the experience rockin’.  The footage was shot in 1.85 X 1 and the transfer looks surprisingly better than a lot of material shot in High-Definition.  The audio options allow the concert to be heard either in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, or DTS 5.1.  Both Dolby tracks are weak in their presentation, while the DTS offers the best playback giving more bass and overall coherence of the material.  Lyrics push through better in DTS and the surrounds seem much more active giving a better live perception. 

 

Track Listing (140 Min.)

 

Lie To Me

Time

Message of Love

My Baby

Talk of the Town

You Know Who Your Friends Are

Time The Avenger

The Homecoming

Up the Neck

Fools Must Die

My City Was Gone

The Losing

Biker

Complex Person

Nothing Breaks Like a Heart

Back on the Chain Gang

Don’t Get Me Wrong

Kid

Rebel Rock Me

Night in My Veins

Tattooed Love Boys

Precious

I’ll Stand By You

Middle of the Road

Mystery Achievement

Brass in Pocket

 

With a track listing like this, one quickly understands how much material this band has, not only that, but the arrangement of songs places their classic tunes intermixed with some of the newer songs from 2002’s Loose Screw album.  There are also some extras to accommodate the release such as back stage footage and the music video for You Know Who Your Friends Are, which is from Loose Screw.  There is also a concert montage making for a nice handful of extras considering a lengthy concert, which is worthy all on its own.

 

 

-   Nate Goss