Home
Learning to Crawl
Learning to Crawl in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $9.99
Loading Inventory...
Size: CD
Chrissie Hynde
took a long, hard road to
rock & roll
stardom, but when her band,
the Pretenders
, finally broke through in 1979, they wasted no time, growing from promising newcomers on the British music scene to major international stardom with a pair of smash albums to their credit in a mere three years. But
' meteoric rise came to a crashing halt in 1982, when drug abuse claimed the life of guitarist
James Honeyman-Scott
and forced
Hynde
and drummer
Martin Chambers
to dump bassist
Pete Farndon
, who would also succumb to an OD in April 1983.
was forced by circumstance to reinvent
for their third album, 1984's
Learning to Crawl
, but if the new edition of the group lacked some of the spark of the band that made the first two LPs, through sheer force of will
created a masterpiece. While
hardly held back in her emotionally potent songwriting in
' early work, on
there's a gravity to her lyrics that blended with her tough but wiry melodic sense and streetwise intelligence to create a set of truly remarkable tunes.
"Back on the Chain Gang"
is a touching tribute to her fallen comrades that still sounds bitterly rueful,
"Middle of the Road"
is a furious rocker that explores the emotional and physical toll of a musician's life,
"Time the Avenger"
is a taut, literate examination of a businessman's adulterous relationship,
"My City Was Gone"
deals with the economic and cultural decay of the Midwest in a manner both pithy and genuinely heartfelt, and
"2000 Miles"
is a
Christmas
number that demonstrates
can be warm without getting sappy. As a guitarist,
Robbie McIntosh
brought a simpler and more elemental style to
than
, but his tough, muscular leads fit these songs well, and bassist
Malcolm Foster
's solid punch fits
Chambers
' drumming perfectly. Three albums into her recording career,
found herself having to put the past to bed and carve out a new beginning for herself with
, but she pulled it off with a striking mixture of courage, strength, and great
; with the exception of the instant-classic debut album, it's
' finest work. ~ Mark Deming
took a long, hard road to
rock & roll
stardom, but when her band,
the Pretenders
, finally broke through in 1979, they wasted no time, growing from promising newcomers on the British music scene to major international stardom with a pair of smash albums to their credit in a mere three years. But
' meteoric rise came to a crashing halt in 1982, when drug abuse claimed the life of guitarist
James Honeyman-Scott
and forced
Hynde
and drummer
Martin Chambers
to dump bassist
Pete Farndon
, who would also succumb to an OD in April 1983.
was forced by circumstance to reinvent
for their third album, 1984's
Learning to Crawl
, but if the new edition of the group lacked some of the spark of the band that made the first two LPs, through sheer force of will
created a masterpiece. While
hardly held back in her emotionally potent songwriting in
' early work, on
there's a gravity to her lyrics that blended with her tough but wiry melodic sense and streetwise intelligence to create a set of truly remarkable tunes.
"Back on the Chain Gang"
is a touching tribute to her fallen comrades that still sounds bitterly rueful,
"Middle of the Road"
is a furious rocker that explores the emotional and physical toll of a musician's life,
"Time the Avenger"
is a taut, literate examination of a businessman's adulterous relationship,
"My City Was Gone"
deals with the economic and cultural decay of the Midwest in a manner both pithy and genuinely heartfelt, and
"2000 Miles"
is a
Christmas
number that demonstrates
can be warm without getting sappy. As a guitarist,
Robbie McIntosh
brought a simpler and more elemental style to
than
, but his tough, muscular leads fit these songs well, and bassist
Malcolm Foster
's solid punch fits
Chambers
' drumming perfectly. Three albums into her recording career,
found herself having to put the past to bed and carve out a new beginning for herself with
, but she pulled it off with a striking mixture of courage, strength, and great
; with the exception of the instant-classic debut album, it's
' finest work. ~ Mark Deming
Shop Similar Products
