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The Pretenders - Greatest Hits (2000) DVD

Posted By: Designol

Date: 9 Sep 2023 11:38:35

The Pretenders Greatest Hits is a selection of 20 songs and their variously successful videos. Chrissie Hynde arrived in the UK in 1973, and after a period as the "Loud Yank" NME journalist, she realised her dream of putting a band together. "Stop Your Sobbing" was a terrific first single for The Pretenders, debuting a voice that defied comparison or description. Naturally it's included here. Chrissie hated the early videos for her songs, especially "Brass in Pocket", which was one of the very first shown on MTV. She relays this sort of information to camera in the terrific documentary, "No Turn Left Unstoned", featured on this DVD. Comments come in from Rosanna Arquette, ex-managers, Elvis Costello, Bono, and her oldest friend. The overall opinion of the singer-writer that comes across in these interviews is one of an irreverent genius, not afraid to speak her mind (as in her passionate standing for animal rights through the organisation PETA ("People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals"). The band's turbulent history is chronicled through drug-related deaths, firing and re-hiring, motherhood, and the controversial use of the F word on stage, back when such things were shocking. There have been Pretenders greatest hits collections before, but this is expanded with "Human" and "Popstar" from the 1999 Viva El Amor album.

Review by Paul Tonks, Amazon.co.uk

2005 marked a couple of major career milestones for the Pretenders. The band was deservedly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the superb DVD retrospective Greatest Hits finally hit U.S. store shelves five years after its U.K. release. (A companion Greatest Hits CD was also issued there separately.) Vocalist/rhythm guitarist/founder Chrissie Hynde touched upon the group's tumultuous history in her Hall of Fame speech when she said each latter-day lineup has been a "tribute band" ever since the drug-overdose deaths of lead guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bass guitarist Pete Farndon. She's too hard on herself. Certainly the band struggled at times, and drummer Martin Chambers was out for several years before returning, but Hynde and company still made some terrific music. The DVD collects 20 videos made between 1979 and 1999 as well as a revelatory 1995 U.K. television documentary cleverly titled No Turn Left Unstoned. Hynde's prickly, tough-chick personality often contrasts with the emotional vulnerability laid bare in her lyrics. She claims that she hates making videos, but that's a surprise since she's so good at it. (She does discuss "hideous" unseen early versions of "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" and "2000 Miles.") The Pretenders embraced the medium early on and helped usher in the MTV era. The groundbreaking "Brass in Pocket" clip depicts Hynde as a love-starved waitress, although her initial concept differed from that of director Mark Robinson. Other standouts are "Message of Love," "Back on the Chain Gang," "Middle of the Road," "Don't Get Me Wrong," "Hymn to Her," "Popstar," "I'll Stand by You," and Hynde's collaborations with Moodswings on "Spiritual High (State of Independence)" and UB40 on "I Got You Babe" and "Breakfast in Bed." No Turn Left Unstoned features interviews with U2's Bono, Motörhead's Lemmy, Elvis Costello, Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, the New York Dolls' David Johansen, the Damned's Rat Scabies, the B-52's' Kate Pierson, producer Chris Thomas, and others. Although some videos are missing, and sequencing the included videos chronologically would have made more sense, Greatest Hits, especially with the No Turn Left Unstoned documentary, is an important rock-history DVD.

Review by Bret Adams, Allmusic.com

The Pretenders at Allmusic
The Pretenders Website
The Pretenders at Wiki

DVD Content:

01. Brass In Pocket
02. Message Of Love
03. Don't Get Me Wrong
04. Kid
05. Human (Tin Tin Out Remix)
06. I Go To Sleep
07. Forever Young
08. I Got You Babe
09. Night In My Veins
10. Spiritual High (State Of Independence)
11. Talk Of The Town
12. Stop Your Sobbing
13. Hymn To Her
14. 2000 Miles
15. Breakfast In Bed
16. Popstar
17. Middle Of The Road
18. Thin Line Between Love And Hate
19. Back On The Chain Gang
20. I'll Stand By You

No Turn Left Unstoned (Documentary)

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