70s KnockOut Cup Match 11 *The Modernist advances*

[never/ever]

A

Pretenders - Kid





B

Crystal Grass - Crystal World

[Dayodead]

B is too disco...Solid Pretenders number takes the day...Vote A

[Jumper K]

I love Chrissy's voice but the songs are wimpy pub-rock by numbers. Dreadful pish that can be lumped in with the likes of Squeeze and their ilk. There is nothing remotely laudable or exciting about any of that old shit.
B. At least its offering a bit of light and shade in this knackered excuse for a cup.

[Purgatory Brite]

B a disco remix of Magma?

[C]

To my limited ears B sounded like a copy of Hayes' Shaft - but too disco with some female screeching.

More female screeching from the other 'erberts too.

Is that Hank Marvin on guitar? Bland and lacking in music

Another abstention really...

An awful match for me - the lesser of two 'evils'

-+B+-





.

[harvey k-tel]

Oooh! Echo-y trumpet! Oooh! String swells! Oooh! wocka-wocka guitar! Oooh! Slinky vocals! Oooh! Flute flourishes!

Oooh! Fuck off!

A

[sloopjohnc]

A

[naughty boy]

tough one

B was sampled by S'Express, right? it's pretty good

I've never been too keen on The Pretenders but that's a classy pick

I don't know, really



no - I'm going for

B

[Darkness_Fish]

Cor, The Pretenders, huh? Chrissie Hynde has an absolutely fantastic voice, not just the tone, but the way she fills every moment with character and warmth. Exactly the kind of thing I was just on about George Harrison lacking. Pity the band were so dull really, I'd have bought this stuff if it was a capella, but there seems no point to nearly all their songs. They're just all so slight and ephemeral, you barely notice that they're even there.

Ooh, it was that trumpet section that was nicked for S'Express, good spot (or good google, either way's fine). It's a strange old floaty disco number isn't it. I like this kind of thing where you piece the track together around a repetitive, insistent bass line. It doesn't feel in any way like an organic thing you'd come up with jamming in the studio, it sounds like something that was pondered on and pissed about with over days, you wonder how many ideas were left on the cutting room floor. Quite nice.

B

[echolalia]

The Pretenders are not ageing well and I never liked them much to begin with.
B

[The Modernist]

A is decent mainstream melodic rock, but it doesn't excite me as a track or as a pick.
I remember when I first heard B and it just blew me away with the way it packed so many exciting elements in one track - the great percussion, bursts of free jazz, wild flute, wah wah, it even goes a bit dubby in places. It seemed to have the druggy hypertension of a certain kind of house record and yet it was made in 1974. An amazing record that demands to be payed LOUD.

B

[Osgood]

A was ... basically nothing. I loved B, it looks like the place where Talking Heads got a few ideas for Remain In Light.

B

[The Modernist]

B a disco remix of Magma?

Lee Hallyday was involved in the production of both.

[trans-chigley express]

Some early Pretenders holds up pretty well and I still really like this one.

B packed a lot into its funky grooves and I enjoyed it all.

A very solid match but A sneaks it.

[Nick Danger]

A

[Rayge]

a - Chrissie Hynde, like Cyndi Lauper and Karen Carpenter, is blessed with a distinctive pop voice. I can listen to her do almost anything (although that pedestrian band try my patience at times). I bought and loved this single, and 40 years on I still find it quite affecting, although not my favourite Pretenders' track. 6 / 10
b - With the word Crystal in the band's name and title, I was kind of hoping for something delicate, whimsical and miildly psychedelic. Imagine my disappointment when I had more funk shit inflicted on my suffering ears. Awful soundtrack to brain death 2.5 / 10

A

[Diamond Dog]

There are many better examples of what b is aiming at - most of them were included in the main 70's Cup.

A is one of The Pretenders really strong sonmgs - great melody and a stunning solo. Easy win.

[fange]

A is ok - i really like CH's voice still - but B is something i much prefer to listen to these days.


B

[toomanyhatz]

Liked B a lot though it was a bit repetitive. But then I don't dance much, as I may have mentioned a few hundred times.

Lots of mentions of the Pretenders being pedestrian. I just don't hear it. Odd time signatures without being a prog move? Tight, sharp guitar solos that are models of economy? Pounding or delicate (depending on need) rock solid rhythm section? I really don't hear the problem. Not that early, anyway.

A is still one of their best moments. Even if it does lose a few points for picking a single, at least it's a great one.

[Penk!]

I was surprised to find I rather liked A. Nothing revolutionary but a smart little pop song with a memorable melody, excellently sung (although very sloppily played - lots of missed cues and dodgy edits there).
I will probably go for B, though: a great menacing groove with loads of ideas flying around over the top of it.