The Pretenders

Mystery Achievement

Photo: LastFM

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Good Morning!

Today we’re listening to “Mystery Achievement” by The Pretenders

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The Pretender’s 1980¹ self-titled release comes out of the gate at 100 mph.

Opening track "Precious" is a blistering roller coaster of a song with Chrissie Hynde's take-no-prisoners attitude on full display. The rest of the group does well to keep up, but as you listen to it, you wonder how long they can hold on.

Luckily for them (and us), one of Hynde's strengths is switching gears. With that once-in-a-generation voice, She can seamlessly shapeshift from piss-and-vinegar to tender and everywhere in between without missing a beat. From blistering "Precious" to poppy "Tattooed Love Boys," and of course, hit single "Brass In Pocket."

Nick Lowe produced the cover of the Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing" for the record but left the sessions after producing just the one song, stating that the band was "not going anywhere."

Oops.

By 2006, he had changed his tune, writing in the liner notes for the band's 2006's Pirate Radio box set:

“At that time, we were all a little in love with Chrissie, because she was so cool and didn’t take any shit from anybody…She had so much style. She had a tough, but vulnerable sound that was really unusual. It reminded me of Sandie Shaw.”

The record takes us through all those twists and turns on the way to album closer "Mystery Achievement."

More than any other song on the record, it has found a second life on multiple Sirius XM channels. It keeps all of Hynde's spunk-and all of the hooks- with none of the snarl. It is a perfect balance and a great runout groove on what pound-for-pound was one of the best records that year.

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More:

It’s after the second chorus where Honeyman-Scott — with a little assist from Chambers, who never relents for even a single second — takes “Mystery Achievement” from “great” to “all time classic.” First he does a bit of a duel with Chambers: playing some notes, and stops while Chambers responds with some fills.

But he soon gets bored, and just takes off sideways, burning and slashing notes over under sideways down every which way against the song, trying to figure out a way to break the unbreakable beat Farndon & Chambers are putting down. But even as he finds a lick and tries to use it over and over and over to get through them, the best he can do is force them to build into one final glorious chorus.

The rest of this fantastic breakdown/lookback can be found here.

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Listen:

“Mystery Achievement” by The Pretenders| The Pretenders, 1980

Click the record to listen on your platform of choice.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

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1. Released in the UK on 27.Dec. 1979, and in the US a week later on 04. Jan. 1980