Pretenders II
Studio album by the Pretenders
Released	7 August 1981[1]
Recorded	1980–81
Studio	Wessex Sound,London Pathe Marconi,Paris, France
Genre	New wave punk rock rock jangle pop[2][3]
Length	46:11
Label	Sire
Producer	Chris Thomas
The Pretenders chronology
Extended Play (1981) Pretenders II (1981) Learning to Crawl (1984)
Singles from Pretenders II
"Talk of the Town" Released: March 1980 "Message of Love" Released: February 1981 "Day After Day" Released: August 1981 (UK) "Louie, Louie" Released: August 1981 (US) "I Go to Sleep" Released: November 1981

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The Austin Chronicle	[5]
Blender	[6]
Chicago Tribune	[7]
Christgau's Record Guide	B+[8]
PopMatters	9/10[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[11]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	6/10[12]
Uncut	8/10[13]

Pretenders II is the secondstudio album by British-American rock bandthe Pretenders, issued onSire Records in August 1981. It incorporates two songs that had been released assingles in the UK and placed on anEP in the US. It peaked at #7 on theUK Albums Chart and #10 on theBillboard 200, and has been certified agold record for sales by theRIAA. It is the final album by the original line-up, as the following year bassistPete Farndon was dismissed and guitaristJames Honeyman-Scott died in the same week. Farndon died in 1983, and a new line-up would make the band's next album,Learning to Crawl.

The success of their1979 debut album created a great demand for more material from the fledgling band; however, a lack of songs precluded the quick release of a follow-up album. In the UK, the band released two hit singles in 1980 and early 1981, "Talk of the Town" followed by "Message of Love". In the US, where standalone singles had become rare, these tracks were combined with three others for a stopgapextended play release in March 1981 simply titledExtended Play.Pretenders II was released two months later to mixed critical reception arguably because many of the songs were viewed as too similar to (though not quite as groundbreaking as) the band's debut.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, several of the album's songs became hits and the album has increased in critical stature with time.^{[citation needed]}

As on their previous album, the band includes a song byRay Davies ofThe Kinks, although in this case "I Go to Sleep", written by Davies in 1965, was not recorded by the group. Band leaderChrissie Hynde and Davies were in a relationship at the time of the album's recording, and would eventually have a daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde, in 1983. "Talk of the Town", though rumoured to be about her relationship with Davies,^[14] was inspired by a fan Hynde had encountered on the band's first tour and whom she regretted not speaking to at the time.^[15]

The album also includes the sexually-forward tunes "Bad Boys Get Spanked" and "The Adultress", with perhaps the album's most ambitious track, "Day After Day" spinning a common second-album narrative of unaccustomed celebrity, with the band rushing from gig to gig, hotel to hotel, head-spun from the swiftness of it all.^{[citation needed]} The single version of the song ends with a guitar solo that gradually fades out; the album edit ends suddenly, mid-solo, with the sound of a crashing fighter plane. The album's final track, "Louie, Louie", is an original composition and not a version of theidentically titled and often covered song byRichard Berry.

In 2000 it was voted number 403 inColin Larkin'sAll Time Top 1000 Albums.^[16] The following year, twenty years after its release, it was certified gold in the United States.^[17]

Rhino released a re-mastered edition ofPretenders II in 2006, including a second disc of live tracks and outtakes.^[18] Most of the tracks on the bonus disc originally appeared as aWarner Bros. 1982 promotional live album,Pretenders Live at the Santa Monica Civic. Specialist labelMobile Fidelity Sound Labs (known as MFSL or MoFi) released a re-mastered version in 2010.^[19] The track listing, however, reverted to that of the original release, without bonus tracks. A further 2015 reissue repeated the original album plus bonus disc of the 2006 version with two additional bonus tracks, this time including aDVD containing four promotionalvideos and two appearances by the band onTop of the Pops.^[20]

Another deluxe edition of the album, curated by Hynde, was released on 5 November 2021, and features the original album remastered by Chris Thomas, alongside demos, rarities, and two live performances. One is from a performance in Central Park, New York City, and the other from an electric performance at The Santa Monica Civic.^[21]

The Pretenders

• Chrissie Hynde – lead vocals, rhythm guitars, backing vocals
• James Honeyman-Scott – lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
• Pete Farndon – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Martin Chambers – drums, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• Chris Mercer – tenor saxophone
• Henry Lowther, Jim Wilson – trumpets
• Jeff Bryant –French horn
• Chris Thomas – sound effects

Technical

• Bill Price – recording
• Gavin Cochrane – front cover photography

• The Pretenders albums
• 1981 albums
• Albums produced by Chris Thomas (record producer)
• Sire Records albums
• Jangle pop albums

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