The Pretenders - The Second Disc

Release Round-Up: Week of August 15

August 15, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Doc Pomus, You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore) You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos collects more than 160 tracks from the late, legendary songwriter, who died in 1991 at the age of 65 and was subsequently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Blues Hall of Fame. Over…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Deep Purple, Doc Pomus, Jerry Garcia Band, Marisha Wallace, Niall Horan, Shirley Jones, The Cranberries, The Pretenders, Van Halen

Stop Your Sobbing: Rhino Expands First Two Pretenders Albums for 40th Anniversary

September 22, 2021 by Joe Marchese | 7 Comments

They may have called themselves The Pretenders, but Chrissie Hynde, James Honeyman-Scott, Pete Farndon, and Martin Chambers were as authentic as they come. The four-piece rock combo fused American and British styles (Hynde was the American émigré; the other three were British), bringing the swagger of punk to the craft of classic rock. The Pretenders’ hip, seemingly effortless sound was crystallized on the band’s first two records (not incidentally, the only two records with the original lineup.) Now, both Pretenders and Pretenders II will be reissued by Sire/Rhino in new 3-CD deluxe…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock

Tags:

The Pretenders

Release Round-Up: Week of July 17

July 17, 2020 by The Second Disc | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Little Steven, Voice of America [CD/DVD] (Wicked Cool/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Little Steven’s sophomore album from 1984, featuring “Voice of America,” “Solidarity,” “Los Desaparecidos,” and “Among the Believers,” returns to CD in Bob Ludwig’s remaster previously available only on vinyl. The CD edition gets even sweeter with the addition of the full Live at Rockpalast 1984 concert. Voice of America was written, produced, and arranged by Little Steven who got support from The Disciples of Soul (including The Rascals’ Dino Danelli) and guest background vocalist Gary U.S. Bonds. (The…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

CD, DVD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Art Blakey, Bill Kirchen, Bob Dylan, Brian Protheroe, David Sanborn, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Heath, Little Steven, Marvin Gaye, Melissa Manchester, The Pretenders, Wire Train

The Second Disc’s Picks for Record Store Day Black Friday 2019

November 29, 2019 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. Record Store Day Black Friday is now almost upon us, so we thought we’d spotlight a few particularly exciting releases arriving to your local brick-and-mortar record shop! Here’s our round up of RSD BF must-haves! We’re kicking off with Sam’s list, and then we’ll follow with Randy and Joe’s! Aretha Franklin, The Atlantic Singles Collection 1968 (Atlantic/Rhino) Last year, fans were treated to a singles…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Folk, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul

Release Round-Up: Week of October 21

October 21, 2016 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up – one of the year’s biggest! Frank Sinatra, World on a String (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K./ Amazon Canada) Featuring performances spanning 1953 to 1982, this new live collection boasts more than four hours’ worth of rare audio and video from the legendary Chairman of the Board – over 90 tracks on CD alone including such Sinatra favorites as “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Witchcraft” and “Bewitched” right up through “Strangers in…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Bette Midler, David Bowie, David Crosby, Donna Fargo, Dr. John, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valli, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, The Pretenders, Tony Hadley

Review: The Pretenders CD/DVD Reissue Series

May 8, 2015 by Joe Marchese | 5 Comments

Chrissie Hynde, Pete Farndon, James Honeyman Scott and Martin Chambers may have taken the name of The Pretenders, but anybody paying attention soon realized that there was nothing “pretend” about this band – not its brash amalgam of British and American styles (Hynde was a U.S. émigré; the other three were Brits), not its unabashedly punk approach to a classic rock sound, not its effortless, cool swagger. 1979’s Pretenders launched the band on a journey that continues to this day. It’s been a long, strange trip filled with ups (ten albums, numerous…

Categories:

Reviews

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, DVD

Genres:

Pop, Rock

Tags:

Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders

Let’s Pretend: Edsel Unveils Deluxe Multi-Disc Reissues For Pretenders’ Catalogue

January 5, 2015 by Joe Marchese | 6 Comments

Edsel isn’t just playing pretend. On February 16, 2015, the Demon Music Group label will reissue all eight albums from The Pretenders as originally released by the Warner Bros. family of labels between 1979 and 1999 as deluxe editions. (Or: that’s to say 8/10, or 4/5, of the entire Pretenders discography! Only two albums have arrived since 1999, in 2002 and 2008.) Every one of the eight titles is housed in a digipak, with six of the titles as 2-CD/1-DVD sets and two as 1-CD/1-DVD sets. These “everything but the kitchen sink”…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets

Genres:

Tags:

The Pretenders

Merry Christmas, Baby! “A Very Special Christmas” Reissued with New DVD at Target Stores

October 30, 2013 by Mike Duquette | 9 Comments

If you can get over the shock of a good amount of holiday CDs available on the shelves at Target, you’ll find a surprise new exclusive: a reissue of the classic 1987 compilation A Very Special Christmas with a brand new DVD about the long-running holiday benefit series. Produced by acclaimed engineer-turned-label impresario Jimmy Iovine, A Very Special Christmas featured the brightest stars in pop music, from Springsteen to Madonna, recording new versions of classic carols (plus one modern classic, Run-D.M.C.’s “Christmas in Hollis”). Nearly all of its 15 tracks have become staples of…

Categories:

News

Formats:

DVD

Genres:

Tags:

Bob Seger, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Madonna, Run-D.M.C., Stevie Nicks, Sting, The Pointer Sisters, The Pretenders, U2

Taylor, King, Vaughan, Joel, More Due from MoFi in 2011

November 29, 2010 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Start saving your pennies now. In an eye-opening move, audiophile specialty label Mobile Fidelity has announced a massive slate of releases across the CD, SACD and LP formats scheduled for 2011. Longtime collectors of audiophile masterings may get a thrill at seeing the “Original Master Recording” banner above the works of classic artists ranging from Tony Bennett and Ray Charles to Carole King and James Taylor. While this writer has some quibbles (why no CDs or SACDs for Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Costello’s releases?) and some questions (will the reissue of…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Tags:

Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Band, The Pretenders, Tony Bennett

Mining Audiophile Treasures: Coming Soon from Audio Fidelity and MFSL

August 10, 2010 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Some of rock’s finest will be receiving the deluxe treatment from audiophile specialist labels Audio Fidelity and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) in the coming months: The Beach Boys, The Band, Gram Parsons, Deep Purple, Foreigner, The Pretenders and Billy Joel. The earliest release in this bunch is also one of the most exciting. The Beach Boys’ Today! was released in 1965 and is generally remembered as one of the first albums on which Brian Wilson displayed the sensitive studio wizardry that would reach its fullest expression on the following year’s Pet Sounds. Today! offers…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Tags:

Billy Joel, The Band, The Beach Boys, The Pretenders