Sometime in the mid 80’s Deb and me went up to Edinburgh to stay with the Scottish half of her family for a week. It was a legendary holiday and we were assured we would be welcome back any time. 10 years or so later we went back with a couple of friends as my brother, Miles, was playing in Auld Reekie and Deb’s cousins said of course they would put us up. They now had kids who were unceremoniously turfed out of their bedroom so that we could bed down in there. This bedroom was a real sight, the quilt covers, lampshades, curtains, carpet, wallpaper everything was branded with the badge of Hibernian FC, one of Edinburghs 2 professional football teams. When we met the usual residents of that bedroom the next day they impressed upon us that we must now become Hibs fans, so here I am 20+ years later tied to the fortunes of the Hibees, along with the (twin) brothers Reid of The Proclaimers.

And why the brothers Reid I hear you ask ? Well they are Hibernian’s most high profile supporters and their song, which is the title song of this album, has become the Hibs fans anthem. Have a listen to them singing it at Hampden Park after Hibs won the Scottish Cup in 2016, it’s spine tingling https://youtu.be/lt26StUVHoc?si=g_Ae1uhtSj9v_fmg (if you’re confused by this I should explain that Hibs stadium, Easter Road, is in the Leith district of Edinburgh). Some years after when Wonder Stuff fiddler Erica was to be playing “Sunshine On Leith” with The Proclaimers at Edinburgh Castle I happened to hear her say “what shall I wear ?”. I offered that an emerald green dress would be perfect. She asked why and I told her she’d know as soon as she walked on stage.

The album is much better known for the songs “I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)” and “I’m On My Way” which was used at the end of one of the Shrek movies. My other great favourite on here is “Cap In Hand” a proper protest song which not only features the lyric “I can understand why Stranraer lie so lowly, They could save a lot of points by signing Hibs goalie” but also the oft repeated refrain of “But I can't understand why we let someone else rule our land”…likely not one for the Unionists out there.

Cap In Hand - https://youtu.be/SdXeM4bHBhk?si=2gJBs9V_g1zLTKsM

Or plain ol’ “Purple Rain” as most people know it. I’m not gonna do some forensic rundown on this one. If you don’t know it where have you been for q the past 40 years ? I’m simply going to relate it to two memories I have of Prince’s (arguably) finest song, the title track.

On the 18th September 1991 I was with The Wonder Stuff in Philadelphia as they began their “Never Going To Memphis” US  tour (I also got arrested and thrown in a Philly jail cell for the night that day but that’s a story best told here https://morrisdancing29.blogspot.com/2014/02/adventures-in-car-removal.html). Eight days previously Geffen Records had released the first single from the album by a band they had picked up from SubPop Records, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was out in the wild (I know this piece is about Prince but bear with me). On 11th October 1991 The Wonder Stuff’s tour bus pulled up outside a club called First Avenue at 701 N. First Avenue, Minneapolis. Why am I giving you a geography and history lesson ? Well in my mind The Wonder Stuff, Nirvana and Prince are forever linked by that month in the USA. As we’d driven from Philly to Minneapolis via NYC, New Jersey, Canada, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago we’d heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” break right across US radio and on walking into First Avenue on that Friday in October I instantly recognised it as the club where Prince & The Revolution debut the song “Purple Rain” in the film of the same name.

That story I told to my dear friend Merk a few years later. Merk was a huge Prince fan and “Purple Rain” was his favourite of Prince’s songs. Merk tragically passed away a couple of years ago and every time I hear “Purple Rain” I send a wink up to the sky with an eye that inevitably has a tear in it.

Purple Rain - https://youtu.be/TvnYmWpD_T8?si=2eL-vpFTFEYUDrE0

I bought this album almost in its first week of release and I still don’t really know why. I’ve never been a particularly big fan of the Pretenders, I’ve only ever bought one more of their records (the single “2000 Miles”). At the time I don’t remember being particularly enamoured with their singles “Brass In Pocket”, “Stop Your Sobbing” and “Kid” so I didn’t buy this because they are all on here. But over the years it’s become a big favourite of mine. It’s a record you can pick up for less than a tenner in most 2nd hand record shops and I’d advise you to do just that. 

Chrissie Hynde had quite the connection with the Punk scene in London having worked in Vivienne Westwood’s Kings Road emporium SEX. Originally from Akron, Ohio she had moved to London in 1973, lost the job she came here for, met journalist Nick Kent and ended up at the NME writing what she called "half-baked philosophical drivel and nonsensical tirades”. After a while spent back in the USA she returned to London where she auditioned for a band that eventually became 999 and tried to form another band with The Clash’s Mick Jones. By 1978 she had found herself a manager and The Pretenders started to come together around the Spring of that year. Hynde, Pete Farndon (Bass), James Honeyman-Scott (guitar) and Martin Chambers (drums) recorded a demo tape, Hynde handed that to her friend Nick Lowe who offered to produce a single. They played their first gig in Paris and the single (“Stop Your Sobbing”) was released in January 1979 and reached #33 in the UK charts…PHEW!

This album is a strange mix of Post-Punk and the pop band they would become known as. Opening song “Precious” hurtles along at a fair old trap with Chrissie being very American, and she swears! TWICE !! One of them the F word !!! This ain’t the “Stop Your Sobbing” and “Kid” Pretenders this is an altogether tougher proposition. And it continues in much the same vein throughout the rest of Side 1 with “Up the Neck” even featuring some Keith Levene/PiL style guitar mangling from guitarist James Honeyman Scott.

It’s only on Side 2 that they reveal those 3 pop tunes they were best known for around this time and which gave them 2 top 40 singles and a #1 with “Brass In Pocket”. Here’s where you’ll also find the original version of “Private Life” which Grace Jones took to #17 in the UK singles chart when she covered it later in 1980.

As “Brass In Pocket” had already been a #1 when this album was released it debuted at #1 in the album charts. It’s another of those albums where I wonder what the pop singles buyers made of things like “Precious” and “Space Invaders”, which are honestly nothing like those jangly, shiny pop singles. 

Precious - https://youtu.be/OAn65_5x1kw?si=li7znUlppk3xa0YB