Released in the UK on 20 October 1986, Get Close delivered the Pretenders’ two biggest Mainstream Rock hits and marked a turbulent turning point that left Chrissie Hynde as the sole remaining original member.
Forty years ago this week the Pretenders released Get Close in the United Kingdom, an album that gave Chrissie Hynde her highest-charting rock radio singles while confirming that the band had become, in practical terms, her vehicle alone.
Get Close reached shops on 20 October 1986 through Real Records in the UK and followed on 4 November via Sire in the United States. It contains the group’s two number-one Mainstream Rock Tracks entries, “Don’t Get Me Wrong” and “My Baby.” Both songs remain among the most recognisable in the Pretenders catalogue and helped the album climb to number six in the UK and number 25 on the Billboard 200.
The record arrived after the commercial and critical success of Learning to Crawl in 1984 and the band’s appearance at Live Aid the following year. Behind the scenes the situation was far less stable. Founding drummer Martin Chambers had been dismissed after early sessions with producer Steve Lillywhite. Hynde later explained that Chambers was still dealing with the deaths of original members Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott and that his playing had suffered as a result. Bass player Malcolm Foster also departed soon afterwards, leaving Hynde as the only original Pretender still involved.
With Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain taking over production, the remaining sessions drew on a wide pool of session players. Bass duties were shared among Bruce Thomas of the Attractions, Chucho Merchán, John McKenzie and later T.M. Stevens. Drums came from Simon Phillips, Steve Jordan, Mel Gaynor and Blair Cunningham. Keyboard contributions arrived from Bernie Worrell, Tommy Mandel, Patrick Seymour, Bruce Brody and Wix Wickens. Carlos Alomar added percussion and programming. The finished album was credited to a lineup of Hynde, guitarist Robbie McIntosh, Stevens and Cunningham, even though the latter two appeared on only part of the record. For the first time a Pretenders front cover featured Hynde alone.
Musically the album moved away from the new-wave edge of the first three records toward a stronger funk and R&B influence, reflecting the American players involved. It also introduced the band’s first power ballad, “Hymn to Her,” written by Hynde’s former schoolfriend Meg Keene.
A cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Room Full of Mirrors,” recorded earlier with Chambers and produced by Lillywhite, closed the original tracklisting.
The subsequent tour quickly exposed the gap between the studio experiment and the live band Hynde wanted. Keyboardist Bernie Worrell was brought in for the road, but Hynde later observed that the group no longer felt like an English pop band. Midway through the tour Stevens and Worrell were let go. Foster and keyboardist Rupert Black were brought back to finish the dates. McIntosh left at the end of the run. Chambers would not return until Last of the Independents in 1994.
Get Close remains a snapshot of a band in transition. It delivered the biggest radio hits of the Pretenders’ career while underscoring that the creative centre had shifted decisively to Hynde. Four decades on, the singles still receive regular airplay and the album stands as the point at which the Pretenders became, unmistakably, her project.
Tracklisting
My Baby
When I Change My Life
Light of the Moon
Dance!
Tradition of Love
Don’t Get Me Wrong
I Remember You
How Much Did You Get for Your Soul?
Chill Factor
Hymn to Her
Room Full of Mirrors
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