Login
Login

Learning to Crawl

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Learning to Crawl

| type = Studio album

| artist = the Pretenders

| cover = The Pretenders - Learning to Crawl.png

| alt =

| released = {{Start date|1984|1|13|df=y}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bpi.co.uk/award/3770-1896-2|title=Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison/At San Quentin, Album|website=Bpi.co.uk|access-date=13 January 2025}}

| recorded = Mid-1982 to late 1983

| venue =

| studio = AIR Studios (London)

| genre = * New wave

| length = 39:21

| label = Sire

| producer = Chris Thomas

| prev_title = Pretenders II

| prev_year = 1981

| next_title = Get Close

| next_year = 1986

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Learning to Crawl

| type = studio

| single1 = Back on the Chain Gang

| single1date = 17 September 1982

| single2 = 2000 Miles

| single2date = 18 November 1983 (UK)

| single3 = Middle of the Road

| single3date = November 1983 (US)

| single4 = Show Me

| single4date = March 1984 (US)

| single5 = Thin Line Between Love and Hate

| single5date = 25 May 1984{{cite web|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1984/Music-Week-1984-05-19.pdf|title=Music Week|page=14}}

}}}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/learning-to-crawl-mw0000191360 |title=Learning to Crawl – Pretenders |website=AllMusic |access-date=29 March 2006 |last=Deming |first=Mark}}

| rev2 = The Austin Chronicle

| rev2score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite news |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2007-06-15/492066/ |title=Reissues |newspaper=The Austin Chronicle |date=15 June 2007 |access-date=16 June 2016 |last=Hernandez |first=Raoul}}

| rev3 = Chicago Tribune

| rev3score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-08-12-9003070422-story.html |title=The Best of the Pretenders |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=12 August 1990 |access-date=19 November 2021 |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot}}

| rev4 = Mojo

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |title=The Pretenders' snaggle-toothed pop perfection |magazine=Mojo |issue=150 |date=May 2006 |last=McNair |first=James}}

| rev5 = PopMatters

| rev5score = 10/10{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/pretenders-learning-to-crawl-2496234938.html |title=Pretenders: Learning to Crawl |website=PopMatters |date=11 July 2007 |access-date=19 November 2021 |last=Besenyodi |first=Adam}}

| rev6 = Rolling Stone

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pretenders2/albums/album/216953/review/5941913/learning_to_crawl |title=Pretenders: Learning To Crawl |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=16 February 1984 |access-date=29 March 2006 |last=Loder |first=Kurt |author-link=Kurt Loder |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106110051/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/pretenders2/albums/album/216953/review/5941913/learning_to_crawl |archive-date=6 November 2007 |url-status=dead}}

| rev7 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev7score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book |chapter=The Pretenders |last1=Considine |first1=J. D. |author1-link=J. D. Considine |last2=Skanse |first2=Richard |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |editor2-link=Christian Hoard |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |year=2004 |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/653 653–654]}}

| rev8 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev8score = 8/10{{cite book |chapter=Pretenders |last=Powers |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Powers |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |pages=309–310}}

| rev9 = Uncut

| rev9score = 8/10{{cite magazine |title=Golden Hynde |magazine=Uncut |issue=239 |date=April 2017 |last=Pinnock |first=Tom |page=83}}

| rev10 = The Village Voice

| rev10score = A−{{cite news |url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv2-84.php |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide |newspaper=The Village Voice |date=21 February 1984 |access-date=15 June 2015 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau}}

| noprose = yes

}}

Learning to Crawl is the third studio album by British rock band the Pretenders. It was released on 13 January 1984 by Sire Records after a hiatus during which band members James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon died of drug overdoses. The album's title of "Learning to Crawl" was given in honour of Chrissie Hynde's then-infant daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde. She was learning to crawl at the time that Hynde was trying to determine a title for the album.

Learning to Crawl was a critical and commercial success, reaching number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. In the United States, it peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the US.

Production

After Farndon's dismissal from the band and Honeyman-Scott's death, Chrissie Hynde and Martin Chambers initially recruited Rockpile's Billy Bremner and Big Country's Tony Butler to fill in a caretaker line-up of the band in 1982. Bremner played guitar and Butler played bass on the band's September 1982 single "Back on the Chain Gang" and its B-side "My City Was Gone", both songs which were later included on Learning to Crawl. As the album sessions got underway, Bremner, Graham Parker's bassist Andrew Bodnar, and Paul Carrack (formerly of Squeeze, Ace and Roxy Music) played guitar, bass and piano respectively for the track "Thin Line Between Love and Hate".

Finally, Robbie McIntosh (guitar) and Malcolm Foster (bass guitar) were recruited to join Hynde and Chambers, and the band was now officially a quartet. It was this line-up that recorded the rest of the tracks featured on Learning to Crawl.

The November 1983 single "2000 Miles" was the newly reconstituted foursome's first release, followed shortly by the full Learning to Crawl studio album in January 1984.

Song origins

Hynde noted in the booklet for the expanded edition of Learning to Crawl that guitarist Robbie McIntosh came up with the opening guitar riff for "2000 Miles". She stated that she probably should have credited McIntosh as co-writer of the song. "2000 Miles" became a popular Christmas song in the UK. The lyrics are a tale of two lovers apart during Christmastime.{{Cite news|last=Pareles|first=Jon|title=Chrissie Hynde Makes Peace with the Past and Moves On|work=The New York Times |date=22 January 1984 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/22/arts/chrissie-hynde-makes-peace-with-the-past-and-moves-on.html|access-date=29 December 2022|issn=0362-4331}}

In "I Hurt You", dubbing was used to overlap two lead vocal parts with conflicting melodies and emotional pitches in order to express the narrator's tangled emotions.

"My City Was Gone" is largely an autobiographical song written about the changes that Hynde observed when she went back to her native city of Akron, Ohio.CD booklet, "Learning to Crawl" expanded edition, 2007, Rhino Records The instrumental introduction of the song would later be adopted as the theme of the EIB Network radio brand, originally Rush Limbaugh and later Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

"Thumbelina" is a country rock song about a mother and daughter traveling across America, with the last line suggesting that the mother is leaving her husband.

"Watching the Clothes" was an older song written before the band's debut album. Hynde was inspired to write the song after a close friend died.

Track listing

All songs written by Chrissie Hynde, except where noted.

  1. "Middle of the Road" – 4:08
  2. "Back on the Chain Gang" – 3:44
  3. "Time the Avenger" – 4:47
  4. "Watching the Clothes" – 2:46
  5. "Show Me" – 4:00
  6. "Thumbelina" – 3:12
  7. "My City Was Gone" – 5:14
  8. "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" (Richard Poindexter, Robert Poindexter, Jackie Members) – 3:33
  9. "I Hurt You" – 4:27
  10. "2000 Miles" – 3:30

2007 re-release

  2. "Fast or Slow (The Law's the Law)" (Martin Chambers) – 3:15
  3. "Tequila" – 3:35
  4. "I Hurt You" (Denmark Street demo, August 1982) – 4:06
  5. "When I Change My Life" (Denmark Street demo, August 1982) – 4:43
  6. "Ramblin' Rob" (Denmark Street demo, August 1982) (Robbie McIntosh) – 3:32
  7. "My City Was Gone" (Live) – 4:53
  8. "Money (That's What I Want)" (Live at US Festival, May 1983) (Berry Gordy Jr., Janie Bradford) – 4:39

Personnel

The Pretenders

  • Chrissie Hynde – lead vocals (all but "Fast or Slow" and "Ramblin' Rob"), rhythm guitars, harmonica [uncredited], backing vocals
  • Robbie McIntosh – lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals
  • Malcolm Foster – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Martin Chambers – drums, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Fast or Slow", percussion

Additional personnel

  • Billy Bremner – lead guitars on "Back on the Chain Gang" and "My City Was Gone", rhythm guitar and backing vocals on "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
  • Tony Butler – bass guitar on "Back on the Chain Gang" and "My City Was Gone"
  • Andrew Bodnar – bass guitar and backing vocals on "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
  • Paul Carrack – piano and backing vocals on "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
  • Steve Churchyard – engineer
  • Peter Barrett – art direction
  • Paul Cox – front cover photography

Charts

class="wikitable"

|+ Chart performance for Learning to Crawl

! scope="col" align="left"| Chart (1984)

! scope="col" align="left"| Peak
Position

scope="row"| Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=238}}

| style="text-align:center;"| 18

scope="row" align="left"| UK Albums chart{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/19840122/7502/|title = Official Albums Chart Top 100 | Official Charts Company|publisher = Official Charts Company}}

| style="text-align:center;"| 11

scope="row" align="left"| Billboard 200{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1984-02-25 |title=Billboard 200 Chart|magazine=Billboard|date=23 May 2020}}

| style="text-align:center;"| 5

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
scope="col"| Chart (1984)

! scope="col"| Position

scope="row"| US Billboard 200{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1984/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1984|magazine=Billboard|access-date=30 October 2021}}

| 30

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Learning to Crawl}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|artist=The Pretenders|title=Learning to Crawl|award=Gold|certyear=1987|relyear=1984|id=3770-1896-2|accessdate=13 December 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=The Pretenders|title=Learning to Crawl|award=Platinum|certyear=1984|relyear=1984|accessdate=13 December 2018}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Discogs master}}

{{The Pretenders}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:The Pretenders albums

Category:1984 albums

Category:Albums produced by Chris Thomas (record producer)

Category:Sire Records albums