Album: Extended Play EP
Year: 1981
. . .
And then there’s “Porcelain,” maybe the weirdest track that the original incarnation of the Pretenders ever recorded. It’s basically a three-part song, each section distinct from the others, that somehow all fits together.
At first it comes roaring out of the gate, with James Honeyman-Scott stealing and inverting the riff from the Rolling Stones “The Last Time” over a whalloping Martin Chambers drumbeat that occasionally stops to gather breath, then takes off again. This goes on for such a long time that you kinda assume that “Porcelain” is an instrumental like “Space Invader” until it suddenly shifts directions, Chambers downshifting into an almost-reggae rhythm, all kick drum and rim hits, while Pete Farndon plays a hypnotically circular bass riff.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #1636: Pretenders – “Porcelain”