Their modest goal, which they handily achieved, was to be a really good rock band: tight, inventive, aggressive, goofy, gutsy, and- perhaps most important- with a particular sound that could be readily identified as the Pretenders. Also, while most other post-punk bands were experimenters and tinkerers, she was (and remains) a traditionalist, refining instead of redefining rock. They fed off punk's visceral energy, but Hynde was too much of a fervent believer in capital-R Rock to buy into its nihilism. So she hooked up with four guys from Hereford and formed the Pretenders just as punk was fizzling out. She was also desperate to be 'in a band,' a need so strong the liner notes suggest it's pathological. An ex-pat from Akron, singer Chrissie Hynde hung out with the Sex Pistols, scribed for NME, and clerked at Malcolm McLaren's notorious Sex shop.

The Pretenders were post-punk chronologically, if not aesthetically. Pirate Radio, in other words, proves more than simply artifactual: While even its weakest tracks contribute to its historical/biographical scope, the set proves an imminently listenable, often kick-ass collection. Furthermore, listening to them doesn't require any sort of trendy nostalgia for the late 70s or early 80s.

Collected together, these 81 songs- presented in rough chronological order across four disks and complemented with a DVD of mostly lip-synced live appearances- rarely ever sound dated. However, they were best song by song- not just singles like 'Don't Get Me Wrong' or 'Night in My Veins', but album tracks like 'Thumbelina' and 'Bad Boys Get Spanked' as well.

Seemingly an ideal band for a box set like this, the Pretenders made at least one great album (their self-titled debut), a few good albums, and a couple of releases that are generously described as 'for-fans-only'.

The pretenders pirate radio