Packed! by The Pretenders

Packed!, the Pretenders' fifth studio album, came out on Sire in May 1990, and it's the Pretenders in name more than in lineup. Chrissie Hynde is the only person pictured anywhere in the package, and the one other official member left from Get Close, drummer Blair Cunningham, plays on every track without being credited as part of the band. Everyone else is a session player, which led some to call it a Hynde solo album flying the old flag.

The hired hands had history with her, though: guitarist Billy Bremner, who shows up on most of the tracks, had played on the "Back on the Chain Gang" single, and bassist John McKenzie had put some bass on Get Close. And what really matters is still front and center: that voice, cool, tough and tender at once, cutting through plain-spoken guitar rock on "Never Do That" and the rest.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.