Anyone who spent time around the original Pretenders will testify to the tragic merit of the title of Miles Salter’s book on the band’s meteoric rise and the consequences of their success. Within three years of their landmark debut album, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and bassist Pete Farndon were both dead, two more names on a long list of rock’n’roll drug casualties. Salter correctly celebrates the music, is unflinching about the rest. (Allen Jones – Uncut)