All’s fair in the ups and downs of the Pretenders, whose singular mainstay
Chrissie Hynde keeps plugging away against time, travesty and circumstance.
Just when you she’s left the building, here she comes again with Break
Up The Concrete, the ninth Pretenders disc and a regular rave-up that
feeds on blues, country and rockabilly. Hynde is no longer the ferocious feline
of the early 80s, but her fiery role as singer, songwriter, guitarist and bandleader
of the Pretenders remains a sustainable and essential force.
As is the case with most Pretenders albums, the lead track sets the tone and
establishes a precedent. Echoes of Link Wray crossed with shades of Cliff Gallop,
channeled though guitarist James Walbourne, is the only way to describe the
opening bars of “Boots Of Chinese Plastic.” A chant that turns into
a penance, Hynde slyly purrs during the chorus, “and by the way
you look fantastic/in your boots of Chinese plastic.” And you may ask
yourself: Is this an attempt to lighten the load of guilt? Or is Hynde saying
that ultimately all the world’s spiritual ideologies are simply paths
to salvation? Or perhaps, as “The Nothing Maker” predisposes, the
path leads to a vast and empty wasteland where nothing is accomplished and
nothing is gained — or lost.
Rest assured, most of this record is packin’ heat with a clutch lineup
that gives Break Up The Concrete plenty of punch. Guitarist
James Walbourne is the perfect foil to Hynde, steeped very much in the James Honeywell-Scott
School of fluidity and economy. Pedal steel guitarist Eric Heywood introduces
a new dimension to the Pretenders, which dances around Walbourne’s rumbling
leads on the spunky “Don’t Cut Your Hair” before maneuvering
the lazy wallow of “Love’s A Mystery” and the country drawl of
“You Didn’t Have To.” For this record, Hynde retained longstanding bassist
Nick Wilkinson, but replaced original drummer Martin Chambers with legendary
session drummer Jim Keltner. Sure, it’s nearly impossible to fault
Keltner, who has no problem keeping the tempo simple and lean, but Chambers’
absence lends a strange air to the proceedings. Apparently, he’s
still in the band, so go figure.
No longer the chanteuse of new wave, Hynde digs for dirt on “Almost Perfect,”
then cedes to the title track and its chunky core of destructiveness. “Break Up The Concrete”
would have made a great closer had it not been for the simple, angelic beauty of “One
Thing Never Changed.” Yeah, Hynde sure knows how to sequence emotion. But to fully digest the whole package,
one simply needs to step back to understand why an endurable collection like this is worthy of a rock and roll
icon like the Pretenders.
~ Shawn Perry
