The Pretenders - Best Of / Break Up The Concrete [Album]

Warner Music UK

August 31, 2009, 09:34 PM

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I’m going to be honest and admit that I’ve never purchased any The Pretenders’ albums, or singles, or even been tempted to despite their household name and decades of releases. So conveniently, there was no better album of theirs for me to pick up for review than their latest double CD which includes the 30th Anniversary Best Of, and their latest studio album, Break Up The Concrete.

While doing my research on the band for this piece, I got lost somewhere in between the 2nd band member to die from a drug overdose and the 4th member Chrissie Hynde “dismissed” from the band for “not playing well enough” and that only got me as far as 1985. It was becoming quite obvious to me (which is no doubt rather obvious to people more familiar with The Pretenders’ work) that the The Pretenders don’t technically exist anymore as a band, and haven’t for some time now. Nevertheless, a name is really just a name. So call them whatever you will, it doesn’t affect the overall sound of the only constant member, Chrissie Hynde.

Of course I start with the Best Of album (titled Best), to try and understand some of the history of the band and maybe gain some perspective for when I delve into Break Up The Concrete.

Now I always wonder how bands (or record companies) decide which songs make it onto a "Best Of" album; Biggest commercial hit? Songs they personally prefer? Crowd favourites? Best has me wondering exactly this when it comes in with original 1981 track ‘Talk of the Town’, which is fine as a song but as an opener to a ‘30th anniversary hits’ CD is rather lacklustre. Thankfully for me, the more well-known and more commercial hits come hard and fast after that with ‘Back On The Chain Gang’, ‘Brass in Pocket’, ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You’ still sounding as good as they did the first time I heard them (okay, I was about 10, but I still knew it was good stuff even then).

Personally, I don’t think it’s right to review the specific songs on a "Best Of" album. I feel it should be focused more on the order and which tracks were chosen in general and personally I’m particularly one for chronological order. I feel like I understand the band more if I understand the process that they went through to get to the sound they are at now. Best jumps from year to year and back again so much it’s impossible to follow the album chronologically, it's direction or line-up from one track to the next.

Best delivers a load of great The Pretenders tracks though, mixed in with some more random choices achieving all that a Greatest Hits album should. From the abrupt end of ‘Tattooed Love Boys’ on Best into the snarling intro of ‘Boots of Chinese Plastic’ on Break Up The Concrete, the 28-year gap is almost indistinguishable. There are clearly still standard intricacies that make a The Pretenders album but Chrissie Hynde knows how to move with the times and still create a sound that is current and that will appeal to a relatively wide audience.

There is a distinct retro, hard rock feel to ‘Boots of Chinese Plastic’ which is carried throughout all 11 tracks in one form or another. Riding from distorted electric guitar to low-key solo acoustic to a perfectly timed jazz beat, Hynde’s vocals overlay quality musical talent from the current line up of Jim Keltner on drums, Eric Heywood on steel guitar, James Walbourne on piano and guitar and Nick Wilkinson on bass.

The Pretenders flip between fast-paced dirt rock, which almost borders on country at times, and slower ballad type tracks with no restraint. At times when the segue between the knee-slapping, trivial track ‘Don’t Cut Your Hair’ and the sweet country pop of ‘Love’s A Mystery’ should have missed by a mile, it somehow manages to still work and has me enjoying both tracks equally, almost complimenting by contrasting.

Surprisingly, my favourite track on the album is the only one featured on Break Up The Concrete that was not written by Hynde, ‘Rosalee’. The building drum beat, rugged guitar and Hynde’s dirty vocals make for a great dark horse of a track, hidden three-quarters the way in.

I am unexpectedly taken with this album. Maybe even more so than the Best Of collection. Break Up The Concrete flows more easily, despite all the chopping and changing between tempos and moods. So, as has been self-proven, not just established The Pretenders fans will like Break Up The Concrete, and I would genuinely recommend this album to both The Pretenders veterans or The Pretenders virgins alike.

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