Break Up the Concrete

PRETENDERS - Break Up The Concrete (2008)

01. Boots of Chinese Plastic
02. Nothing Maker, The
03. Don't Lose Faith In Me
04. Don't Cut Your Hair
05. Love's a Mystery
06. Last Ride, The
07. Almost Perfect
08. You Didn't Have To
09. Rosalee
10. Break Up the Concrete
11. One Thing Never Changed

BONUS TRACKS:
12. I Go to Sleep
13. Both Sides of Goodbye (with Willie Nelson)

The first Pretenders album after the longest recording layoff in the band's history (six years), BREAK UP THE CONCRETE finds Chrissie Hynde re-energized, fronting a new bunch of musicians on a fresh, arresting batch of new songs released on a new label. Original drummer Martin Chambers, still part of the touring outfit, is replaced here by session-drummer king Jim Keltner. Perhaps even more significantly, new arrival Eric Heywood (pedal steel) boasts a lengthy Americana resume (Son Volt, Jayhawks, Ray LaMontagne) and brings with him the highest quotient of rootsiness ever to occupy a Pretenders album. While there are some driving rockers that recall the glory days of "Precious" and "Tattooed Love Boys," with Keltner employing ingeniously mutated New Orleans-cum-Bo Diddley beats, a striking number of tracks here roam a more roots-rock-oriented area. Warm, organic acoustic-guitar strumming and long, keening pedal steel lines frame Hynde's one-of-a-kind voice on the slow-burning country-soul waltz "Don't Lose Faith in Me," the rather Lucinda Williams-esque "Love's a Mystery," and other smartly conceived tunes, balancing out an album that's simultaneously earthy and urgent.

THIS IS A GREAT ALBUM!!

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