New Pretenders - Alone

Loose Screw is a fine album. Not sure what you mean with the farm analogy.

 

I saw the last solo tour in Chicago, great show, but was surprised how many empty seats there were. I thought she could fill more seats if it was called The Pretenders.

 

With lotsa sythns, like the new single.

 

Ah, ok.

 

I don't see too many people complaining that Steely Dan, once a, what, five-piece band, is now two guys with assorted session players.

 

It's very 80s. Still, I don't think it belongs on anything with the Pretenders name on it.

 

I notice the signed copies are all gone at her website....

 

Just to confirm that Martin Chambers is on the drums for this tour. Should be a good show!

 

Heard the album today, sounds awesome, definitely got more of the classic pretenders sound to it than Stockholm (which I also liked)

 

I agree. I like Stockholm, but it's very controlled. Alone is bashed out. It feels and sounds like a continuation of the loose atmosphere of Break Up The Concrete. I'm really happy with it.

 

Agreed, this is an excellent album, very different in execution from Stockholm, which I loved. Sounds rough'n'ready,, lots of different styles, Dan Auerbach kept it lean with just a dash of experimental sound. Great stuff. It's on Spotify in case nobody mentioned it yet.

 

I can only claim to have seen them live once, at the Academy of Music in NYC, but it was one of the best concerts I've been to. They were a super-tight unit.

 

Some very nice guitar work on the album which you'd expect, and the musical textures are varied even if it tends to be more ballad heavy than I'd assumed but Hynde's voice sounds good. For those worried about the pop production of the single "Holy Commotion" nothing else on the album sounds anything like that song. Lots of Pretendery touches with her phrasing and use of language too, which is kinda sweet at this point. Even though mortality seems to be a running theme, it's not a downcast album largely because of the musicians playing. Though I suppose this album will be forgotten in short order, it may be better than 'Break Up the Concrete' but I may be saying that since I can recall little of that album except for the Boots of Chinese Plastic song and the country duet with Willie Nelson. The most shocking thing may be how she's dyed her hair.

 

My friend who happens to housesit for Hynde's photographer friend Jill Furmanovsky just texted me that CH popped by at her Hampstead flat with her two grandchildren earlier today and that they had coffee together. Damn, I could have been there too!

Now I need to get the new album.

 

Lots of sounds on this would fit right in on Pretenders/II. Think I like this one even more than Break Up The Concrete.

 

Steely Dan has always been Fagen & Becker's thing with a revolving door of studio/session musicians. That's always been the case for them. And no matter the studio musicians Fagen & Becker used, the quality and overall style/feel of the albums remained true. SD has always been correctly viewed as a Fagen & Becker project.

The Pretenders started out as very much a band. But after Honeyman-Scott and Farndon died, the revolving cast of musicians ultimately had a diluting effect on the Pretenders' quality of album. After Get Close in '86, the music quality fell off noticeably. I also have felt for a while now that Hyde didn't do a good job of protecting The Pretenders' brand. They were once a revered band but sorta became just another band after a while.

 

The first two ABC albums were very much a stable band.

I know. I've been a fan since their first album.

I wouldn't say that the quality dropped off, but the sound changed starting with "Get Close". Now, i'm not sure exactly what it was with that album, but there was just too much of it. The sound was too dense, and the songs were ordinary. The punk attitude was as gone as her Ohio city. The charm was gone, and I partly blame the producers Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain, along with Chrissie Hynde herself. To be fair, it was 1986, and the musical tide had changed from when they released "Learning To Crawl" back in late 1984.

 

Love "Let's Get Lost" and "Lord Chord" - early faves bound to change.

 

Big 80's mix and a number of different directions. And, as you said, there's only four great songs, a bunch of average songs, and at least three lousy ones.

 

I shared this on the thread dedicated to the Nicks/Pretenders tour, and figured it might be of merit to post here;

The Pretenders deliver knock out set in London's tiny Omeara club –review »

 

I buy just about everything Hynde puts out.

She's had a long career and always puts on a great live show.

I dont get all the angst about using the Pretenders name. It was her band to start, and it still is today.

As far as Chambers, he has a long time problem with his boss and his complaining is getting old while he takes the check. His playing in the orginal band was unique but its clear that there were limits to his ability to follow Hynde's stylistic journeys. Very similar to the Stan Lynch/Petty

 

I don't recall ever saying that, but i'll go with it.

 

You said "the songs were ordinary". I should have written my post with more gooder words.

 

I agree with all of that.