"Break Up The Concrete" is an album of first. It's the first album bassist Nick Wilkinson plays on. The first album guitarist James Walbourne plays on. The first Martin Chambers hasn't played since 1994, the first without Adam Seymour since the same year, the first to have a title track, and many others.
In many ways, "Break Up The Concrete" ushered in a new era of the Pretenders. One that would see them more consistently stripped down and raw. Trading in the lush production of 2003's "Loose Screw" and 1999's "Viva El Amor" for a dirtier, grittier sound. The album comes at such an opportune time as well. The band is coming off an incredible tour for their box set "Pirate Radio," which saw the band going through the greatest hits and songs they hadn't performed in decades. The pendulum swinging the other way to release "new" music (I put new in quotations because at least three of the songs have ties to decades past) was a perfect one-two punch. The Pretenders on this album would only share Chrissie Hynde (as guitarist, vocalist, and writer) on its credits from the previous album "Loose Screw." Adding Nick Wilkinson on Bass, James Walbourne on Guitar, Eric Heywood on pedal steel guitar, and losing Martin Chambers on drums but bringing in famed session drummer Jim Keltner. This combo certainly has a groove, but "Break Up The Concrete" still feels like a band album. Its sound is a rootsy, Americana blend of rock being starkly different from "Loose Screw" reggae-tinged affections. Songs that feel right at home in that genre, Hynde looser than ever, and an eclectic barrage of compositions set the album to be a huge hit.
So why isn't it?
Well... a lot is going on during this time for the band and the album itself. While Jim Keltner is more than worthy as a drummer, there is a disconnection in the songs that feel as if they are 90% "there" to that great Pretenders sound but stop just short. The pedal steel is a nice addition to some songs but comes off more gimmicky than anything else, but most of the problem comes from its production. Hynde and Walbourne insist the album was recorded in about two weeks, and it sounds like it.
Some will disagree here, but "Break Up The Concrete" sounds old. Like a record, you might accidentally stumbled upon in a record shop from a band you never heard of. It has a dated quality that's both charming and infuriating.
Starting with "Boots Of Chinese Plastic" is a perfect choice. It is punchy, it's raw, and James Walbourne's guitar playing is immediately distinguishable from Adam Seymour's. The song has the DNA of "Tattooed Love Boys" from the band's debut album, and Hynde confesses that it was written around the same time. So it's nice to see a slice of 1979's Pretenders in 2009. It's when you hear the song live that the album version begins to fade a bit. Walbourne's attack on guitar is deeply reduced in the production of a more rugged-sounding record, and in turn, the song loses some of its flavor (this is going to be a theme for the album)
The Nothing Maker is the second song on the album, and well...if I had to be a least liked song on this album, this would be it. Hynde can pen a great lyric and even has some stunning lyrics on this album, but The Nothing Maker is nothing more than a nice song. The title character does nothing, makes nothing, is nothing, etc., etc. It feels like it should be profound, but it isn't. The song feels like an early filler but, fortunately, is sandwiched between two better, stand-out songs.
The other side of that sandwich is "Don't Lose Faith In Me," a catchy, sporadic tune that could easily be a Janis Joplin song if one didn't know better. Hynde's vocals are sublime, as usual, playing a cat-and-mouse game with the rhythm section as James Walbourne pushes ever forward, providing immediacy and fun. A stunner to see live (and again), but the stage version will make it hard to listen to the decidedly more flat album version on repeat occasions, but if you haven't access to a live version, this is still a knockout. The song, however, has its roots in the Adam Seymour era of the Pretenders, with several videos of the duo performing it in Brazil with little of the country flair and more of a straightforward ballad. Perhaps this is why the album feels not totally there; it's half in a new era and half in the past. Hynde and Co. pull it off, but any lover of the band knows better.
"Don't Cut Your Hair" is fun. Fast, punchy, and lyrically fun to run your tongue across. The band's true nature in not being too rehearsed is present here both by sound; it's a little loose but not loose enough to be an issue...just loose enough to be a lot of fun. Add Jim Keltner's comment at the end of the track, "Alright, I'm getting worse and worse," and it feels very Pretenders and a knock-out live.
"Love's A Mystery" is a standout. It's a perfect pop song for this album. This is really the only song that feels like Eric Heywood is a necessity, the pedal steel fits so wonderfully with this country/pop tune that it's hard to imagine the song without it in any capacity. The vocal, the composition, the playing...while it may not have the most traditional "Pretenders" sound, this is the most "Pretenders" song on the album. A sort of dominant quality that can staple itself in any genre and still be unequivocally the Pretenders.
"The Last Ride" is another knockout. Lyrically, it achieves the profound glory that "The Nothing Maker" doesn't. Stunning in Hynde's ability to sum up how she sees and lives the world with such succinct but at the same time poetic lyrics. Her voice is just grand, always lyrical in the way she phrases inflections, what has an emphasis and what doesn't. Her ability to narrate a song while singing it is second to none.
"Almost Perfect" completes this trifecta. A song that is not like any other Pretenders song before it or after. It still lives to this day in its category. A bit whimsical in its approach experimental in its execution, but masterfully cobbled together by a group that's figuring out how this new sound fits the band and Hynde. Perhaps this is the first real look at what Hynde and Walbourne's future relationship would be. Years later, they will pen at least two albums (2020's "Hate For Sale" and 2023's "Relentless") together, and their connection over music will be undeniable. "Almost Perfect" is like a crystal ball into the future of the Pretenders the only real unknown is how long it would take (11 years!).
"You Didn't Have To" is a tender, medium-paced ballad that features a raw but warm vocal from Hynde but is otherwise a forgettable addition to the album.
"Rosalee" is the cover song for this album (Every Pretenders album would have at least one cover song on it, with this album being the last to honor that tradition). Hynde takes a number (no pun intended) from Robert Kidney and his band "The Numbers Band" (which also includes Hynde's brother Terry Hynde) and plays nicely with it. Walbourne gets the first of his super solos. Hynde dances in and out of the song, commanding the band to "Stop" and play "Again!" at points. It is a sort of playfulness we don't get too much in Pretenders songs, and again, at the risk of sounding redundant, the song becomes harder to listen to once you've heard James Walbourne melt the stage with his blistering solo(s).
"Break Up The Concrete" title track is the penultimate song on the album. Another song with that Bo-diddly riff that Hynde poached for their extended play way back in 81' for "Cuban Slide." The sang joins the ranks of songs she's written about her "beautiful hometown. Akron, Ohio." and paints a lovely picture from its opening lyric: "There was a red brick road where grew up on" to its fun "dak-dak-dak-dak Dakadakadakadaka" mimicking both a jackhammer and command the drums what to play.
"One Thing Never Changed" rounds the album out. A sleepy tune also about Akron, Ohio, that feels like maybe it should have before the last song and ended the album on a high note. Despite that it's a great vocal and lyric, it paints a picture that lets the listener closer to the Akron Hynde grew up in. You can hear the affection for her home in her voice, her lyrics, and in her music. Some things certainly never change.
All in all, "Break Up The Concrete" is a good album in a lot of ways It is the Pretenders' "first" album. Adam Seymour spent so much time writing songs with Hynde that having him out of the band does feel a bit like starting over...again, but who knows better about starting over than Chrissie Hynde? She's survived, survived, and then survived again. Maybe "Break Up The Concrete" is the band learning where its sea legs are, and that's fine as the album serves as a testament that the band is still here, and if you're lucky enough to see any of its songs played live you'd know they never left.
My Verdict: 7.5/10
Comments