Review: Pretenders Return With ‘Relentless’ – Another Late Career Gem From Chrissie Hynde & Crew

I must admit I’d spent the last week to week and a half in a bit of a musical cocoon listening to Fleetwood Mac’s recent vault release Rumours Live, along with Guns N Roses’ new song “Perhaps” and of course, the Stones first new song in quite a while, “Angry.” While I was locked in on all of these recent releases the Pretenders put out a brand new album, their 12th, Relentless. I must say, Chrissie Hynde (vocals/guitar) and the crew have released yet another late career gem. At this point in the game, I’m just glad the Pretenders are still out there making a glorious racket.

Whenever a venerable band releases an album, I find myself drifting to listen their back catalog like I’m doing rock n roll homework for the upcoming new album. I’m like most folks, I immediately think back to their debut, 1979’s Pretenders and the follow up 1981’s Pretenders II. The Pretenders were, of course, a different band back then. Those two LPs were the only ones by the original line up: Hynde, Martin Chambers (drums), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar) and Pete Farndon (bass). Tragically Farndon and Honeyman-Scott both succumbed to drug overdoses. Since, then Hynde has continued with the band albeit with a revolving cast of characters. Even Martin Chambers, the “OG” drummer, has been in and out of the band. At the Pretenders’ Hall of Fame induction Hynde said, “I know it looks like I’ve been fronting a Pretenders tribute band for the last 30 years…”

Despite losing two founding members the Pretenders still delivered on their third and perhaps most popular album – to the general audience anyway – in Learning to Crawl. That record had “Back On The Chain Gang,” “Middle of the Road,” and “My City Was Gone.” I remember listening to that album when it came out down in my buddy Drew’s room in college. I was stunned the Pretenders could persevere after losing two pretty key members. After that album, and I’ll freely admit this, the Pretenders were a  band who only occasionally popped up on my radar. I’d hear “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” or “I’ll Stand By You” or some other stray single and think, “I’m glad the Pretenders are still out there.” All that changed and I found myself back on the bandwagon for the great, late career rocker Hate For Sale from 2020. If you haven’t checked that one out, do yourself a favor and seek it out.

The key thing that holds the concept of the Pretenders together is Hynde. Her vocals are just amazing…she could, as the saying goes, sing the phone book and I’d listen. Her songwriting is insightful and at times cutting. She has been described simply and correctly, as a “bad ass.” This incarnation of the band, for Relentless, alas doesn’t include once and future drummer Chambers like Hate For Sale did. She did retain guitarist James Walbourne who also cowrote Relentless (as he did Hate For Sale). Walbourne and Hynde also collaborated on Hynde’s last solo record, a mostly acoustic affair that saw Hynde doing a handful of Bob Dylan cover songs, entitled Standing In The Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan. I loved that record even though I had one reader who did not… I get it, a punk rocker does a bunch of quiet acoustic tracks and that might not be your cup of tea. But completely changing things up is kinda what a solo album is about. Anyway, joining Hynde & Walbourne on Relentless is something I’ve read described as the Pretenders’ Collective and includes: Carwyn Ellis (keyboards), Kris Sonne (drums), Chris Hill and Dave Page (bass).

I’ll say right off the bat, I like this album. Pretenders are starting to remind me of Cheap Trick – a great band that’s been around since I was in junior high school who consistently puts out good albums and has suddenly found themselves in a late career renaissance. The first single from Relentless, that I posted about earlier, is the stone cold classic Pretenders track, “Let The Sun Come In.” That song will be on future greatest hits albums. Having heard that song, and seeing the cover art, pictured above, of a pugnacious child, who while scrawny looks ready to scrap despite losing an eye, made me think Relentless would be an all-out, aggressive punk attack. There are rocking songs but the album is a much more varied set of songs and probably stronger for it.

Beyond “Let The Sun Come In,” there are some great rockers here. “Losing My Sense of Taste” opens the record with fuzzy guitars and big drums. I love the distorted guitar solo on that one. Next, “A Love” goes midtempo but wouldn’t have sound out of place on Learning To Crawl with its jangling guitars. Who doesn’t love a song about fear of commitment. “Domestic Silence” has a big riff and organ as the foundation and boasts one of the most searing guitar solos I’ve heard in a while. You can always tell when a songwriter like Hynde is collaborating with a guitar player… “turn up the solo.” “Vainglorious,” (a word I had to look up) is probably the punkiest song here and pops ups towards the end of the album which is a nice change of pace from the mellower stuff on the back end.

There are ballads on this record but the Pretenders have been doing those since Learning To Crawl (“Thin Line Between Love And Hate,” “2000 Miles”). If I have one complaint, it’s that they sequenced all the ballads toward the end. “The Copa” is a groovy, one might say dreamy, ballad filled with memories of a beach side tryst. Both “Look Away” and “House On Fire” (which seems to be a warning about Climate Change) are acoustic tracks – and one can’t help but think they were influenced by her recent foray into covering Dylan. I will say “House On Fire” has a chorus of “See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya” which I found… meh. It’s the only track that doesn’t grab me. The ending track, “I Think About You Daily” with strings scored by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood is breathtaking… or maybe it’s just the lyrics… It’s a classic, “done somebody wrong” track for… the one who got away. Gripping stuff.

There are also a few left turns. “Just Let It Go” is a midtempo thing with a gorgeous vocal and yet another red hot guitar solo. “Merry Widow” is almost… Baroque?… or maybe psychedelic? “I’m a divorcee but I feel like a widow…” It almost feels like an electrified folk song. In the middle it has a Middle Eastern or maybe Indian section with crazy guitar. Those tracks and the aforementioned “I Think Of You Daily” with it’s big strings are songs that give this album more texture. The Pretenders do everything they do well on this album. Hynde’s collaboration with Walbourne has her re-energized.

At this stage in the game who’d have guessed the Pretenders would knock out their second strong album in a row. They’re such a great band with such a great energy. It’s time we all rediscover Chrissie Hynde and her Pretenders.

“Now gather round, ye humble bums… Russian vodka, Cuban rums, raise a glass, say “Iechyd da,” To your health and blah, blah, blah…”

Cheers!