Hear new Pretenders music now – new CD available September 23rd

Posted on by Matt Wardlaw

The Pretenders - Get Close

In these digital times, things move quickly and before you know it, your favorite band has a new CD due for release.

Such is the case with Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders (same difference, right?) who have a new CD, Break Up The Concrete that will be in stores and at digital outlets on September 23rd.

The band will preview the new album with a free MP3 available each week via various partners (Quicktime, Imeem, VH-1 Classic, etc.) leading up to the September 23rd release.

The first track “Boots of Chinese Plastic” is available now via Spinner.

Hearing the track, I don’t know what to hope for, or not hope for.

Last of the Independents kicked my ass in 1994, both on album, and in the live setting with a smoking hometown show at the legendary Cleveland Agora. The 15 dollars (!) that I spent on THAT ticket was in the running for the best 15 bucks I’ve EVER spent on rock and roll.

At the same venue 12 years later, I saw a kinder gentler version of Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders….perhaps you might call it the VH-1 Classic version…

I want to believe that The Pretenders can still kick my ass in 2008, but after Viva El Amor (1999) and Loose Screw (2002,) I’m not sure, but I’m listening.

I’m encouraged by the following excerpt from the above linked Billboard article:

Frontwoman Chrissie Hynde recorded “Break Up the Concrete” in 10 days with, save for bassist Nick Wilkinson, a new backing band consisting of guitarists James Walbourne and Eric Heywood and drummer Jim Keltner.

However, founding drummer Martin Chambers will be back in the fold for the next Pretenders show on July 30 in London, according to a spokesperson.

10 Days. Good enough for rock and roll for a lot of bands. Will that be the case for The Pretenders? We’ll see.

Pretenders – Night in My Veins

Relevant Links:

Pretenders official website

Purchase Last of The Independents from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase The Singles – CD or MP3

Purchase the Pirate Radio box set – CD

Purchase The Pretenders (deluxe edition) CD

Purchase – Learning to Crawl – CD

7 Comments on “Hear new Pretenders music now – new CD available September 23rd”

  1. “Night in My Veins” got my attention off the top but I wonder if The Pretenders are still relevent to today’s crowd. I always judge it if I could imagine it playing on Q104. Just a benchmark. I don’t know if this one fits. Chrissie’s voice is still as good as always. It almost has a country sound to it. I’ll listen to it a couple more times.

  2. I think that is my problem with Pretenders these days, is that there is too much of what they are doing now, that fits adult radio stations like Q104.

    You’re right though, I’m not sure that there is a place for the new stuff, even on stations like Q104……..somehow, I don’t think that Chrissie is too concerned about airplay these days, but I could be wrong.

    Night in the Veins was SO kick ass the first time I heard it…..still love it to this day!

  3. My point by the way with my first sentence in the previous comment….is that I want The Pretenders to rock again….I want to hear a song like Night in My Veins and have that song take me by surprise.

    I’ll be listening as future Mp3s are released each week!

  4. chrissie is 56….who does not mellow? why are people ok with lucinda, emmylou and others being mellow and slightly countryish? Poor ole chrissie, forced to rock and sing about bondage until she is 65 years old. Huhhhhhhhh!

    I am thankful she has progressed beyond rock mama. “The Losing” was lovely and I hope we hear some more soulful music from her.

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