Good old rock’n’roll? Just don’t want to die.
This album starts with a lie. “I don’t even care about rock’n’roll,” sings Chrissie Hynde in the opener, “all my favorites seem tired and old.” Just to prove in the further course of RELENTLESS that good old rock’n’roll just can’t be killed. At 71, Hynde still wears the same hairstyle and kohl-dark makeup, but most importantly, on the Pretenders’ 12th album, she still sings as if her upper lip has been turned up in a dismissive manner.
The arrogant anger with which she spat out that “cause I’m precious” can still be found, albeit more subtly, on RELENTLESS, which loses momentum after the beginning, is generally more ballad-heavy and has one or two too many guitar solos , but above all sounds like: Pretenders. That’s what you call: staying true to yourself.
And that too is a currency that doesn’t want to lose its value in rock’n’roll. In this coordinate system, RELENTLESS actually sounds, ahem, valuable. This probably also includes a hearty “What do I care about my chatter from six songs before,” because in “Let The Sun Come In” Hynde promises again: “We don’t have to get fat, we don’t have to get old.” This rock’n’roll just doesn’t want to die.