Last of the Independents (Explicit)

With sundry deaths and other changes of bandmates over the years,"Last of the Independents" proves decisively that The Pretenders equals Chrissie Hynde and vice-versa. Hynde displays an equal and formidable strength, as always, for concise but telling lyrics mixed with the Pretenders' signature guitar work. The guitars alone are worth buying the album--listen for the glittery crashing sound on"Night in My Veins", the eerily subdued guitars throughout"Hollywood Perfume" (which sound as though they were played by ghosts in a wind tunnel), the tornado snarl that cracks open"Rebel Rock Me" (on which she variously channels Buddy Holly, k. d. lang, and Dwight Yoakam), and the Stones-inspired beginning of"Money Talk." How bold Hynde is to entitle a song"Revolution"--but we know by now that she is nothing if not bold, and her"Revolution" holds its own with its world-famous Beatles counterpart though they are nothing alike."Revolution" has the same dreamlike quality of the long-ago"2,000 miles" and Hynde makes the intriguing choice of making her revolution quietly urgent instead of shouting for attention. On the very short"Tequila" Hynde allows herself to sound bedraggled, weary--as though she were singing in a nearly empty bar at 2:00 AM. There is not a single bad song on the album--indeed, there is nothing even approaching mediocre or average. Every song is a stand-out, and it's one of the crimes of the current music world that this album didn't get wider attention upon its release in 1994.