Stream: The Pretenders, ‘Hate For Sale’

S.Lo on July 17th, 2020

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Following a confetti cannon of videos released from late April through this week, the Pretenders release “Hate For Sale” today via BMG, their 11th album and the first since 2016’s “Alone.”

In contrast to the latter’s title, frontwoman Chrissie Hynde has found stability with her current touring band (original Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers, guitarist James Walbourne and bassist Nick Wilkinson), and this marks the first time they’ve recorded together. “James, Mart, Nick and I have certainly become a well-oiled touring machine,” the singer-songwriter-guitarist said. “But we haven’t always been in the same country or town to accommodate recording schedules. Still, I’ve been dying to work with the Pretenders-proper on an album and now I finally have.” Veteran British alt-rock producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur, The Cranberries, Kaiser Chiefs and more) midwifed the effort, which saw Hynde and Walbourne collaborating on songwriting.

Hynde finds her inner sidewinder on the new tunes, with her signature wistful, winding melodies and deep sneers traversing rock, blues, reggae, sultry jazz, soul, classic pop and confrontational punk. The newest video, for the soulful ’50s jazz throwback “You Can’t Hurt a Fool,” features the singer stretching through her emotional and vocal range with turns of cooing subtlety and roof-burning passion while the reflections of a vintage microphone feature diverse video clips of women.

All five videos released were creatively produced in quaran-safe mode. The whole band is featured in the comic book-inspired, hip-shaking rocker “Didn’t Want To Be This Lonely” (a quarantine anthem, if you will) as well as the Warholian checker boxes of the kick-in-your-face title track.

Though a tour with Journey (including a night at the Forum in May) and co-headlining the final day of this year’s Ohana Fest were waylaid by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hynde and Walbourne have proved unstoppable in their creative output. Days after releasing the first video for the album, the pair began a new biweekly video series called the “Dylan Lockdown Series.”

“I was so buoyed up by the new Dylan songs that I talked to Pretenders guitar-playing hot-shot James Walbourne and we decided it’s a good time to do those Dylan songs we’ve always talked about doing,” said Hynde. “Every singer-songwriter in the world covers the master’s songs and there is an endless supply of them.” Made with the assistance of their cell phones and Tchad Blake, so far they’ve covered “In the Summertime,” “You’re a Big Girl Now,” “Standing in the Doorway,” “Sweetheart Like You,” “Blind Willie McTell,” “Love Minus Zero” and “Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight.”

||| Watch: The videos for “You Can’t Hurt a Fool,” “Don’t Want To Be This Lonely,” “Turf Account Daddy,” “Hate for Sale” and “The Buzz”