Pretenders
Break Up the Concrete
www.thepretenders.com
Old punk rockers - or, in this case, post-punks - never die, they just go country. On the Pretenders' first album since 2002's barely-registering Loose Screw, Chrissie Hynde confronts middle age by revisiting the musical styles of the mid-20th century. After a woozy three-chord "Sleepwalk" intro, opener "Boots of Chinese Plastic" kicks open the door with some runaway-locomotive Sun Records rockabilly as Hynde seeks Buddha, Allah and Chr
Photo by Daniel Kramer
Still high-kickin' in her "Boots of Chinese Plastic" as she approaches 60 years old, Chrissie Hynde and her hired guns known as the Pretenders - including Plexiglas-shielded original drummer Martin Chambers - thrilled a sold-out House of Blues crowd Saturday night with a wide-ranging set that encompassed the familiar ("Don't Get Me Wrong," "Stop Your Sobbing"), obscure ("Tequila," "Thumbelina"), new ("Love's a Mystery," "Don't Cut Your Hair," both from last year's
