Reviews of new releases: The Pretenders, Ray Lamontagne
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
The Pretenders
“Break Up the Concrete”
4 stars
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After spending decades living in London, Chrissie Hynde moved back to her hometown of Akron, Ohio, and has come up with one of the best Pretenders records in years.
Starting with the religion-soaked rave-up “Boots of Chinese Plastic,” “Break Up the Concrete” surveys American roots music styles without departing too far from the signature style Hynde and her band have honed for three decades.
The killer track here is a signature Hynde ballad, “The Nothing Maker,” in which she describes her ideal man — an ordinary guy who has nothing to do with music, art, movies, etc. It’s also one of the record’s theme/mood setters as Hynde explores middle-aged romance, from disappointment to the “honeydripper” raw sexuality of “Almost Perfect,” coming to the conclusion that “Love’s a Mystery,” delivered in swinging country style.
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Ray Lamontagne
“Gossip in the Grain”
4 1/2 stars
Fans usually know what to expect from a Ray Lamontagne album, a collection of tracks that range from laconic dirt road folk to railroad blues. And everything sounds like it’s being played on dusty instruments.
For album No. 3, Lamontagne delivers EXACTLY what you’d want.
Country-tinged deep winter melancholy (“Gossip in the Grain,” “A Falling Through,” “Winter Birds”). Loose, playful front porch fingerpickin’ (“Hey Me Hey Mama”). And at least one song so bloody perfect, you just kinda got to sit back and listen in awe.
That track is “You Are the Best Thing,” a horn-laden soul song in which a skinny white dude from Maine fully becomes Otis Redding for four minutes.
“Gossip in the Grain” will hit record stores on Tuesday.
- Micah Mertes
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