Released on 13/05/1999
Label: WEA

Chrissie Hynde’s nod to advances in musical technology don’t extend much beyond handing the current ‘Human’ single over for a Tin Tin Out remix prior to the release of this, the band’s first album for four years. Pretenders fans will be rightly thankful for that. Ms. Hynde knows what she and her band do best – a well practiced, taseful melodic rock n roll and well-written ballads that showcase her effortlessly glorious voice – with attitude. ‘Viva El Amor’ opens with her thoughts on the modern musical landscape in which she finds herself once more. ‘Popstar’ tells it straight: "Your girlfriend wants to be a pop star – probably just to spite me…they don’t make them like they used to." Paranoid? Not when it leads directly into ‘Human’ the album’s most delicious moment. Although the Pretenders make the song unmistakably their own, it’s not a Hynde composition, but this proves that the band acknowldeges that the rules have changed. Their brilliant recent London showcase proved that despite Chrissie’s protests, ‘Brass In Pocket’ will stand, quite rightly, as their finest moment, but these Pretenders not only meld musical finesse and restraint with the live assault of previous incarnations, they’re willing to put their gifts to work on other people’s songs. That’s why ‘Viva El Amor’ is the most enduring Pretenders album for a decade. AS