28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Affirmation Of Chrissie Hynde, June 3, 2000
This review is from: Last of the Independents (Audio CD)
I have always felt that this was a well crafted and credible work from the Pretenders. But only lately has it dawned on me how incredibly well done "Last Of The Independents" really is.
Here you have the 2nd reincarnation of a great band. Chrissie Hynde has said in interviews that her strength lies in being able to bring out the best in her band mates. This is wholly in evidence here. The band here (and still the band 6 years on) are a polished, streamlined and cohesive rock unit.
When James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon died many people I am sure (myself among them) thought the Pretenders were finished. Just another great band who found out that going too far and staying alive coulden't bear the traffic. There were great songs which followed over the years and some weak ones as well. That all ends with "Last Of The Independents".
"Last Of The Independents" is remarkable for its variety, passion and as is always the case with Chrissie Hynde, a uniquely focused view of the modern world.
On the subject of variety, I have always felt that one of Chrissie Hynde's biggest attributes was her ability to rock as well as sing the slow soft ones when called to. Listen to "Money Talk" (my personal favorite on this album) and then listen to "Every Mother's Son" and then ask yourself if that was just the same person who sang (and wrote) both.
It has taken me almost 6 years to really appreciate how incredible "Last Of The Independents" really is. Sometimes great works take time to show their true worth.
Given the challenges Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders have faced over the years, it is amazing that they continue to create the fine body of work they do.
People might say that the best Pretenders music came in 1979 or 1980. Great as that music was (and is), Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders have evolved and survived to become one of the truly great rock bands of all time.
As Chrissie now approaches 50 years old, it seems like she is looking forward, not back, to her best days.
Buy this record.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Could this be the best Pretenders album ever?, May 16, 2001
This review is from: Last of the Independents (Audio CD)
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Pretenders album., June 9, 2006
This review is from: Last of the Independents (Audio CD)
Many Pretenders fans prefer their first, self-titled, album. In my opinion, "Last of the Independents" is by far their best album. Chrissie Hynde still has the cocky attitude from the first album, but this one is more melodic. While many of the group's other albums contain a couple of weaker filler songs, all the songs on this album are great. The song sequence is just right, with a perfect balance between the faster, energetic songs and the slower ones. It never gets dull. Chrissie Hynde's voice is as good as ever, seeming both confident and fragile at the same time. After several years, this remains one of my all time favorite albums.
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