:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1518330-1507461279-2511.jpeg.jpg)
The opening “Lie To Me” does have a lot of bite, with no reggae touches, but it cuts out abruptly, almost mid-note, and then the sound takes over. From time to time a decent song rises from the mix, such as “You Know Who Your Friends Are” and “The Losing”, but for the most part she’s merely crooning her heartbreak. The two tunes written with Steinberg and Kelly don’t stand out in good or bad ways than the ones she wrote with her guitar player. Obscure covers still being her thing, this time she tackles “Walk Like A Panther” by a late-century British electronic outfit.
This is not an indictment of reggae as a genre; in fact, Hynde and Co. managed to tackle it pretty well in “Private Life” on the debut, and time to time since then. Loose Screw is an experiment that goes on too long, to the detriment of what might be some decent tunes. If anything, it’s like she completed the album, and let somebody completely remix and rerecord it, leaving only her voice as evidence. Sure enough, several songs were subjected to further dance remixes by the likes of Junior Vasquez, to somebody’s enjoyment, or so we’d hope.
Pretenders Loose Screw (2002)—2
I wouldn’t so much describe this as a departure from The Pretenders sound as much as another evolution. The loops that were sparse on the last album are more pronounced here, but they don’t take over the songs – Seymour’s guitar is still there, even if the rhythm section (with Hobson, once again supplemented) is muted. While the production is slick, it doesn’t overwhelm the tracks like the endless keyboard overdubs on “Get Close”.
ReplyDeleteIf you’re looking for Chrissie’s no B.S. attitude, it’s there in “Lie to Me”, “Fools Must Die” and “Clean Up Woman”, the latter of was designed to make more than one man squirm. "Kinda Nice, I Like It" and the inspired choice of covering All Seeing I’s "Walk like a Panther" have nice, sultry grooves. “The Losing” is another gorgeous ballad, and even the lighter pop songs (“Complex Person”, “Saving Grace”) have sensitive, personal lyrics rendered movingly by Chrissie. My tendency to be a grammar Nazi is peeved by the title of “I Should Have”, but the song makes up for it.
I think this is another solid, consistent album from the group, even if it’s lighter in tone. I can hear that a big problem might have been difficulty in performing these songs live. Maybe that is one reason that they didn’t continue down this path.