Hynde recorded her vocals in a short 48 hours, leaving no time to record backing vocals, adding to the loose, natural feel. There’s an appearance by the twang bar king Duane Eddy, along with a few of Auerbach’s cohorts in his side band The Arcs, specifically Leon Michaels and Richard Swift, the latter of whom co-wrote “Alone.” And, of course, the whole shebang sounds like it was recorded live-to-tape in the same room. Auerbach, his crew and Hynde do a fine job of matching her library of vocal styles to the music, and her voice has found new life since she quit smoking a few years ago.
Auerbach digs into his producer’s trick bag, using a variety of hard-panned vintage keyboards, blues-infused, crunchy fuzz guitars filling the spaces between chords, big grooving drums on the up-tempo tunes, round thumping bass and, of course, plenty of reverb. The band includes several first-call Nashville studio musicians who have names like Johnny Cash and Blake Shelton on their résumés. Like “Break Up the Concrete,” which also had a live feel, “Alone” features the Grammy-winning producer’s signature analog, old-school sound, similar to the Black Keys’ Brothers and El Camino. While “Stockholm,” recorded and produced with Swedish musicians Bjorn Yttling and Joakim Ahlund, was mostly filled with polite grooves and lightly rocking guitars, “Alone” is a louder, looser collection and a full-on Auerbach production, recorded at his Easy Eye Studios in Nashville. The Firestone High School hall of famers, who once bonded at a music festival over the old O’Neil’s Department Store jingle, have joined forces for “Alone,” a rollicking collection of tunes that meshes the hallmarks of both artists. Originally intended to be the follow-up to the solid “Stockholm,” it became a Pretenders album during the recording process. In the past two years, the lead singer and leader of (whoever she decides are currently) the Pretenders released her first solo album, “Stockholm,” and her memoir, “Reckless: My Life as a Pretender,” which stirred some controversy over her comments about her rape. Now, eight years after rustic rock of “Break Up the Concrete,” Hynde revives the Pretenders with assistance from Black Keys singer/guitarist and fellow Akronite Dan Auerbach. Chrissie Hynde has been quite active recently.
0 kommentar(er)
