Avoid
Loose Screw
ARTEMIS, 2002
There’s no such thing as an outand-out dud in the Pretenders’ recorded canon, but some albums are decidedly less memorable than others. 1990’s Packed! and 2008’s Break Up The Concrete are both hit and miss, and Loose Screw doesn’t really convince either, despite the fact that it’s essentially from the same line-up that recorded Last Of The Independents and ¡Viva El Amor!. And while the constituent parts of the band’s sound are still in place – tough rockers, bittersweet ballads, a prevailing sense of rumination and mutinous disregard – nothing leaps out from this album in away that truly grabs you by the collar.