Record Boy Ink:

Face it. Chrissie Hynde doesn’t care if you love her or not. Isn’t that maddening for a rock star to be indifferent about your adoration? Man, that is the thing Record Boy loves about her! Your not buying her records is not going to end her career. So feel free to ignore her…but of course the loss is all yours!

On the Pretenders’ latest album "Viva El Amor!" (Warner Bros.), Chrissie offers up an intriguing mixture of the most pop oriented tunes she's ever recorded, along with the edgy rock that made her famous.

The album begins with a swipe at the latest industry indulgence of manufactured pop idols in a song called "Popstar." Then two songs in a row of pop music, Pretenders’ style (take that!), "Human" (not written by Chrissie) and "From the Heart Down" ( written by Chrissie with popmeisters Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg) who also team up for "Baby’s Breath."

The rest of the album is Chrissie singing off the same butt she would tell you to kiss if you don’t like it. Record Boy guarantees that she will knock your socks off on "One More Time," remind you of the first Pretenders record (remember those stop-time tunes with her sneer laid on top…goose bump time!) on "Legalise Me" (with Jeff Beck on guitar) and make your ears stand up (and maybe make them pointy like mine) on the beautiful "Samurai" and "Rabo De Nube".

Remember when artists made album masterpieces under 45 minutes because you could only fit 22 minutes a side on a vinyl LP? Now that CDs can hold around 80 minutes of music, musicians seem compelled to fill them up with, ummm, mixed results. Glad to report "Viva El Amor" clocks in at around 45 minutes (12 tracks), which just feels right.

Interesting to note that the cover photo of Chrissie was taken by the late Linda McCartney, and the inner sleeve photos by daughter Mary McCartney.

Not that Chrissie cares who the heck is taking her picture, mind you. Long live Love and long live this indifferent rock goddess.

Dammit!