Viva El Amor

Pretenders - Viva El Amor

Viva El Amor
List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $6.43
You Save: $3.55 (36%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Artist: Pretenders
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-06-22
Music Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Soundtracks:
  1. Popstar
  2. Human
  3. From The Heart Down
  4. Nails In The Road
  5. Who's Who
  6. Dragway 42
  7. Baby's Breath
  8. One More Time
  9. Legalise Me
  10. Samurai
  11. Rabo De Nube
  12. Biker

Music reviews of Viva El Amor

Music Review: Their best since "Packed"
Rating: 4 Stars

This CD is, like most later Pretenders material, both a treat and a disappointment. Some reviews here call it their best recording since "Learning to Crawl". I wouldn't go that far, but it is certainly their best since "Packed". The music may be more tightly played or better produced than anything since "Learning to Crawl", but it lacks the consistency of "Packed", both in quality and in its variety of musical styles. There seem to be divergent opinions here as to which songs are best, but a loose consensus that there are several songs you'll enjoy and several you won't. Personally, I think "Popstar", "From The Heart Down", "Baby's Breath", and "One More Time" are the only keepers, but they're enough to make me glad I bought this CD.

"Popstar" is a catchy pop song with great lyrical and musical hooks that make for a good listen, but the theme is of limited interest, and when you take Chrissie Hynde's magnificent ability to be scathing and put it behind accusing someone of eating red meat, a great talent is being wasted a bit. "Human" is a light pop song reminiscent of songs on "Packed". "From the Heart Down" is a gorgeous slow love song that's among her best. The CD is largely downhill from there. "Nails in the Road" is a musically pleasing slow rocker, with well-written verses, but the nails-in-the-road metaphor in the chorus borders on silly, the "tires about to explode" line perhaps crossing the border. "Who's Who" is bubblegum-light pop, and Chrissie does such songs well, e.g. "Don't Get Me Wrong". The bitter lyrics here just don't match the sweet sound. "Dragway 4z" is a mediocre slow rocker with modal moments that faintly echo the beautiful "Tradition of Love". (This is not an endorsement of the disappointing "Get Close"; several songs on this CD are just reminiscent of songs on that one).

"Baby's Breath" is one of the better songs here, with a catchy chorus and a metaphor that does work well. The verses are weaker, and this is another enjoyable but disposable pop song that is almost too clever. Like several other reviewers, I'd say that's a weakness of many of the songs here - they sometimes seem overly crafted, overly clever. "One More Time" is a 60's-style soul song reminiscent of "Chill Factor". I agree with the reviewer who singles this one out for amazingly passionate singing, with Ms. Hynde playing it much safer on the other tracks. "Legalise Me" is catchy and captures a bit of the early Pretenders sound, but the Amazon review saying energy levels are taken to "breathtaking heights" seems way over the top; those heights were left behind 20 years ago, and that's OK - it would be foolish to try to reach for them at age 50. I largely agree with a reviewer who felt the final 3 songs could have been left off entirely. "Samurai" is very slow, pretty 80s pop with mediocre lyrics and music. I could have done without the Pretenders accompanied by accordion on "Rabo de Nube", or at least would have preferred the song in a different context - Chrissie Hynde doing an Astrid Gilberto-style album might be pleasant enough, but this song really doesn't fit here. I can't decide about "Biker"; it sounds alternately like an embarrassingly bad cliche or a great closing to me, usually the former.

Hynde and her band are skillful and crafstmanlike on this CD, but are often recycling old sounds and hooks to make new and lesser songs that are enjoyable but ultimately forgettable. There are rare artists who manage to re-invent themselves in interesting ways on and off for decades, many who degenerate into self-parody or oldies bands, and then there are those like Hynde who are workmanlike, continue to create, and continue to please with the same sort of music, relying heavily on their early material. If you want to hear Chrissie Hynde doing new songs in great vocal form, no longer trying to sound like she's 30, you'll likely enjoy "Viva El Amor". If you're looking for truly great new songs or sounds, or haven't been satisfied by other Pretenders albums since the early 80s, "Viva El Amor" may not be for you. This is no "Pretenders" or "Learning to Crawl", it's just Chrissie Hynde making some good music.

More Viva El Amor free music reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Description of Viva El Amor

12 tracks
Chrissie Hynde is back to kick some ass. ¡Viva el Amor!, the Pretenders' first studio album since 1994's Last of the Independents, provides a reading on the singer's state of mind and relationships. Hynde and company--stalwart drummer Martin Chambers and an assortment of complementary players--take the energy level to breathtaking heights, especially on "Legalise Me," which matches Jeff Beck's incendiary guitar work against our heroine's rapid-fire delivery. Hynde shows that she can still sneer with the best of them on "Popstar," her biting send-up of late-'90s girl singers (and reportedly a roman à clef aimed in part at Patsy Kensit, who was once married to Hynde's former husband, Simple Minds' Jim Kerr). "Baby's Breath" skewers a young lover and showcases her sangfroid vocals at their chilling best. Hynde pours on more vitriol in "Biker," the record's final cut, which pairs steel-hard lyrics with an incongruously sweet string section. Nearly two decades after the release of the Pretenders' landmark debut, the Great Pretender is still feeling feisty. --Jaan Uhelszki

Alternative Rock CDs

Music Genres
Bestsellers in Alternative Rock CDs
Maniacal Laughter ImageBouncing Souls - Maniacal Laughter
Release date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Parallel Lines ImageBlondie - Parallel Lines
Release date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $149.98
L.A. Woman ImageDoors - L.A. Woman
Release date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $99.99
Phallus Dei ImageAmon Duul - Phallus Dei
Release date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops: $18.98
Melrose ImageTangerine Dream - Melrose
Release date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Private Music of Tangerine Dream ImageTangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine Dream
Release date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $11.98
Ska Explosion [VHS] ImageSka Explosion [VHS]
Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops: $16.98
Little Earthquakes [VHS] ImageLittle Earthquakes [VHS]
Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops: $16.98
Exile ImageExile
by Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
Louder Than Live [VHS] ImageSoundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]
A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $183.90
Similar CDs
The Best of the Pretenders 2009 + Break Up the Concrete ImageThe Pretenders - The Best of the Pretenders 2009 + Break Up the Concrete
Release date: 2009-06-09; Music CD
Best price: $6.81
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Pretenders - The Isle of View ImagePretenders - The Pretenders - The Isle of View
WEA DES Moines Video; Release date: 2003-09-09; DVD
Best price: $4.43
Price in other shops: $13.96
Pretenders ImagePretenders - Pretenders
Release date: 2006-10-03; Music CD
Best price: $9.81
Price in other shops: $18.96
Pretenders II ImagePretenders - Pretenders II
Release date: 2006-10-03; Music CD
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops: $18.96
Get Close ImagePretenders - Get Close
Release date: 2007-06-05; Music CD
Best price: $5.05
Price in other shops: $13.96
Learning to Crawl ImagePretenders - Learning to Crawl
Release date: 2007-06-05; Music CD
Best price: $3.58
Price in other shops: $13.98
Break Up the Concrete ImageThe Pretenders - Break Up the Concrete
Release date: 2008-10-07; Music CD
Best price: $4.86
Price in other shops: $9.99
Loose Screw ImagePretenders - Loose Screw
Release date: 2002-11-12; Music CD
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: $17.98
Packed ImagePretenders - Packed
Release date: 1990-05-10; Music CD
Best price: $21.75
Last of the Independents ImagePretenders - Last of the Independents
PRETENDERS; Release date: 1994-05-10; Music CD
Best price: $4.33
Price in other shops: $13.96
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles