Hynde is back playing rhythm guitar, weaving in between the leads of James Walbourne, the guitarist who also co-wrote the album’s ten songs. Street gives six strings plenty of room on Hate for Sale. She’s sanded its edges to glide onto adult contemporary radio, and she’s flirted with passing trends, but she’s always centered herself with those ringing guitars. The no-frills sound of Hate for Sale could be called a back-to-basics if Hynde had ever budged from this sound to begin with. Street previously worked with the group on 1995’s acoustic live album The Isle of View and 1999’s ¡ Viva El Amor!, so he’s familiar with their strengths and quirks, realizing they’re at their best when they’re direct and unadorned.
Maybe it helps that it’s helmed by Stephen Street-a producer who has long specialized in making the workaday combination of guitar, drums, and bass sound extraordinary. Hate for Sale, by contrast, feels like a Pretenders album. If you didn’t listen too closely, Alone sounded like a Pretenders album, but it didn’t feel like one.
Auerbach encouraged Hynde to rekindle the swagger and sneer of the first two Pretenders albums, assembling a cracker-jack crew of professional musicians to back her. In a sense, it’s a kindred spirit to Alone, the 2016 Pretenders LP produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Chambers returns to the studio for Hate for Sale, a brisk record that makes no apologies for relying on the flinty rock’n’roll the band has long since patented.