Chrissie Hynde – Standing in the Doorway
Chrissie Hynde, the only legitimate high priestess of rock’n roll, released a more than excellent album last year with her rock’n roll archetype band Pretenders under the title “Hate for Sale”. Now she’s back with a tribute to Bob Dylan, who, despite everything, recently reached the age of 80, last May.
Under the title ‘Standing in the Doorway’, Chrissie recorded her nine personal favourites from Dylan, at during the lockdown; Soberly arranged. Basic Chrissie’s voice, guitar, here and there overdubbed with some slide or lead guitar and some piano. Nothing more is needed.
The facts show this album is not a marketing trick. Hynde has shown for years that she adores Dylan. In 1984 she sang “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” together with the master during a concert at Wembley and the Pretenders also have Dylan material on the setlist several times during live shows such as “Forever Young”. The nine tracks had already been seen before after Chrissie put them on Youtube as a lockdown project with the Pretenders guitarist Walbourne. So now an album is made of it.
Hynde’s voice is recognizable from thousands and the more obscure material of Dylan fits wonderfully with it. If you listen carefully, the voices are even a bit in line with each other. “Sweetheart Like You” fits very well with Hynde’s panache and voice. It could have been a Pretenders track. The fact that the album has been recorded in a very sober way does not disturb for a second and is due to the quality of the songs of course, but also to the authenticity and ease with which they are performed by the Pretenders frontwoman.
Besides “Sweetheart Like You”, “Blind Willie McTell” and a very sober and beautiful version of “Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight” are the highlights of this album. Let’s hope that the Pretenders will include some of this album on their setlist in the near future because these performances certainly deserve that.
Chrissie Hynde pays a beautiful and authentic tribute to the Nobel Prize winner Dylan with this album. A must for every Pretenders enthusiast, nice to hear Chrissie from a different side. Chrissie is definitely getting more patina on her voice and personality as the years go by. She seems to be getting better as the years go by. (8/10) (BMG)
To promote the new album, Chrissie Hynde will perform some gigs in the UK in July and August as well
Chrissie Hynde 2021 UK tour:
JULY
Thursday 29 – London, Royal Opera House
Friday 30 – London, Royal Opera House
AUGUST
Sunday 22 – Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
Monday 23 – Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
Tuesday 24 – Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
Wednesday 25 – Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
