Album Review: Chrissie Hynde & Pals, Duets Special

In recent years, Chrissie Hynde has made a name for herself as an interpreter of other people’s songs, with 2019’s jazz-influenced Valve Bone Woe, and her Dylan covers album two years later. Here, Hynde has gathered a sparkling collection of singers to help complete 13 classic duets.

Hynde proves her mettle as a crooner throughout, whether on warm and fuzzy opener ‘Me & Mrs Jones’, with k.d. lang; on the Righteous Brothers’ 1966 hit, ‘(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration’, featuring Dan Auerbach; or the much-covered 1945 ballad, ‘Love Letters’, on which she shares vocals with Garbage’s Shirley Manson.

The acoustic balladry of ‘Dolphins’ sees her trading verses with Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan on a song made famous by Tim Buckley. The arrangements are simple and sparse, like the pared-back take on 10cc’s ‘I’m Not In Love’, for which The Killers’ Brandon Flowers joins Hynde over simple piano and heartbeat percussion.

Elsewhere, Hyde and Rufus Wainwright croon their way through the Willie Nelson and Elvis classic, ‘Always On My Mind’.

‘First Of The Gang To Die’ is a slowed-down take on Morrissey’s solo hit, Hynde and Cat Power eking out every ounce of emotion from Mozza’s violent epic.

Blondie’s Debbie Harry joins an acoustic take on Low’s gorgeous ‘Try To Sleep’ from their 2011 album C’Mon; and then that band’s surviving member, Alan Sparhawk, appears on the funereal heartbreak of Cass McCombs’ ‘County Line’.

Laid-back, lovely and surprisingly affecting.

8/10