Pretenders

Chrissie Hynde seems the same age now as when “Brass in Pocket” was a big deal, which, by the way, was in 1980. Two decades later, Hynde still makes music that makes sense in vinyl pants — perhaps only in vinyl pants — and 3 a.m. mascara. On the Pretenders’ latest disc, Hynde sings about making mistakes, the right moves, and mistakes that sure feel like the right moves, in the quick, carefree tone of someone much, much younger. Loose Screw proves that being fifty isn’t that much different from being fifteen — as long as you’re woman enough to admit your age.

Hynde seems gleefully comfortable being inconsistent; the omnipresent reggae-flavored backdrops (she’s got rhythm, can’t miss a beat) provide the only links among these songs. PETA spokesperson Hynde talks about not carrying a gun — not because she’s such a peaceable person but because she’s afraid she might use it on, say, a rude construction worker. She sings with equal affection about friends who wish her the best and those who throw a wrench in her system. With “Clean Up Woman,” a dub-inflected answer to some of reggae’s more macho songs, Hynde takes a few jabs at being a mom, a wife and a man cradler — not roles with which she’s traditionally associated. Yet with Jarvis Cocker’s Pulp song “Walk Like a Panther,” she slinks around like a champion, celebrating men who know how to work it. She’s still gotta have your attention — give it to her.