Pretenders

What's not to love about the Pretenders' Singles album? The disc is heavy on the band's early -- and arguably best -- material, including such gems as "Brass In Pocket," "Kid" and "Talk of the Town." Singles is a powerful reminder why you fell in love with this band in the first place.

In a pop environment where even honest artists make a virtue of fabrication, Chrissie Hynde expresses herself. Her fierce, instinctive independence makes even Joan Jett's aggressiveness seem like a pose; unlike Patti Smith, she doesn't append an avant-garde escape clause to her deal with the rock and roll verities. Accessible though they are, her song structures follow no formula anyone else could copy, growing spontaneously (she tells us) out of a personal rhythmic relationship to beats and riffs much too powerful and uncute to be called hooks, which is what they are. Since she has the sense of humor of your average ayatollah, her self-righteousness can be a drag--this is her best album because the radio audience keeps her in line. But she's so tough that there's no reason to think it's her testament. (Grade - A)