Chrissie Hynde and her Pretenders return from a four-year album break to a pop culture in which her haircut is considered inspirational by fashion magazines, but her music is witheringly filed under "heritage". A frustrating situation, especially when Loose Screw argues that she has a way to go before she reaches her dotage.

Her voice is, as ever, inimitably emotional - no vocalist better conveys the impression of singing while forcing back tears, a quality that ennobles even Loose Screw's occasional dud tracks.

If, say, the opening Lie to Me fails to fulfil its promise by lapsing into a torpor after 30 seconds, it's redeemed by her vulnerability - how does she sound so newly hatched?

And Madonna should take swearing lessons from Hynde: the one heartfelt "Oh, fuck" on I Should Of says more about not coping than any of Madge's f-word torrents. The bitterness of the content is offset by sunny, reggae-ish arrangements, making this a small mistresspiece.