Record Rack

It’s always daunting when an old favorite band like the Pretenders, still plugging away as a ghost of its former self, makes a new album that’s competent but utterly unexciting.

You can’t outright dismiss the group’s first fresh effort in more than five years (due in stores Tuesday), because the guitar work of Adam Seymour and singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde adequately preserves the elastic, raw-boned pop-rock sound that seduced listeners in the first place, and Hynde’s expressive, throaty voice, though a little softer around the edges, remains one of the most distinctive and authoritative in rock.

Unfortunately, several producers lard on layers of instrumentation and vocals that clash with the group’s spare melodiousness. Although the quartet eagerly avoids nostalgia, attempting an ill-advised trip-hop-flavored number, such tracks as “Human” only bring back warm, fuzzy memories of better days.

At least Hynde has kept her sense of humor, lacerating fame and fortune on “Popstar” and “Who’s Who,” and showing her age (47) with wickedly resigned wit on “Baby’s Breath,” a rumination on the downside of being involved with younger men. But even she runs out of irony with the vaguely Roxy Music-esque ballad “Biker,” an ode to a hog rider that’s both sappy and inexplicable.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.