Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(74/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Billboard	(favorable)
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	B
Paste	(8.6/10)
Pitchfork Media	(6.4/10)
PopMatters
Robert Christgau
Rolling Stone
Spin	(7/10)

Break Up the Concrete is the ninth studio album by rock group The Pretenders. It is their first studio album since Loose Screw in 2002. Several "exclusive" editions of the disc exist (see track listing below); each appends a new countrified version of a Pretenders classic, in keeping with the general sound of the album. The title song "Break Up the Concrete" was used in the opening scene of an episode of House M.D. ("5 to 9", season 6, episode 14).

The first edition of Break Up the Concrete also includes a small sheet of "handmade seed paper", which can be planted, and if cared for, promise to sprout within a few weeks. The cover art parodies the sleeve of fellow power-popper Joe Jackon's 1979 debut Look Sharp!.

Break Up the Concrete was the first Pretenders album since 1994's Last of the Independents not to feature Martin Chambers on drums. In an interview, Chrissie Hynde said that she was looking for a different style, one she didn't believe Chambers was capable of playing to her satisfaction. Session drummer Jim Keltner took his place in the studio, although Chambers would return for the tour in support of the album.

There were conflicting reports about Chambers' temporary ouster. Hynde claims that Keltner was actually recommended by Chambers. and that he was fully aware of his replacement. Chambers, however, claimed in an interview that Hynde hadn't told him about being replaced by Keltner; in fact, he was unaware that an album was even being made until after the sessions were well underway.

The album so far has a score of 74 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "generally positive reviews".Mojo gave the album four stars out of five and said that it was "looser and more organic, and a different sonic palette for Hynde."Q also gave it four stars out of five and said, "It's Hynde who steals the show with her lip-curling vibrato, part Elvis, part Dusty, never more intoxicating than on the seductive 'Almost Perfect.'"The Boston Globe gave it a positive review and said that the album "just might be [Hynde's] most congenial, and certainly rootsiest, collection yet."

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