Pat Benatar

Pat Benatar was one of the first rock artists I ever got into...not just for the music, but she's so damn sexy-looking in those tight leather pants & painted lips, I'd love to bend her over and give her...whoops! Got carried away. (*sheepish grin*) Anyway...where was I? Oh yes...well her hard-rock sound really wimped out later on, so basically anything after Tropico I'm not gonna worry about getting, but everything else I'm busily collecting as I find 'em.

"In the Heat of the Night"

  1. "Heartbreaker" (3:26)
  2. "I Need a Lover" (3:28)
  3. "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" (4:20)
  4. "In the Heat of the Night" (5:22)
  5. "My Clone Sleeps Alone" (3:27)
  6. "We Live for Love" (3:54)
  7. "Rated X" (3:15)
  8. "Don't Let it Show" (4:01)
  9. "No You Don't" (3:18)
  10. "So Sincere" (3:30)

Like all of Pat Benatar's albums, I used to own this on crappy vinyl but sold it a long time ago. She really has a thing for cover tunes here: "I Need a Lover" is originally by John Cougar, "No You Don't" is by Sweet, and "Don't Let it Show" is an Alan Parsons Project song.

"Crimes of Passion"

  1. "Treat Me Right" (3:24)
  2. "You Better Run" (3:02)
  3. "Never Wanna Leave You" (3:13)
  4. "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" (2:51)
  5. "Hell is for Children" (4:48)
  6. "Little Paradise" (3:32)
  7. "I'm Gonna Follow You" (4:28)
  8. "Wuthering Heights" (4:28)
  9. "Prisoner of Love" (3:05)
  10. "Out-A-Touch" (4:16)

Remember those stupid "multi-media presentations" they would show in the gymnasium back in high school? No? Hmm, you must have gone to LAUSD. :) Anyway, I remember one of these stupid presentations using the song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" to show two friends playing pranks on each other, all smiling & laughing, and the narrator said, "That's what friendship is about...hit me with your best shot, and I'll still be your friend." Uh, sorry here, that's NOT what the song is about!!!

Oh yeah, I'd be remiss not to tell you that "Wuthering Heights" is a Kate Bush song...

"Precious Time"

  1. "Promises in the Dark" (4:49)
  2. "Fire and Ice" (3:21)
  3. "Just Like Me" (3:30)
  4. "Precious Time" (6:07)
  5. "It's a Tuff Life" (3:19)
  6. "Take it Any Way You Want It" (2:49)
  7. "Evil Genius" (4:35)
  8. "Hard to Believe" (3:27)
  9. "Helter Skelter" (3:50)

The first Pat Benatar album I bought on crappy vinyl, yet the CD was a royal BITCH to find used -- besides this copy, I think I've seen it once, in the last 12 years. "Promises in the Dark" is the masterpiece here, a powerful anthem about lovers who fuck you over (and who hasn't experienced that, huh?) Other favorites here are "Take it Any Way You Want It" and "Hard to Believe". Once again, Pat shows her penchant for cover songs: "Helter Skelter", of course, is the Beatles track, which has been covered by too many other bands to mention..."Just Like Me" is also a cover, but I have no idea who originally did it.

"Get Nervous"

  1. "Shadows of the Night" (4:20)
  2. "Looking for a Stranger" (3:24)
  3. "Anxiety (Get Nervous)" (3:30)
  4. "Fight it Out" (3:54)
  5. "The Victim" (4:41)
  6. "Little Too Late" (4:06)
  7. "I'll Do It" (4:07)
  8. "I Want Out" (3:42)
  9. "Tell it to Her" (3:40)
  10. "Silent Partner" (3:43)

This album always annoyed me. First, there's the totally stupid picture of Pat in her "shock treatment" look; as for the music, it seems watered down and/or just plain dull. For example, check out the lyrics to "Looking for a Stranger": "I'm looking for a stranger in the night/I need a little danger in my life"...blah, blah, blah. "Shadows of the Night" is a good song, I suppose, but after hearing it 1000+ times I'm totally SICK of it. The brightest spots here are "Little Too Little" (a fairly decent rocker), "Anxiety", and "The Victim". That's about it. Oh yeah, no cover songs here...weird.

"Best Shots" (greatest hits album)

  1. "Love is a Battlefield" (5:24)
  2. "Promises in the Dark" (4:48)
  3. "One Love" (5:12)
  4. "All Fired Up" (4:27)
  5. "We Live for Love" (3:22)
  6. "Hell is for Children" (4:48)
  7. "Shadows of the Night" (4:20)
  8. "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" (2:51)
  9. "We Belong" (3:40)
  10. "Invincible" (theme from "The Legend of Billie Jean") (4:28)
  11. "Fire and Ice" (3:20)
  12. "Heartbreaker" (3:26)
  13. "Suffer the Little Children/Hell is for Children"--live (6:45)
  14. "Painted Desert" (5:24)
  15. "Outlaw Blues" (4:19)

Not sure what kind of greatest hits CD this thing is passing itself off as, since it ignores such classics as "You Better Run", "Precious Time", "Little too Late", "A Crazy World Like This", etc. I think buying this was a mistake, since it was right after getting it that I decided to pick up all of Benatar's early CD's (well, Seven the Hard Way I think I'll pass on, so maybe it's not a TOTAL loss.) Recently a more comprehensive double-CD set was released, but that one has even MORE of her crappy later work, like that horrid "Payin the Cost to Be the Boss" song...ugh! So I ain't sweatin' it.

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