Pat Benatar - Precious Time
#301
By Rob Slater
Pat Benater
Precious Time
Genre: 80s Rock
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Rob’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Also went to #1 in U.S. & Canada.
So I have to give a little bit of a caveat here. This is my paean to my Vocal Goddess Pat Benatar. She, like Steve Perry and Roy Orbison are the three major reasons (in addition to my late onset puberty) that I have a good falsetto and a decent ability to cross my break from full voice to falsetto.
One of my life goals is to sing backup for Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, Ann Wilson of Heart, and Margo Timmons of the Cowboy Junkies. Thing about the Cowboy Junkies back up would be the fact that she doesn't ever really have any backup singers, and if she does they're all male and I can hear the high harmony that I think should be happening.
(Are you there, God {or is that Alan?}. It's me, Margaret [my name as I was 'sposed to be a girl]. I pray, as an agnostic, then I get at least one of the Cowboy Junkies reviews. Once we get there, of course.)
But, back to Benatar...
So the first two songs freakin' nail it.
1. Promises in the Dark is definitely in the top 5 Benatar songs for me. Maybe even top three. Cool thing it’s written by the romantic partnership of Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar. Pat, like Linda Ronstadt, doesn’t write a lot of songs. And they wrote even less together. It’s head and shoulders above their co written Evil Genius below. Dang, she really needs the high vocals I hear over the title line. Starts as a ballad and then rev’s up. The she doubles up her vocals for that high note!
2. Fire and Ice is also co-written by Benatar. It’s very, very good and the lead of single for this album.
3. Just Like Me (Paul Revere & the Raiders. 80’s requisite cover #1) is decent and the words are good. Sounds alot like Heartbreaker, but less interesting! As it goes along it gets better.
4. Precious Time is is a lot better, but not up to the level of the first two. Written by Billy Steinberg. ‘He’s a hitmaker…”
5. It's a Tuff Life. Meh by Giraldo
6. Take It Anyway You Want I. Giraldo and Martin Briley of “Salt in my Tears” fame and songwriter to the stars. Unfortunately this song is kind of bland.
7. Evil Genius. Giraldo, Benatar. Interesting and not bad, but not good either.
8. Hard to Believe. Giraldo, Myron Grombacher. Totally sounds like Rick Springfield wrote it. It's not filler, but it only gets a B+ grade.
9. Helter Skelter (Beatles: Lennon, McCartney. 80’s requisite cover #2). She (and the band) f****** nail it. 'nuff said.
Throughout it all the instrumentation is excellent. Neil Giraldo is one of the most underrated guitarists of the eighties. If you’re not sure, go listen to some of the live videos on youtube.
I mean, the solos on the first two songs are amazing. Two of five Neil’s self-evaluated defining solos are Fire and Ice and Precious Time. Though mine is Promises in the Dark. Neil says, “I thought to myself, ‘What Would Pete Townsend Do?’” Three chords until the solo. And that solo… One of the best ever by anyone. Listen to the Official Video. Now. Not too long. Not too wankin’ Totally does what it needs to do.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6IDrephPahXFn0DT3I851H?si=BHRaZI09TYGB2WiVEAanzw
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