Thursday, August 30, 2012

Record of the Month - Classic

Another installment of a disk I have enjoyed over the years. I'm trying to keep the Record of the Month posts to be fairly new releases. Classics are going to be ones that are at least 10 years old.

For 2011, I thought I'd focus on debut disks - just to make it more challenging for me. I don't think you'll care one way or the other.


I'm running out of interesting debuts and even though that was a 2011 goal, I've kind of kept it in 2012. I suppose they don't have to be interesting - or even good. It's just throwing it out there and seeing what it is. 


Pat Benatar's debut, In the Heat of the Night was actually pretty strong - kind of.

I mean 'kind of' because technically having two charted singles - "Heartbreaker" and the excellent "We Live For Love" - it had material that is so familiar to me that I wasn't sure what was a radio hit and what wasn't.

Benatar did a more than admiral job with John Cougar's (yes, he was still 'Cougar' back then) "I Need a Lover". Actually, I might like her version than his.  And I like ""Rated X", No You Don't" and the title track.

My friend Jon will now and again throw out a reference to "My Clone Sleeps Alone"  - I only find that song ok. Still the album is pretty good debut - or even just a regular release.

Benatar clearly went on to a slew of hits, some better than others and in later years put out some great non-commercial music. It has been about 10 years since she's put out any original material - and that's a shame, because of all the overplayed radio success she had, the woman still has a powerful voice and some good skills at picking music.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Pat and have seen her over 15 times in concert! She never disappoints.

She still tours and her book of two or three years ago, although not gossipy, was a great insight into the music business.

Harpers Keeper said...

I've seen her twice in concert; about 25 yrs apart, and enjoyed both. I abolutely agree about her recording of "I Need A Lover". I don't dislike the Johnny Cougar cover but I think the lyric works better from a female vocalist and the power with which she sings it is more effetive.

Morty said...

Oddly, I heard Heartbreaker on the way from work yesterday.