Grimes of Fashion

Overall Album Score: 8.3 out of 10

What's it to you coppa? You weren't there! You didn't know what it was like! I just saw it sitting there just beckoning me! It kept telling me to take it and pocket it. It wouldn't leave me alone! It wouldn't! So what if I took the Chapstick? You don't know what it was like! It was a crime of passion!

Well, this Pat chick goes for album #2, and it can mop the floor with album #1 any day of the week. With album #2, Pattie dumps producer Mike Chapman (either that or he left ... it was a good thing in the end). With him, she loses all of those nasty ballads and much of that new wave crap and focuses on the POWER pop in the same general spirit of "Heartbreaker." And, my friends, this is a good thing. I mean! If Pat Benatar's got this wonderful voice, then why not exploit it to its fullest? Not to mention Neil Geraldo, who can shine a few more times with his excellent guitar playing than he would have otherwise.

The producer on this album is Keith Olsen, who previously produced albums by Foreigner, Fleetwood Mac, and Santana.

And, this album spawned yet another massive hit for Benatar. Yep! It was "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," a classic angry-woman rocker if there ever was one. (And, I'm sure it was written directly for Pat Benatar by some outsider. It is perfectly suited for her!) There are a couple other decent tracks on here. "Hell is For Children," which was written by the band members, is pretty good. All in all, she gets better material than she did on In the Heat of the Night, so Pat Benatar's able to carry it better. Yet, it's far from being a perfect album. Ehhhh... but it's better than Madonna albums; that's all the reassurance I need! I'll never be a Pat Benatar fan, though.

Overall Album Score: 8.3 out of 10 (Nothing on this album sucks! A major improvement over Pat's last album. The album contains some great performances, too!)

Average Song Score: 8.3 (A solid and fairly consistent collection of songs! "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" is the definitive highlight, but there are a few more gems on this one.)

Album Tilt: 8.0 (It's consistent! It's fun! What's not to like about it? Oh, everybody in the world isn't naked. I get it.)

Artist Rating: 8.5 (I'm feeling nice. But it's time to finally give Pat Benatar's vocals and Neil Geraldo's geetar playing their point-of-due. These songs would SUCK without them, and they make each and every one of these songs really KICK in one way or another. So I'm giving it a modest boost.)

Track Reviews

Treat Me Right 7.5/10

A bit unremarkable and unaffecting, but this is a strong hard-rock number that works because of Benatar's singing and a really nice guitar solo by Geraldo. Nevertheless, the song could really have benefited from a little melody development. It's energetic. It's smart! It doesn't screw really anything up. I like the song! (This one was co-written by the Benatar chick herself, along with some other person who I'm not familiar with.)

You Better Run 8.5/10

This one works even better than the last song. It's much harder. (And therefore, I don't care as much about the lack of melody). And it's just a cooler song. There's an odd story about this. About five different bands covered this song in 1980. The only other one I've been able to listen to is the version off of Peter Criss' (of Kiss) solo album Out of Control. It was written by an outsider who somehow managed to convince all these bands to cover this somewhat mediocre song. (Criss' version of it was awful, by the way.)

Never Wanna Leave Me 8.5/10

The melody is very monotonous, which is the only reason this new wavey song is any catchier than the previous two songs. (Don't worry! There's a lot of guitar on here, too. This songs poppier.) This one was written by Pat and her hubby. They prove to be a fairly decent songwriting duo, as this is a fairly decent song!

Hit Me With Your Best Shot 10/10

Radio classicola! And why not? I enjoy hearing this one on the radio whenever it comes on! It's loud, it's hard rocking, the melody is memorable, and Pat Benatar sings it with so much enraged passion and emotion that it makes Madonna look like a cut-price whatzit that's missing a string. CLASSIC. This is probably Pat Benatar's shining moment, even though this was given to her by an outsider (I assume).

Hell is For Children 9/10

Well... this is co-penned by Pat Benatar (along with Neil Geraldo and the Bassist Roger Capps). This isn't a happy song at all! It's a dark, dark song about child abuse! Benatar gives a good vocal delivery here, of course. Geraldo's guitars here is what makes this song so utterly spooky. Toward the end, the inspired guitar solos make the song sort of enraged and rather exciting. The best original from the album. (And the second best overall!) Solid.

Little Paradise 8.5/10

It's not surprising that this Neil Geraldo song (who is credited to writing it all by himself) is guitar-HEAVY. I like guitar heavy songs! It has less of a melody and it's pedestrian, but who cares? I'm too busy listening to the guitar. The guitar's not pedestrian. It's on an electric whirlwind!

I'm Gonna Follow You 7.5/10

Not the greatest song here. Again, I have to reemphasize the talent of Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo. Without them, these songs would be like A PILE OF DUST IN THE VERY PALM OF MY HAND. Pat's greatest delivery isn't really on this track, though, but Neil's got an inspired part.

Wuthering Heights 7/10

Pat Benatar proves she can sing like Kate Bush if she wants to! That doesn't mean she should sing like Kate Bush, though. She certainly does a solid job covering this Kate Bush song ... but why would you listen to a Kate Bush song if Kate's not the one singing it? I don't know! (Kate's got this INSANE yet ENCHANTING voice ... not anything like Pat's. And Kate's got a vocal range that is definitely more suited for this song.) It's better than you might think it'd be. The arranging is a bit sub-par here (I guess it's not an appropriate spot for Neil Geraldo to strike up too prominently with his special guitar chops).

Prisoner of Love 8.5/10

This was written by Scott St. Clair Sheets ... one of the guitarists on this album. And ... I ask ya ... where has this guy been hiding? This is a FUN and undemanding, bouncy pop rock song! Yeah ... it's a little bit pedestrian. The melody isn't great. It's kinda fluffy. But it's fun! That's all that matters to me at the moment.

Out-a-Touch 8/10

This one was written by Pat, Neil, and Myron Grombarcher, who is one of the drummers. It's a solid. It gets a bit boring, but ... it's fine. Gotta dig those instrumentals. Yeah ... Neil outshines Pat a little bit on this one. These are great guitar solos! Pat's moment on this song comes along when she belts out "I Need You!" toward the end. But it's not really remarkable!

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