Sound Advice: CD Reviews - Pat Benatar (Crimes of Passion)

CD Review:
This is Pat's best selling album. After Chrysalis discovered her at the open mic club Catch a Rising Star, she signed and released her first album In the Heat of the Night. It was the beginning of five years of dominance as she took over from Blondie as the best female rock artist in the States. She won Grammys four years in a row, and everyone who enjoyed female led pop-rock, purchased this album.

Led by her hit single "Hit Me with Your Best Shot," a song about a woman standing up for herself in that arena called love, this album went quadruple platinum. Other hits include "You Better Run," "Heartbreaker" and the surprising "Hell Is For Children."

Moving away from that new wave sound that the '80s was so famous for (she began with it early before many copied the sound) shown most on her first album, Pat went straight into guitar driven rock. This style was a great match for her, 40-octave voice. She mostly bucked the trend of adding electronics and other paraphernalia (that made the '80s so irritating) with this release and people from everywhere jumped on the bandwagon.

Although Pat may be the front person and the name for her releases, we can't forget about her long time husband Neil Giraldo. He was mostly a session artist before meeting and eventually marrying Pat. Chrysalis originally sent him in to work with Pat in order to add the music to her great voice. He worked with her throughout her career as guitarist, songwriter and producer. With Crimes of Passion you will here him on guitar, keyboards and backup vocals.

But, with all the accolades this album received, with all the hit singles, and with all the record sales, the thing that hit me most was the non-single "Hell Is for Children." The song is a powerful tear-jerker concerning child abuse. It is especially poignant if you have ever experienced this travesty. The song never was surpassed for emotional response in popular music concerning children until Alanis Morissette's song "Perfect" off the Jagged Little Pill album was released.

Whether she did it on purpose or it was just a miscalculation, having "Hell Is For Children" follow "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" seems to belittle the sincerity of the child abuse song, as Rolling Stone magazine pointed out in their review a while back. But the song overcomes this distraction as it became one of the most listened to songs never released as a single. In fact, it has stood the test of time better than the hit singles from the album.

Considered as the best female voice in rock for the longest time, topping Deborah Harry as well as others by many critics, I would personally disagree. Darby Mills, lead singer for The Headpins, an '80s Canadian rock band, is the voice that best suits this genre of music.

Scott D. Brown