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Precious Time

Pat Benatar - Precious Time Audio CD

A fair review of the Pat Benatar "Precious Time" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Pat Benatar reviews here, or go back to the Pat Benatar tabs.

Band: Pat Benatar
Title: Precious Time
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-04-04
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Promises in the Dark 2: Fire and Ice 3: Just Like Me 4: Precious Time 5: It's a Tuff Life 6: Take It Any Way You Want It 7: Evil Genius 8: Hard to Believe 9: Helter Skelter

Pat's Best
I sat her in front of youtube to watch a video of Pat and she was in awe. I was helping my little 3 year old daughter build some legos the other afternoon, and out of the blue she started singing, 'heartbreaker, dream maker, love taker, don't ya messa around me', off key but I immediately recognized it. Very cute indeedy. But watchin those vids brought back some great memories and I had to get the album. I once had almost all of them on vinyl and wow, to rock to them again in 2009 . . . damn, Precious Time rocked! Prolly the best of all of them. There are 9 songs on this album and 9 songs on this album rock. Thanks Ms Benatar for this timeless creation.

wow!
In other words, I was about as close-minded as they come. For some reason it took me 7 YEARS to re-listen to the Pat Benatar albums my dad's girlfriend let me borrow (or maybe she wanted me to have them?)

Anyway, back in 2000 I was mostly concerned with hit songs from popular artists, and didn't have much patience to try and get into music I wasn't familiar with.

It's now June 21, 2007. It's summertime! I gave Precious Time another shot. I LOVE THIS ALBUM. I always knew Pat Benatar had the perfect female voice for rock and roll, and this album totally proves how good she used to be.

Her voice is so good and convincing, it's like she was born to sing rock songs. Her excellent voice isn't the only thing that makes the album great- it's also the highly enjoyable songwriting. Every song is written so perfectly, and you can remember how every song goes because the vocal melodies are quite tasty and original.

Great music. Not just the hit songs like "Promises in the Dark" and "Fire and Ice" either. The super melodic and rocking title song, her cover of the Beatles "Helter Skelter" and the reggae beats found on "It's a Tuff Life". Lets not forget the other highly melodic tunes such as "Evil Genius" and "Hard to Believe". I love this album. Pat Benatar really was an excellent musician.

Life Is Too Short Not To Own This
Luckily, I don't have issue with the music, which in essence is the most important thing; it's the skimpy artwork, no liner notes, no big celebrity nods to the power that is Pat - but what can you do? At least, as I just said, the music sounds outstanding. First let me mention how disappointed I am with the Chrysalis remasters of the first three Pat Benatar's albums. Precious Time was Pat's third album. Released in the summer of 1981 this album brings back so many memories; I had the first two albums and heard the first single from this album while at the municipal swimming pool in Mosinee, Wisconsin; "Fire & Ice" hit the radio and I hit the edge of the pool. The smooth bass line as the opening riff to that single still actually stands the test of time, the second single, the power house "Promises In The Dark" actually opens the album with a sneak attack; starting out with a piano and guitar combo Pat sounds like she's going to be coming out with a ballad but by the time the first chorus ends, the drums and electric chomps kick in and it goes all powerhouse from there; in the early days Pat did a few covers on every album and Precious Time is no different, but rather than a smooth reworking of any old 60s songs, she adds a grungy layer to Paul Revere's "Just Like Me" (though if you ever heard the live version she was doing back in 1979 the re-recording isn't as good) and of all things "Helter Skelter" which actually rocks pretty hard and closes out this short 9 song set - but in between "Promises" & "Helter" there's a lot to love - the super impact of the 6 minute title track ("Cut it out baby stop it/ life is too short so why waste precious tiiiime") a little ditty about self obsession and the seedy side of a glamour life, a theme reinstated on the reggae-ish "It's A Tuff Life" which has some of the most snarly vocals ever done by my Ms. B; the uber cool and chord changing "Hard To Believe" which has some of my fav lyrics and for a little over the topness, the strange yet compelling "Evil Genius" full of horns and crazy lyrics about an evil little boy who goes on a killing rampage. Apparantly, Pat was pushed into recording this album very quickly; her contract had her promise to make a new album every 9 months, and the reviews were awful, particularly one in Rolling Stone dubbed "spandex ballet" but the fans loved it, and though it was grittier than the straight ahead rock of Crimes Of Passion or the new wave nuance of In The Heat Of The Night, it still got spun on my record player for a long long time. Incidentally, the woman who wrote the terrible (and it was awful) review of Precious Time for RS back in '81 ended up writing a biography book on Pat Benatar - I guess when it came to the money, she too could be persuaded to love the spandex clad rock goddess.
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Precious Time
It will keep you rocking from beginning to end. This is Pat Benatar at her finest! From Promises in the Dark to her excellent cover of the Beatles Helter Skelter this album is great from beginning to end and perfect to take along on a road trip. If you don't own anything else by her, this is the album to start your collection. .

Pat Benatar's Third Great Album In A Row
"Promises In The Dark" is about betrayal and deceit, and the title song, could in the wake of the trumped-up 2005 Indonesian drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist, be interpreted as a woman telling her boyfriend, "If you won't change our honeymoon from Bali to Hawaii, I'm getting rid of you. PRECIOUS TIME is Pat Benatar's third great CD in a row. " This album, which seems influenced by Steve Miller circa BOOK OF DREAMS, Ted Nugent's first three albums, and the harder side of Heart, was Benatar's last great album. She put out some excellent ones after this, but never quite attained the quality and consistency of the first three again.

You can see a complete list of all Pat Benatar discography, or go back to the Pat Benatar tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.