Search - Pat Benatar :: Precious Time/Get Nervous

Some of my old favorites.

Bruce P. Barten | Saint Paul, MN United States | 06/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The song "Silent Partner" has so many little things that I like in it that I can't begin to put much of my appreciation into words. This combination CD has two albums that I originally bought 20 years ago, possibly as selections from a record club that kept telling me the titles of the big hits on each record. I was incredibly impressed by the titles of the hits on her first album. I kept buying albums because it was always better to have more than to miss anything. People who don't have these songs have missed a lot, but I don't see how anyone ever catches up with the truly fantastic discoveries of bygone years. These songs may never seem that good again, but this is still a great buy. I found this because I did a search for the song "Evil Genius" and I'm overjoyed that I am not the only person in the world who can identify Pat Benatar as the singer who recorded it. Of all the songs which sound like they are complaining about something, "Evil Genius" strikes me as the one which states the most valid complaint, and it was written early in the 1980s, when I was bound to wonder if anyone could be this smart. You might not realize how obvious this is unless you've heard it."

Good deal if you don't want a remastered product

Just Fell In | LA, California | 09/07/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I love Pat Benatar and own several of her albums. As far as the content of this cd, Precious Time is a classic. Get Nervous changed her sound slightly to match the times and it works in some cases but not in others. Precious Time is the rockier album while Get Nervous is more '80's pop'-sounding. I bought this product under the false pretense that it would be remastered. I already own a verifiably remastered version of Precious Time. I bought this because I wanted a remastered version, as it was adverstised in Amazon, of Get Nervous. Since I already owned Precious Time in remastered format, I was able to compare the sounds between it and this cd and the remasted version was clearly superior. This cd doesn't sound like it was remastered at all. I kept it and didn't try to return it to Amazon because I liked Get Nervous enough to keep it, and since there is no other "remastered" version of it available, it was my only choice if I want to own this album. I give Precious Time 4.5 stars on content while Get Nervous gets 4.0 stars. I preferred Pat when she rocked out a little more. Get Nervous now sounds somewhat dated, although it's still enjoyable to listen to. It has great moments in "Shadows Of The Night", "Looking For A Stranger", "Anxiety", and "Little Too Late", which were the hits, but its better to get these on her boxed-set "Synchronistic Wanderings" and get the great-sounding remastered versions of those songs. It is very reasonably priced and you will get almost all of her essential tracks. The album tracks are a little spottier. "Fight it Out", "The Victim", "I'll do It", are classic Benatar while "Tell It To Her", and "Silent Partner" have that doctored 80's dated sound. I don't like "I Want Out" at all, but there's always a stinker on every Benatar album and that is this one's. So all in all, you get 7 out of 10 solid songs with the others not being as good. Not a bad deal, but the hits really are the superior songs on this one. If you're buying this to get a remastered version, then you're out of Luck... Precious Time on the other hand, is gold Benatar. Except for a generic remake of Helter-Skelter, almost all of the tracks are great."

The second two Pat Benatar albums on a single CD is a good d

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 12/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It used to be that it was mostly albums from the 1960s that were short enough that putting two of them on a single DVD was easy (and cost effective). But apparently this applies to the early albums of Pat Benatar as well, and what you have here is the second such double feature, which offers her third and fourth albums. Those four albums make up the first stage of Benatar's career, and I think 1981's "Precious Time" is the best of the bunch even though the critics tend to prefer "Crimes of Passion." Then again, it was the only one of her albums to reach the top of the Billboard chart. My preference is based more on admiring how Neil Geraldo is clearly learning how to write for Benatar's voice, as you can tell from the opening track, "Promises in the Dark" (#38).



That is the single off of the album that did the best, with "Fire and Ice," "Just Like Me," and "Take It Anyway You Want It" also being released as singles. Listen to this album again and pay attention to how the more she has to do in a song the more Benatar delivers, especially when she has a chance to really bust loose and just let it rip. Note the difference between the relatively restrained title track or "Hard to Believe" and how she belts out "Helter Skelter" at the end of the album. I can make an argument that Benatar got that one back from Charlie long before Bono and U2.



In 1982 Benatar released "Get Nervous," ending the first chapter in her career (right before she really hit the big time). This might be the weakest of those first four albums but it is still pretty good. Note that Geraldo is co-writing half the songs on her album and is about to hit his own stride, even if the best single from this album, "Shadows of the Night," is written by somebody else. The other thing you will notice is that the production values have improved greatly from their debut effort. This is also one of the few albums where the hit single actually ends up being the best track as well. "Shadows of the Night" made it to #13 on the Billboard chart and won Benatar the Grammy for Best Female Rock Performance.



The other singles released from this one were "Little Too Late" (#20) and "Looking for a Stranger" (#39). But I point to "Anxiety (Get Nervous)" as proof that Geraldo was really learning how to write for Benatar's voice. For the rest of that decade Benatar would be one of the dominant female rock vocalists. Ironically, it was Benatar's insistence of singing songs with melodies rather than screaming that ultimately cost her part of her fan base but ended up producing what I think are her best songs. Regardless of where you rank this particular pair of early Pat Benatar albums having both of them on a single CD is a really good deal."