My Favorite Albums: "Precious Time" by Pat Benatar
The queen of hard rock turned out a stellar third album in 1981.
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection! For those of you who were familiar with my blog before it morphed into a newsletter (and then a video channel, and finally, a podcast), you may recall that I would occasionally pull out one of my favorite albums and write about it. That’s essentially what this week’s issue has in store for you. I recently had the pleasure of discussing Pat Benatar’s third release, Precious Time, with my friend Brian Colburn from the Playlist Wars podcast. It is my favorite of Benatar’s albums and Brian’s as well, so it was the perfect subject for a fun discussion about one of the great records of the early 1980s.
After my write-up below, you can watch that entire discussion. But let’s just hop right in, shall we?
At some point, shortly after our cable television system had added MTV, I became aware of a Pat Benatar video that turned me from a casual fan of her hits into someone who wanted to explore her music on a deeper level. The video was sophisticated for its time, involving green screen work as well as split-screen images that moved and froze separately from one another. Benatar showed both her vulnerability and her “tough rock chick” persona both in the video and in the song. Oh, and there was a shirtless guy playing a solo on a pink B.C. Rich guitar.
That video was for the song “Precious Time,” the title track to Benatar’s third album, which came out on July 6, 1981. I had been aware of the album’s two singles — “Fire and Ice” and “Promises in the Dark” — and I liked them quite a bit, but it was the title track that pushed me over the top into Benatar fandom.
At some point, I got Precious Time on LP and also cassette, and I have it on CD as well. It has stood up for the nearly 40 years since I first became aware of it as my favorite Benatar record and one of my favorites from the early 1980s.
Following In the Heat of the Night and Crimes of Passion, Benatar faced the problem of the artist’s all-important third album. She’d had plenty of radio success off of her first two albums and they were commercially successful, reaching No. 12, and No. 2 in the U.S., respectively. Benatar and her band went into South City Studios and Goodnight LA Studios in California to put together a third record with a little pressure. Would this one push Benatar over the top to No. 1 after her promising start, or would she start to slide?
Keith Olsen, who had produced Crimes of Passion, was tapped to once again sit in the producer’s chair, but Benatar and guitarist/band leader Neil Giraldo were reportedly unhappy with what they deemed some absenteeism on Olsen’s part during the recording of the previous album. Giraldo had done a fair bit of the work, they felt, so they insisted he be given a co-producer credit. Olsen’s response was reportedly to spend even less time in the studio for Precious Time.
Benatar and Giraldo, as a romantic couple, were on rocky ground at the time — they recovered from that and are still together today — and perhaps that tension is what led to the creation of my favorite album in the Benatar catalog and her first record to reach No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. In fact, it did well worldwide, especially in primarily English-speaking countries, reaching No. 2 in Canada and New Zealand, No. 8 in Australia, No. 9 in Sweden, No. 28 in Norway, No. 30 in the UK, No. 42 in Japan, No. 46 in the Netherlands, and No. 57 in Germany. It is RIAA certified as double platinum, which lags behind Crimes of Passion (quadruple platinum) in sales, but for my money it’s her best.
Benatar’s core band from that era never received the accolades or notoriety it should have, perhaps owing to the fact that it toured under her name as a solo act and didn’t have its own identity. Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers are largely known names, yet few could name the individuals that make up Joan Jett’s Blackhearts, so it’s hard to say why Giraldo is often overlooked in discussions of the great rock guitarists of his era. His ability to play exactly what a song needs without becoming so showy as to distract the listener or call specific attention to himself is uncanny and impressive.
Similarly, the rhythm section of Roger Capps (bass) and Myron Grombacher (drums) were an integral part of Benatar’s sound and virtually no one outside of Benatar’s most ardent fans know who they are. Rhythm guitarist Scott St. Clair Sheets is another unsung hero of those early Benatar albums and co-wrote one of her biggest hits, for which she won a Grammy Award.
Precious Time kicks off with “Promises in the Dark,” the album’s second single. It was a bold choice to start the record with this song, as it begins with a gentle guitar riff and piano by Alan Pasqua and seems to be a ballad — not something Benatar was known for at that time. But after a moving and even gentle (at times) first verse, the song slams into an upbeat rock tempo and showcases Benatar’s spectacular vocals. Benatar wrote this with Giraldo and has said in interviews that she was so self-conscious about the lyrics of the song that she slipped them to the guitarist under the door and wouldn’t let him read them in front of her. It’s a deeply personal song lyrically, although Giraldo wrote the last verse during the recording sessions.
The bridge of “Promises in the Dark” is one of Benatar’s finest moments ever recorded.
But promises, you know what they're for
It sounds so convincing, but you heard it before
'Cause talk is cheap and you gotta be sure
And so you put up your guard
And you try to be hard
But your heart says try again
She begins the bridge with a hushed vocal, turns it into a growl for “And so you put up your guard,” and finishes by absolutely crushing the last line with a high-pitched semi-wail that leads into a scorching Giraldo guitar solo, all while Grombacher and Capps drive the song forward.
The track also has one of the most unusual moments you’ll hear in a rock song. When Benatar sings the chorus for the final time, the band slows the song down to a halt and almost leaves it hanging before you hear a “one, two, three, four!” countdown prior to the word “dark.” It perfectly captures the feel of a live performance that the song embodies throughout.
Benatar won her second Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1982 for “Fire and Ice,” which St. Clair Sheets co-wrote with standout songwriter Tom Kelly. It was the obvious choice for a first single on the album as it sounded the most like Pat’s previous hits like “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” and “You Better Run.” What’s interesting about Benatar and Giraldo is that when they combine forces, they can make a midtempo song like “Fire and Ice” rock. It’s not easy to do that.
Grombacher, Capps, and St. Clair Sheets lay down a solid foundation for the song and Capps’ work is particularly noticeable in the verses under Benatar’s sultry vocal line. Once again, she shows off her versatility by belting out the chorus vocal, leaving no mystery as to why she claimed the Grammy.
No stranger to cover songs, Benatar dusts off the 1965 Paul Revere & the Raiders hit “Just Like Me” for the third song on Side 1. The original reached No. 11 and although Benatar didn’t release her cover as a single, she makes the song her own, powering through the chorus vocal in a song tailor-made for fans of guitar power chords.
The title track closes the first side of the album. Written by Kelly’s longtime songwriting partner, Billy Steinberg — the duo went on to pen such iconic songs as “I’ll Stand By You” (the Pretenders), “Like a Virgin” (Madonna), “So Emotional” (Whitney Houston), “Eternal Flame” (the Bangles), “True Colors” (Cyndi Lauper), “Alone” (Heart), and others — “Precious Time sounds like it’s about a romantic relationship gone sour, but it was written about Steinberg’s mother. The song introduces itself as something different right off the bat, with Giraldo playing an incendiary, single note that he bends and holds before his stabs punctuate Grombacher’s drumming.
The music is subtle in the verses, providing Benatar plenty of space for her vocals to shine on Steinberg’s standout lyrics. The pre-chorus is memorable and Benatar sells the hell out of it while Giraldo’s bubbling guitar riff climbs and climbs. The chorus is so simple lyrically that it would be easy for a lesser artist to botch it, but Benatar keeps the repeated “Precious Time” iterations interesting with her phrasing and emotional delivery. Giraldo’s guitar solo starts out slow and mesmerizing but builds out over Grombacher’s drum fills. He ratchets up its intensity as he plays, but he never lets it spin out of control over the song’s unusually slow tempo.
“Precious Time” is an unusual song structurally and it goes through several changes, almost becoming some kind of six-minute progressive rock/hard rock/pop hybrid. I love it wholeheartedly and it remains my favorite Benatar song to this day. It closes out what is (for me) a perfect album side. While I can acknowledge that Precious Time is not a perfect album, despite my love for it, the first side is a 10 out of 10.
It takes a lot of confidence for a hard rock act to go reggae, but that’s what Benatar does next, kicking off Side 2 with “It’s a Tuff Life.” Grombacher and Capps do the heavy lifting on this song, with Giraldo tossing in some punk rock-style guitar stabs to go along with the reggae rhythm of the verses. The song morphs into more of a mix of rock and post-punk during the chorus. Any misgivings one might have with the style of the song are erased by Benatar’s voice. She sings it like she means it and makes the listener believe every word.
My favorite song on Side 2 isn’t universally loved by Benatar fans. Martin Briley and Giraldo wrote “Take It Anyway You Want It,” and it exudes all of the hallmarks of a typical pop/rock Briley song. Briley’s music has a certain cadence to it, with chord-driven and melodic music and catchy choruses. And Giraldo rips through another scorching solo. As a fan of Briley’s solo music, this song hits my musical sweet spot.
“Evil Genius” has terrific energy, with tempo changes and the unusual twist of incorporating a horn section to punctuate a hard-rocking chorus. Where most songs might utilize horns during the quieter parts of a song, and this one does that at times, “Evil Genius” also uses them when the song is rocking its hardest. Lyrically, the song doesn’t quite work, with its story of an intelligent but malicious young killer. Grombacher again shines on this Giraldo/Benatar composition and the singer shows off her ability to take the listener on a vocal roller coaster ride.
For me, the weakest link on the album is the power pop/Police-esque stylistic mash-up “Hard to Believe.” The Police DNA is evident in this song, and an angular Giraldo solo helps sell the Andy Summers-ness of it all. I like it, but if I were ranking the songs on the album, this would be at the bottom. That’s more of a testament to the strength of the record than an indictment of the song, which features some lovely harmony backing vocals in the verses.
The album closes with a second cover song, with Benatar taking on the iconic Beatles song, “Helter Skelter.” She fearlessly takes on the classic and makes it a Pat Benatar song. Despite my reverence for the Fab Four, I think this might be the definitive version of the song for me with the way she belts out the lyrics and the band delivers the music in a heavier package than the Beatles ever did.
The album stands up surprisingly well after more than four decades of existence. It’s not littered with the cliché, dated, 80s musical references we’re all used to hearing. The production is good, and there’s plenty of space for all the musicians to add their flavors to the stew. Giraldo’s guitar tone and style don’t mimic the other major guitar heroes of the day. He sounds like himself.
Precious Time simply shines on as its own thing in a way that other early 80s albums don’t always do. For all of the above reasons, Precious Time remains one of my favorite albums.
Tracklist:
Promises in the Dark
Fire and Ice
Just Like Me
Precious Time
It’s a Tuff Life
Take It Anyway You Want It
Evil Genius
Hard to Believe
Helter Skelter
Find out more about Pat Benatar and what she’s up to these days at the official Benatar/Giraldo website and drop me a line to let me know what you think of this album and where you place it in Pat’s catalog.
To hear my in-depth, track-by-track discussion of Precious Time with Brian Colburn of Playlist Wars, check out the video below, or listen to Episode #68 of the MRC podcast, available at your favorite podcast dispensary. To learn more about Brian’s podcast, visit playlistwarspodcast.com, or simply grab it wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about Brian’s music, which is heavily influenced by Tom Petty, visit his Bandcamp page.
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