Go

The Battle Rages On
by: john reed

As she has not had a top 40 hit since 1988, Pat Benatar - who was once the most ballyhooed fiery and independent female artist of the early 80's - has seen her career luge and was very low key during the 90's (mostly confined to opening slots on area rock tours, such as the Styx reunion in '97). She now (sadly) seems more of a footnote in rock history than the genuine rocker she truly is.

Her career also suffered lots when she let her guitarist-husband Neil Giraldo start producing her albums. As Giraldo, who is a great songwriter, was not very experienced in production and not the best choice to be turning the knobs and calling the shots. Benatar would have been better off if she had kept Keith Olsen on the payroll, as he produced her 1980 tour-de-force- Crimes Of Passion. Giraldo must have gotten a hold of Olsen's notes, as he produces her new release Go, which turns out to be Benatar's best product since Crimes. She can rage like she was still the waif-like leather clad vixen of her hey-day on prevailing tunes as the title track "Go," "Girl," "I Won't" and even pulls off a first-rate ballad with "Please Don't Leave Me."

While nothing on Go matches such Benatar classics as "Hell Is For Children" or "Love Is a Battlefield," Go is not the sign of a mid-age rocker trying to recapture a moment, but a case study of maturing in sound, yet still having chutzpah to spare.

Just to remind you how great she is: Her 1980 cover of The Rascals' "You Better Run" actually had more heart and ire and bested their original version. And outdoing one of the kings of 60's blue-eyed-soul is something that most could never do…but Benatar did and still can. 12-Aug-2002 9:04 AM