Pat Benatar/Neil Giraldo appreciation thread

Well that makes some sense then....if they were pushing to be a "duo" and the label shot it down, favoring a 'Pat only' promotion...then I can see why they now go as a duo. Personally I think the label had it right at that time. Pat became famous as a solo rocker because every young man in the 79-84 period fell in love with her sexy looks, attitude, and killer rocker voice. She may not have had the same impact back then if Neil was part of the package. Get my drift?

 

Could be something to that. After all, as good as the stuff Pat & Neil wrote, all their actual Hot 100 Top 10's were written outside of the band.

Pat had a great run but just got squeezed out at Top 40 in the Madonna/Janet/Whitney explosion in 1985-86. Rock shifted to Hair Bands and the pop shifted to more dance oriented material and softer sounds leaving Benatar without a place to go. Doing the True Love blues record was a nice palate cleanser but by the time Neil/Pat returned to their rock side in 1993 Seattle Grunge had taken over and removed their revelancy. Still they had a great 7 or 8 album run which is more than I can say for a lot of Rock acts of that period.

 

With her situation now, as long as she can draw a bit, she's got control over what she does musically and gets to do it with her main man. Sounds like a nice arrangement to me.

 

Her sound just wasn't the same after Scott Sheets left.The first three albums really rock.She kinda lost me as a listener after that.

 

I don't know...I think Tropico was the only real aberration (besides the blues disc)

 

Neil is a very good guitarist.

I've seen Pat at least 3 times in concert and Neil is always the highlight for me...

 

I saw them around 1981 and they were pretty good. For some reason Pat saying "Thank You" after the applause for each song sticks in my mind. Don't know if they had anything to do with David Johansen being the opening act, but if they did, thanks for that too.

 

What I tried to say is that Neil and Scott really rocked together.I mean they had a really good one,two guitarists punch.It's never the same when a pivotal member of a band leaves.Neil can play,and I don't disagree about that.

 

This is old news, but haven't seen much if any discussion on this and I only recently discovered it: I strongly recommend the early live recording that has been released under various titles: Live in America, Concert Classics and Alive in America. I've been listening to it on Beats. The show was from right around the time In the Heat of the Night was released, and it almost exclusively features the songs from that album. The performance is amazing. The band sounds great -- electrifying and raw, with a metal/punk edge -- and Pat's voice is fresh and powerful. I've heard several live Benatar recordings, and this is the best-sounding performance I've heard yet.

 

Neil Giraldo is an incredibly talented guitar player. What is great about him IMO is his non linear approach to soloing. Rather than stick to "box" pentatonics or similar staples of rock soloing, he is all over the fretboard while remaining melodic. The first ever guitar solo I learned when I started taking lessons in 1980 was "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" -not a bad way to start eh? As a side note, I bought the 45RPM to learn the song and recall that version had some additional overdubbed guitar that is not on the album or radio version.

 

I love Pat and Neil. Such a great combo, and Neil can rip the guitar when he wants to.

 

I just saw a live special on the AXS channel or Palladia. Oh baby! Neil is Neil, but behind Pat, he's constantly "adding" to each song. Slides, little flourishes, etc. Even the more "pop" songs, he just "guitarizes" them. Really great show. I don't know if there is a DVD/BD of that show, some kind of anniversary show I think, but I can always just record the audio from that recording. He really shines.

 

If Pat Benatar had still wanted hits and airplay in 1987/88 (Wide Awake In Dreamland and after), I think the path for her to follow was Belinda Carlisle (the Heaven On Earth/Runaway Horses period). I think Belinda then had the niche Pat had occupied in 1983/84 ("Love Is A Battlefield", "We Belong", "Invincible" etc). Pop, but not dance pop or 'urban'/R&B; 'rock' (ish) but certainly radio friendly and MOR (Bryan Adams or Rick Springfield's turf). But even Belinda couldn't find a spot on pop radio or the Top 40 after 1989, so yeah, Benatar didn't have a lot of options then to keep herself on radio playlists and MTV.

 

2 CD/DVD 35th Anniversary Tour
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/n...eil-giraldo-35th-anniversary-tour-deluxe-set/
$14.88 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V84Q16E

 

^^^ Sweet! I'd give it 5 stars.

 

Neil plays the solo on "Jessie's Girl", excellent player.

 

One of my favourites from her. If this came out in 1983 instead of 1993, it probably would've been a hit.

 

An A+ to them. The relationship combined with the output is rare occurrence.

 

In RnR its unique.

I like hearing acoustic versions of the hits. Surprised they work so well..

 

They certainly were the powerhouse back in the day..



Back in junior high we had a teacher who was a dead ringer for Pat Benatar. We use to get in trouble for yelling out "Hey Pat!"

 

This is a good live package.

 

Pat and Neil are certainly artists. Instead of trying to remake earlier rock hits in the mid 80s or come out with a catchy novelty song they released the album Tropico.

 

I decided to take a break from the Paul McCartney and Monkees speculation threads to talk about someone else. I chose Pat. I always liked her music and had the early albums and the odd collection of hits. I've noticed that a lot of her catalog is going, or OOP. What are some good CD pressings to hunt down? The recent hits collections seem brickwalled and harsh.

 

Jan.10 : today is Pat Benatar's 66th birthday ....♥