Search - Pat Benatar & Blondie :: Back to Back Hits

Blonde and Black haired pop

Pieter | Johannesburg | 03/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is an interesting concept, combining the snappy pop rockers that created their best work in the late 1970s with the fiery pop rock chanteuse who did her best in the early 1980s. They had in common an ear for a good tune, a distinctive commercial but authentic eighties sound and an image and attitude to go with it. Of the two artists, Ms. Benatar is certainly the harder rocker.I have a problem with the selection of tracks though. I can think of many greater hits that have aged better than Blondie's Call Me, One Way Or Another or Rapture, like Denis, Picture This, Sunday Girl or I'm Always Touched (By Your Presence Dear). Likewise, songs like I Need A Lover or her version of Wuthering Heights are more memorable numbers from the oeuvre of Pat Benatar than some of those included here.At least Heart Of Glass and The Tide Is High are melodic and catchy classics, whilst the same can be said for Heartbreaker and the hypnotic We Live For Love with its flowing synth textures. This combination album is a good idea but it could have been far better if there had been a more discerning track selection."