Customer Reviews

True Love

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

You know her music, you all did the shoulder shake from the video of LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD. But what many don't know is that Ms. Benatar has the pipes from being trained in opera.

Opera to rock, how did that happen you might ask? Well, let's wait for VH1's Behind the music to find out.

But this CD is what you have to call a treasure. It was never destined to be a smash hit. Pat Benatar singing the Blues? Who would have bought that? But damn it you need to give it a chance.

In my mind, this is where Ms. Benatar decided to stretch her artistic wings and go out at it.

The Blues is the father to rock and roll, and in Ms. Benatar's powerful voice you can hear why. She wraps herself in songs by BB King and more that you wouldn't expect. She is raw, heartfelt and passionate.

I wish the label had pushed it more. Or even for VH1 to have been more of an influence then like it is now. Pat Benatar would have benfited from VH1's Storytellers show to perform songs from th is album in that setting. Truly an amazing album!

Pat Benatar has always shown that she has a GREAT voice. Over the course of her career she has sung both rockers and ballads with equal passion and greatness. Well, this foray into the blues just leaves me further impressed with the woman as a performer. She sings ... on these blues classics.

The closest thing to a hit on this album was "True Love"--which was also an awesome concert song when I saw her a few years ago. That, in fact, is what turned me on to this album. Note that this is an original song, as are two other tracks on this collection. But for sure, her covers of such fare as "Bloodshot Eyes", "Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss", and "I've Got Papers On You" all rock the house. Even her cover of "Please Come Home For Christmas", which closes the album, sounds real good here.

Call my overall rating of this CD 4 3/4 stars, as it is just short of my favorite Pat material. Still, it is strongly recommended for anyone who loves Pat's amazing voice, cares about more than "the biggest hits", and likes to dip into the blues now and then. A very fun, enjoyable album.

Although I'm sure this is Pat's worst selling album, it really doesn't deserve all of the bad press that it's garnered her. It had to take a big set of onions to put out something as unfashionable as this, but she pulls it off nicely. The problem was in the timing, as she was WAY ahead of the curve on this one. Had it been released several years later it would have been right at the crest of the popular wave, but then she would have been getting belted for hopping on a trend. No way for her to win on this one, but that doesn't mean you can't. Buy the album.

Forget what that BC guy said, this is the best thing Pat has ever done. She smolders on "Evening", and the title track flat out rocks the blues (I had the good fortune to see her live at an outdoor concert in 1999, and that song brought the house down!). "So Long" is a wistful, bluesy tune reminicsant of an old 60's love ballad (probably is). From start to finish, this just a really fun CD. Makes you feel like youre in one of those old 50's night clubs, with Pat sitting there on the piano, like Michelle Pfeiffer in "The Fabulous Baker Boys". Darn near everyone I've ever played this for immediately ran out and bought a copy for themselves. For another really good album, with a more alternative, and textured slant, check out Pat's "Inamoratta" CD. To me, these are Pat Benatar's best two pieces of work. Forget that stuff she did in the 80's, this is Awesome stuff!

I have been a Pat Benatar fan ever since the 80's and still love those old hits like "hit me with your best shot" etc. Lately I have become enamoured with the blues. I subscribed to Yahoo's online music service and started listening to the blues station. One day the song "True Love" came on and I could not believe my ears. I knew instantly that it was Pat but could not believe I was hearing that beautiful voice singing blues. I instantly downloaded a few songs from the album. It was amazing! She sings blues like she was born to sing the blues. If you are strictly a rock fan do not even think of getting this cd, but if you like blues you cannot be without this cd. Oh just a side note, if you happen to channel surf to CMT and your timing is good you can see Pat and Martina Mcbride teaming up in a duo for a special that CMT does occasionally. You will hear unbelievable versions of Martina's songs sung by Pat (Independance Day). This goes to show that she is one of the most talented vocalists ever. I now have to explore Pat's other albums to see if there are any other undiscovered gems that I have overlooked. Anyway, if you like blues you will love this album.

I must admit that I did not start listening to Pat Benatar until recently (I only have two of her other CDs). However, I think that True Love is absolutely amazing. If you're looking for some really excellent Pat Benatar, or some excellent blues, then just get this CD! Heck, why are you reading the reviews?! Buy the CD!

Not one particular song comes out in my mind, for they were all incredible. But you can tell that all of the musicians (especially Pat) were having a great time recording this album.

I always thought that Pat Benatar had a great voice. When I learned that she also sang the blues, I became very excited. And now I know... Pat Benatar has an excellent jazz voice as well. She is truly talented, and the fact that she can do well in any genre is an attestment to that.

something different to listen to for sure.her voice really brings back this style of music .A good selection of all time classics. love it.

A wonderful CD showing off PB's vocal range and depth to the music of Roomful of Blues, who serve in the unusual role of backup band. If you like Blues you'll like this. If you like PB, you'll probably like it. If you like both, you'll love it.

True Love is a heartfelt blues album, or as Benatar described it herself, "jump blues." Most of the songs are by legendary figures like B.B. King (Playin' The Cost To Be The Boss and I've Got Papers On You), Albert King (I Get Evil), T-Bone Walker (Evening) and Wynonie Harris (Bloodshot Eyes). Since most of these were written by men, a few lyrical twists and adaptations had to be made, but it works well enough. Neil Geraldo co-wrote I Feel Lucky and The Good Life, while the title track - a real Moody Blues-type number - was written by Benatar and Geraldo. A vigorous sound pervades the album and Benatar's dynamic, clear voice does justice to the songs. An admirable venture.

Pat Benatar is one of my favorite female singers of all time in addition to just being an amazing vocalist regardless of gender. Beautiful, sexy and immensely talented, her long career has had it's share of ups and downs. Though True Love gets singled out as being one of her lowest points by a lot of people since it's her worst selling release that I'm aware of, it's actually one of her better releases in terms of quality as it sees her tackling genres that she would only tackle once: big band/swing/blues music.

Pat Benatar's popularity had started to wane during the 2nd half of the 80's and by the time the 90's started to roll around, I guess she felt that she had played her bombastic arena pop/rock style to it's logical limits by that point and a change was necessary.

So, with her husband and long time guitarist Neil Giraldo and her regular backing band got together with the Roomfull of Blues horn section and their drummer and did a blues, swing and swing album that turned out to be True Love.

It tanked commercially, but for fans of this style of music and/or Pat Benatar, it's got a lot to offer. It's only shortcoming is the inherent lack of variety at time due to how limited these genres end up being during the course of an album.

As far as her immense vocal prowess, this album allows her to stretch out much more vocally as she's not having to compete with an arena wall of sound/guitars like on the bulk of her classic 80's material. The backing band is most excellent.

The album is light, breezy, fun and pretty infectious. while the remastered version is available, the original CD sounded great already and can be bought for only a couple of dollars.

This CD is viewed as more of a curiousity in terms of her career as she only tried this once. While it tanked something fierce in terms of sales (and she would end up going back somewhat to her old style in subsequent efforts), we all know that sales don't really mean anything in terms of quality. This CD is well worth tracking down.