Customer Reviews

Wide Awake in Dreamland

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is such a travesty that this album never garnered Pat greater acclaim and has been lost in virtual obscurity.
Song choice: flawless.
Vocal prowess: impeccable.
Overall album: a cohesive, straight-ahead rock album with guts.

I know that "Wide Awake in Dreamland" is the best of the albums from the third part of Pat Benatar's career, but if I cannot make an argument for it being her best album ever I can still say that it is my favorite. Or, to be more specific, that what would have been the "A" side if this was a record is my favorite, because once I play the first five tracks I am just as likely to go back to the beginning or play the fifth track again than to proceed to the final five tracks. But then the fifth track on this album is one of her very best songs.

This 1988 album fulfills the first requirement for a great Pat Benatar album by having a hard rocker for the opening track. On previous albums that has meant songs like "Heartbreaker," "Promises in the Dark," and "Shadows of the Night." On this one it means "All Fired Up," another song designed to open up a Pat Benatar concert. The only notable difference from the others is that the song has some stripped down sections that emphasize Benatar's vocals before she once again gets an opportunity to show that her voice is going to power through the music, no matter how high you crank up the volume. This reflects the fact that "Wide Awake in Dreamland" is not really a hard rock album. "One Love (Song of the Lion)" keeps the instrumentation down, plays up the rhythm, and gives Benatar an opportunity to do some nice harmonies with the double-tracked vocals. Throughout the album playing up the rhythms in different ways (e.g., "Let's Stay Together," "Don't Walk Away") is a consistent choice by producer, lead guitarist and husband Neil Geraldo, who absolutely knows how to showcase his wife's voice, even if he is not one of the writers or the songs (Geraldo has a hand in writing eight of the ten tracks).

The standout track is the haunting "Too Long a Soldier," which again takes the minimalist approach with the instrumentation. Granted, this is an anti-war song, but it is one that indicts war in general ("I've see n so much worth dying for, So little worth killing over") that the song cannot be qualified as a song against a specific war, which is where such songs usually become more potent and more controversial. Besides, it is an anti-war song that clearly honors the soldiers who have to fight. What stands out is the sublime ending where Benatar works in bits of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The Star Spangled Banner" into the final chorus and the long musical fade out. This was never a hit single, but it is far and away one of Benatar's very best songs.

The rest of the album suffers somewhat in comparison and I think "Too Long a Soldier" should have been the album's final track. One of the reasons I often stop listening to the album at this point is that when "Cool Zero" starts up, the hard driving rock is too jarring a transition for me. But "Cerebral Man" and " "Lift Em on Up" again play up the rhythm section for Benatar to sing against. You really will notice the rhythm sections on most of these songs. "Suffer the Little Children" returns Benatar to familiar group and if you have heard her "Best Shots" album you will remember how she does a bit of the song acoustically before launching into "Hell is For Children" in a memorable live track. The title track ends the album on more of rock note, which just underscores how the best songs here reflect more pop sensibilities than anything else once you get past the opening song.

"All Fired Up" (#19) was the only single released from the album. "Wide Awake in Dreamland" only made it to #28 on the Billboard chart, which made it Benatar's least successful album up to that point in her career. "Precious Time" had made it all the way to the top of the charts. But by the late 1980s Benatar has fallen out of favor with the mainstream rock audience. No wonder it would be three years before she put out another album, "True Love," which was a radical departure involving the lady singing the blues and early R&B. So this album clearly marks the end of one period in Benatar's career.

I am one of the few who ranks Pat's albums in the order they came out. I purchased her debut album on the day it hit the streets in '79, just by chance being in my old record store haunt when the manager pulled it out of the box and inspired by her sultry cover, tossed on the store stereo. Wow! I plunked down the cash before we got to the second side. After "If You Think You Know..." and the title track, I had In The Heat of the Night in my backpack on my way home to my own ear-blasting stereo. Ain't nuthin' like real vinyl. Each successive album became another gem in my collection. After Seven The Hard Way, I realized I liked them all in the order I bought them! Still do! Heat is numero uno and Tropico was number five. Seven The Hard Way easily fell into sixth place, don't get me wrong, it's a terrific album but it's carried (for me) by Walking in the Underground and Le Bel Age, the rest of the "hits" were become commercial fare for Pat and as with Heart, I was getting complacent in the music. So Maybe, Pat was too?
However, then after a three year wait, I picked up this little gem. I would love this album if only Too Long A Soldier and Don't Walk Away were the only good songs on it and I hated the rest! Those two just knock me out! With Pat, the hard rock stuff reached it's zenith on Precious Time, you cannot beat her first three albums for the edge! But just as Evil Genius forshadowed things to come, I think Wide Awake In Dreamland is the culmination of Pat's explorations. These songs are artistic, they are intellectual (as usual), and they are gripping. Her voice is her voice, don't matter what record you are listening to, The Benetar is the Queen of Female Vocals. But when it comes to serious song writing and musical execution, I have to say that this album ranks up in the top three someplace!
I think the gentleman from New South Wales who reviewed this earlier hit the nail on the head with the best song selection, I can only trump that with They Are All Fantastic and These Are Just The Appetizers! So that makes Suffer The Little Children the after-dinner wine and the title track a wonderful dessert!

Excellent Benatar! Now if only it were re-released!

This album is out of print and is a rare find for anyone who is trying to find/add it to their collection. The album should have gotten more attention/acclaim, but was over shadowed by critics because of her earlier recordings were more of a "rockin' edge". Even today all of these songs still have a message/meaning. Just like they did when the LP was origionally released. This is definately a must have LP!

Ok folks, here we are. In a wasteland of musical indestion, this cd WIDE AWAKE IN DREAMLAND is a gem. It isn't just good, IT IS GREAT. I listened to it for few choice cuts first, but after much listening it grows on you. If your looking for something refreshing, rocking, this gem has alot of substance.
ROCK-ON now ya here :)

I bought the CD years ago in London and played it mainly for all fired up - which along with love is a battlefield from the hits album seemed like Pats' best rocker bound efforts ( obviously there are better tracks which didn't get the air play ) WE got burgled and wiped out - my CD's been sold for 50 pence each at the local rogues' pub - this album is indeed very rare - and the tracks in general are very good indeed . Don't go to the HMV for this they won't be able to get it .... I advise you snap it up if you see it !!

Love and cuddles in Rock

JOHN

In 1988, after a three-year hiatus, where Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo had married and had given birth to a daughter, Pat Benatar released her eighth album entitled, WIDE AWAKE IN DREAMLAND, another album that proved Pat Benatar to be one of the greatest Rockers of all time. Not only is the album amazing, but Pat's style and looks for this album were also amazing. Throughout most of her career, Pat always sported a short cropped, feminine hair-do. But for this album, Pat Benatar went into the late '80s style, where she was then seen with her hair down to her shoulders, where her hair was in curls. I found Pat to be at her most attractive in this style.

ALL FIRED UP
First single from the album. This is my favorite track from this album. Definitely one of the best rock tunes of the late '80s.

ONE LOVE
Second single from the album. Great song.

LET'S STAY TOGETHER
Incredible.

DON'T WALK AWAY
Great.

TOO LONG A SOLDIER
Great.

COOL ZERO
Amazing.

CEREBRAL MAN
Great song.

LIFT 'EM UP
Great.

SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN
Third single from the album. Great song. When Pat toured for this album, she performed this song in a medley with "Hell Is For Children". In that medley, she started off with the first verse of this song, where she actually sang it as a ballad, in order to match up and easily seque into "Hell Is For Children". When Pat sequed into "Hell Is For Children", after singing the first verse to "Suffer The Little Children", Pat decided to sing "Hell Is For Children" in its entirety, but making the song heavier than the original studio version.

WIDE AWAKE IN DREAMLAND
Awesome title-track.

This is perhaps her Best LP! very Strong material on this one!!! after a three yet wait, i was happy to see Miss Benatar return with this one!

Length:: 1:10 Mins

Pat took a few years off after Seven The Hard Way and seeing as I was practically a homeless runaway around the summer of 1988, I had no idea she finally had a new album coming out, but one day on WIFC they played the awesome "All Fired Up" by Pat and I knew the world was all good again. The song is probably one of her best of all time, starting with a rousing guitar intro before the drums pump in for a fast paced rock and roll tribute to positivity, "living with my eyes closed/going day to day/ I never had a reason/ I never cared anyway" before the chorus kicks in "Now I believe there comes a time/ when everything just falls in line/ we live and learn from our mistakes/ the deepest cuts are healed by faith" and for some strange reason the song never even nears cheesiness. Smartly enough the first single is also the opener for the Wide Awake In Dreamland album. The whole album plays to two ideals, the happiness you can find and need to find and the drama that leads you to the depths of darkness, of course they're strung together in those subjects by what was once each side of the record. After "All Fired Up", the band slows down for a semi tribute to Bob Marley called "One Love (Song Of The Lion)" a nice little groove drives the song with lyrics about searching for peace, before the rocking "Let's Stay Together" that bangs from beginning to end with Pat delivering with ferocity, then another slow and sweet ditty "Don't Walk Away" which was released as the second single and though it didn't chart in the US, it was #42 in the UK, a very great feat for Miss Pat since her most famous songs didn't even score that high across the pond. The Nick Gilder co-written ballad has Pat reaching the stars with her high octaves and the break down with overdubs of her soprano and her growl is awesome, "Too Long A Soldier" is the following track and my favorite on the album, a 6 minute Spanish styled rock ballad about soldiers and war and its effect which ends with Pat singing a line from "The Star Spangled Banner", it's truly brilliant. The uglier side of the world is reflected on the next batch of songs as the rocking breaks in for "Cool Zero" an urban tale of mischeif and hijinxs, "Cerebral Man" is an unusual song in the Pat canon, a fairly sophisticated little song about lost love that is probably considered filler but really needs to be heard, then the poor Johnny who could or would never amount to anything in "Lift 'Em On Up", followed by the child abuse tale of Melissa in "Suffer The Little Children" which Pat wrote after a real life case involving a kidnapped little girl named Melissa, and the final and my second favorite track, the title track which begins with whishing guitar rolls and breaks into a new wavey rock song supposedly about drug addiction, but with the great vocal performance, obscure yet entertaining lyrics and great instrumentation, it could be about nothing and it would still be a classic Benatar song.