PAT BENATAR – Tropico + Seven The Hard Way [BGO 2-in-1 remastered]

As requested, here we have PAT BENATAR‘s mid-80s albums remastered by BGO Records including a bonus track, ”Tropico” + ”Seven The Hard Way”, all on one CD.
A sign of times, both albums showcased a much more rock&pop radio friendly material in terms of arrangements and production compared with Benatar previous LP’s, but despite the bombastic production, the girl still rocked, with songs composed by the likes of Tom Kelly & Billy Steinberg (i-Ten), Holly Knight (Device) or Robert Tepper.

”Tropico” was a marked departure from the rocking delivery of Pat earlier albums towards the sound of the era. Neil Giraldo co-writes most of these songs with Pat and other songwriters. His guitar playing is prominent on this record, but finds him experimenting with different styles to add some new textures to Pat Benatar’s sound. The album did enjoy decent commercial success as it went platinum and reached #14 on Billboard.

In addition to the ubiquitous “We Belong”, “Temporary Heroes” is a mature approach at melodic rock, though again since it isn’t out-of-the-box radio friendly it had little chance of making much of a splash.
“A Crazy World Like This” is another solid rocker, while the organ fueled retro of “Ooh Ooh Song” is something of a guilty pleasure. That’s four heavy hitters on one disc, along with the pleasant tones of “Painted Desert”, “Outlaw Blues” and “Takin’ it Back”. That’s a lot more than you get on most albums.

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”Seven The Hard Way” continues the slick approach of Tropico and is benefited by a wealth of songs written by professional AOR songwriters such as Tom Kelly & Billy Steinberg (i-Ten), Holly Knight (Device) or Robert Tepper.

Returning again to Billy Steinberg, who had written songs for all her studio records except her debut, opener ‘Sex As A Weapon’ is an infectious radio-song in total step with its times.
And the second track, ‘Le Bel Age’, penned by Robert Tepper, is fluffy and catchy as any lite-AOR of 1985.

The rest of the album, including Holly Knight’s ‘Invincible’ (“The Legend Of Billie Jean” movie theme), is excellent edgy emotional rock.
With its amped 80s production, Benatar sings as though she is making her way through a combat zone of explosive drum and synth effects, and searing razor processed guitars. She sings with passion and more than a little aggression.
There is even a fantastic, bombastic cover of the Holland / Dozier track ‘Seven Rooms of Gloom’, made famous by the Four Tops.

‘Big Life’ is a bitchy hard driving rocker, the kind at which Geraldo excelled. ‘Red Vision’ has a little new wave-ish durge straight out of the apocalypse, but it rocks. And the closing ‘Art of Letting Go’, while more restrained, nevertheless ends the record in style.
”Seven The Hard Way” was the sort of emotional rock that Benatar could sing with stunning conviction, and in my opinion extremely underrated into her discography.

As bonus, there’s “Love Is a Battlefield” written by Holly Knight as well, originally released in 1983 as a single from Benatar’s live album Live From Earth, though the song itself was a studio recording. The song was ranked at number 30 in VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s, and still is a FM radio classic.

There’s at least 3 versions of this ”Tropico + Seven The Hard Way” BGO release, with different artwork, not including the bonus, and slightly shorter versions of the songs. This is the one featuring the full songs, and “Love Is a Battlefield”.
Highly Recommended

Tropico (1984) remastered:
01 – Diamond Field
02 – We Belong
03 – Painted Desert
04 – Temporary Heroes
05 – Love In The Ice Age
06 – Ooh Ooh Song
07 – Outlaw Blues
08 – Suburban King
09 – A Crazy World Like This
10 – Takin’ It Back

Seven The Hard Way (1985) remastered:
11 – Sex As A Weapon
12 – Le Bel Age
13 – Walking In The Underground
14 – Big Life
15 – Red Vision
16 – 7 Rooms Of Gloom
17 – Run Between The Raindrops
18 – Invincible (“The Legend Of Billie Jean” movie theme)
19 – The Art Of Letting Go
BONUS TRACK:
20 – Love Is A Battlefield

Pat Benatar – vocals
Neil Giraldo – guitars, harmonica, percussion
Charlie Giordano – keyboards, percussion
Donnie Nossov – bass, backing vocals
Myron Grombacher – drums, percussion
Lenny Castro – percussion

BUY IT
www.amazon.co.uk/Tropico-Seven-Hard-Way-Benatar/dp/B00000GWZW