On Pat Benatar's debut album "In The Heat Of The Night"

Nearly forgotten even by classic rock radio stations, Pat Benatar's 1979 debut album entitled "In The Heat Of The Night" is a diverse collection of very strong rock and pop songs.  Produced by Australians Mike Chapman and Peter Coleman, the album begins with the hard rocking FM radio-friendly "Heartbreaker".  

However, it quickly changes to the middle-of-the-road American rock of John Cougar's "I Need A Lover" (one of several covers on the record).  They opted to cut short the long intro that is on the original Cougar version.  Chapman brought in British songwriter Nicky Chinn to co-write a few tracks including mid-tempo rockers "If You Think You Know How to Love Me" and the title track.  "My Clone Sleeps Alone" begins as a sci-fi-themed pop ballad but transforms into a driving rock song demonstrating Benatar's vocal abilities.  Husband/guitarist Neil Giraldo penned the new wavey "We Live For Love" and it received a fair amount of airplay in its day.  It seemed aimed for the Blondie crowd, as "Heart Of Glass" was a recent hit.  "Rated X" is borrowed from British pop rocker Nick Gilder's 1977 You Know Who You Are record and Pat & co. do the track justice.  The ballad "Don't Let It Show" was originally found on the Alan Parsons Project's 1977 I Robot album.  

"No You Don't", another Chapman/Chinn composition, is a hard rock song that shows the songwriting duo may have been running out of hooks.  The album ends with "So Sincere", only the 2nd song in which Benatar is given writing credit, and it is a semi-throwaway track, unfortunately.  

Despite two weak tracks at the end of the album, as a whole the package is a solid debut from an artist that dominated the first half of the 1980's pop charts and possessed legendary vocal talent.  

Her sophomore effort "Crimes Of Passion" was a 5X Platinim smash featuring the top ten "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and as a whole the album featured a more stripped-down production value compared with her debut.  After Benatar's third album (or forth album depending who you talk to) her music turned decidedly pop leaving her rock fans a bit out in the cold.  But, the early portion of her catalog are worth rediscovering, or seeking out for the first time.