Crimes of Passion is an unintentional tribute to the talents of producer Mike Chapman–not that he had anything to do with the record. Rather, the sodden songwriting and excruciating excesses of Pat Benatar's second album make you belatedly appreciate the tailored bloodlessness of her Chapman-produced debut. Benatar has a lovely operatic soprano–the fluttering, trebly verses of "Wuthering Heights" offer a glimpse of her real potential – but she uses it mainly to emulate the sound of ripping metal while her band bulldozes the beat into wreckage.

Lacking both subtlety and playfulness, Benatar delivers the brunt of Crimes of Passion's material–most of it leaden reworkings of hard-rock clichés ("Treat Me Right." "Prisoner of Love") – with a shrill seriousness that rarely varies. She's at her most carnest in "Hell Is for Children," an indictment of child abuse that's as grotesque as it is well meaning. Musically and lyrically ("It's all so confusing/This brutal abusing/They blacken your eyes/And then pologize"), "Hell Is for Children" immediately follows a puff-and-panter called "Hit Me with Your Best Shot." If Pat Benatar misses the irony there, she ought to think twice about rock & roll. (RS 330)

DEBRA RAE COHEN