Meat Loaf Albums (15)
What The Critics Say
A companion to the 2007 live home video of the same name, 3 Bats Live finds Meat Loaf on a supporting tour for the Jim Steinman-less Bat Out of Hell III, running through selections from all three bats. It should come as little surprise that the songs from the Steinman albums shine brightly but the material from the third record is a bit better live than on tape, as it lacks the cold metallic sheen that made the entire enterprise seemed forced. Still, this is one for the fans, the ones who already own the video, and there may not be that many of them that want to hear this perfectly fine but not exceptionally inspiring music on its own apart from the visuals. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose'
Release Date 10/20/2006
Tracks 14
Label Mercury
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What The Critics Say
Truth be told, once Meat Loaf had a blockbuster with Bat Out of Hell in 1977, he never really left the bombastic sound of that Todd Rundgren-produced, Jim Steinman-written classic behind. He went through a long stretch where he didn't have any hits -- it's popularly known as the '80s -- but he kept reworking the album, never quite getting it right until he reteamed with Steinman for 1993's Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, which became a surprise international hit, re-establishing Meat Loaf as a major star. After that record, he never went away, continuing to record, tour, and act, but nothing quite matched the success of either Bat Out of Hell, so it made perfect sense for Meat to go back to the Bat well a third time in the mid-2000s -- over 12 years since the second Bat and nearly 30 years on from the first. But there was a hitch in his well-laid plan: Steinman didn't want to participate. This was a problem, because the Bat albums were as much Steinman's as they were Meat Loaf's -- and this point was never hidden, either, as Steinman's name was prominent on the cover of both Bats. Undaunted, Meat Loaf went ahead with the project, hiring Desmond Child as producer and picking several older Steinman songs to form the heart of Bat Out of Hell III, which now bore the subtitle of The Monster Is Loose. As the album's fall 2006 release date approached, Steinman took Meat Loaf to court over the record -- after all, not only had he written the Bat Out of Hell albums, but he owned the copyright to the phrase, so Meat needed permission in order to release the record. Permission was eventually granted in an out-of-court settlement, paving the way for the October 2006 release of Bat Out of Hell III, a record that had many Steinman songs but in no way features his involvement in the recording or production of the album. And, boy, is his absence ever felt! His presence looms large over the record -- quite obviously on the songs he wrote, but the very aesthetic of the album is copied wholesale from his blueprints -- yet it's the ways that Bat III is different, both big and small, that points out who is missing at this party. For one, this Bat is quite obviously a patchwork, pieced together from things borrowed and re-created, never quite gelling the way either of the previous Bats did. And if there's one thing that theatrical rock like this needs, it's a narrative through-line or at least a concrete goal. Child and Meat Loaf do have a goal, but it's merely to re-create the glory days; they're not quite so picky on how they get there. So, Child brings in Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx and Marilyn Manson's guitarist John 5 to pen the opening "The Monster Is Loose," and the results are disarming, a grindingly metallic riff-rocker that sits very uncomfortably next to Steinman's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now," written with Meat in mind (at least according to the singer) but originally recorded by Celine Dion. Such jarring shifts in tone are common throughout The Monster Is Loose, not just as it moves from song to song, but within the tunes themselves, as Child's compositions chase after the grandeur of Steinman's work yet bare all the marks of a professional who is playing a game without bothering to learn the rules. The same is true for the very sound of Bat III. Although original Bat producer Todd Rundgren adds some necessary pomp with his vocal arrangements, the album is at once too heavy and too clinical, lacking the gaudy, gonzo soul that made Bat Out of Hell irresistible camp. It's a brightly lit mess, but there is a redeeming factor here and that's Meat Loaf, who is singing his heart out as he valiantly tries to make this Bat a worthy successor to the originals. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Bat Out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony'
Release Date 9/14/2004
Tracks 20
Label Sanctuary
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What The Critics Say
The 2004 release Bat Out of Hell: Live With the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is pretty much what the title claims it is -- a live version of Meat Loaf's classic album, performed in its entirety, right down to the dialogue spoken between songs. Since there's no point in doing this live unless it's done perfectly, it shouldn't come as a surprise that this is more a re-creation than a reinterpretation, with very little to differentiate it sonically from the original studio album; even Ellen Foley's substitute Patti Russo sounds shockingly similar to her recorded counterpart. Since the Todd Rundgren-produced 1977 original is a masterpiece of studio wizardry and musical arrangement, there's not much reason to listen to Live instead of the original. Meat Loaf seems to admit as much with his liner notes, where he says "If you have this CD, you're a real fan!!" (The rest of the liner notes read: "Thanks & keep rockin'"). He's not wrong -- you have to be a real fan to want to hear this more than once. Not that it's bad -- it's far from bad, actually, it's well-performed, and Meat Loaf is in great voice -- but if you have the option of listening to this or the classic original, there's not a reason to choose this, since the 1977 original is as giddily intoxicating upon the hundredth listen as it is on the first. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Couldn't Have Said It Better'
Release Date 4/21/2003
Tracks 13
Label Mercury
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What The Critics Say
The eight years since Meat Loaf's last studio album didn't include any editions of his Bat Out of Hell series, but with a live album and a VH1 Storytellers appearance that relied heavily on Bat material, it sure seemed like it. Maybe that's why Couldn't Have Said It Better feels like the more sure and energetic post-Bat albums (Dead Ringer and Welcome to the Neighborhood) with the singer still sounding ecstatic from hitting a home run. Performance wise, Meat Loaf is in fine form, rocking it out bar-band style and able to deliver the grandiose tongue-in-cheek lyrics with just enough smirk. The material gets divided into two "chapters," splitting the songs into Bat-like mini-operas on the first and turning the bombast down to mere Queen level on the second. Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx and his writing partner James Michael contribute the bulk of the first chapter, with songs that betray taste and come right from the hulking Jim Steinman school. Just the right amount of camp keeps the rocking title track in check and Meat's call and response duet with Pearl Aday on "Man of Steel" stands with his finest moments. Chapter two kicks off with the great "Testify," a shimmy of a rave-up worthy of Meat's Eddie character from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was a brilliant move to hire Hedwig and the Angry Inch's composer/lyricist Stephen Trask for the husky "Tear Me Down," and Diane Warren contributes the softer "You're Right, I Was Wrong." The hyper and silly rap on "Do It" is ludicrous even by Meat Loaf's standards, but a chugging version of Dylan's "Forever Young" and the fiery version of "Mercury Blues," hidden as a bonus track, make for a perfect ending. At the time of its release, Steinman was five songs into writing Bat Out of Hell III. If he feeds off the serious competition on Couldn't Have Said It Better, it'll be fantastic. ~ David Jeffries, All Music Guide
'Live Around the World'
Release Date 1/1/1996
Tracks 18
Label Tommy Boy
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What The Critics Say
Deliberately theatrical, over the top and overblown, Meat Loaf's unapologetically '70s-sounding arena rock is exactly the type of music rock critics love to loathe. But what separates Meat Loaf's music from so much corporate rock is the amount of conviction he brings to it. Live Around the World may be campy, but it's an honest campiness -- never does this live two-CD set come across as contrived or formulaic. When Meat Loaf rips into "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through," "Bat Out of Hell" and other odes to the suburban adolescent experience, his sincerity is hard to miss. Even so, the package is unlikely to change anyone's mind -- Meat Loaf lovers will find much to admire, his detractors much to lash out at. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
'Welcome to the Neighborhood'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 12
Label Virgin
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Perhaps the international success of Bat Out of Hell II came as a surprise, but it was no shock that the follow-up, Welcome to the Neighborhood, was not, either commerically and artistically. While it nearly duplicates the sound and style of Meat Loaf's previous hit album, Neighborhood was recorded without the guidance of Jim Steinman, who was responsible for the sound of both Bat Out of Hell albums. The music has all of the elements that made the previous records hits -- there are layers of guitars, orchestras, voices -- but without Steinman, it's just not the same. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Meat Loaf collects a couple of Jim Steinman songs and he, Paul Jacobs, and Mack work at re-creating the Todd Rundgren production sound for an album of high-voltage rock. (Originally released on Arista Records in the U.K. in October 1984, Bad Attitude was released in the U.S. on RCA Records in April 1985.) ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell'
Release Date 1/1/1993
Tracks 11
Label MCA
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Although Meat Loaf has made several albums since Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell is an explicit sequel to that milestone of '70s pop culture. Reprising the formula of the original nearly to the letter, Back Into Hell is bombastic and has too much detail, thanks to the pseudo-operatic splendor of Jim Steinman's grandly cinematic songs. From the arrangements to the lengths of the tracks, everything on the album is overstated; even the album version of the hit single, "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)," is 12 minutes long. Yet that's precisely the point of this album, and is also why it works so well. No other rock & roller besides Meat Loaf could pull off the humor and theatricality of Back Into Hell and make it seem real. In that sense, it's a worthy successor to the original. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
By 1987, Meat Loaf was a forgotten man in his own country, but the story was different in Europe. While his 1986 studio LP Blind Before I Stop had marked a sales drop after five consecutive Top Ten albums in the U.K. (including the compilation Hits Out of Hell), it had still made the Top 40, as did the single "Rock 'N' Roll Mercenaries." That kind of consistency, along with the singer's reputation as a concert performer, more than justified the release of this tour souvenir, which was called Live at Wembley in Britain and simply Live elsewhere. (In America, it wasn't released at all.) While it demonstrated that Meat Loaf had the ability to perform his Bat Out of Hell warhorses competently and passionately and that other hits such as "Modern Girl" could rock a crowd, however, the album really never was anything more than a tour souvenir. The sound wasn't great, and although the audience was enthusiastic, Meat Loaf and the band simply went from one song to another, without comment and without much variation from the performances on the much better recorded studio albums. Of course, the juxtaposition of songwriter Jim Steinman's ambitious Bat Out of Hell suites with the more pedestrian arena rock songs Meat Loaf recorded without him was unkind to the latter. The only thing out of the ordinary was the concluding "Rock 'N' Roll Medley," clearly an encore, but Meat Loaf himself was missing in action for much of it, leaving his backup band and backup singers to take the lead vocals on the first two selections, "Johnny B. Goode" and "Slow Down." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
