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Bat Out of Hell trilogy


GivenToFly

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I gave them all a listen in sequence again a few days ago and I've been listening to the first one like crazy since.

The original is a pretty much perfect masterpiece of epic rocking. So crazy and beautiful and ridiculous! I absolutely love it!

The second is not quite as great, but really not very far behind. Worthy sequel.

I think the third suffers from a) Meat Loaf's weaker vocals in old age and b) the change in style: whereas the first two have a sort of timeless quality to them this one goes for a more modern gothic vibe in both composition and production and suffers for it. Maybe this is related to the fist issue as this kind of hard rock is something you don't need that older bombastic vocals to pull off. Still decent but not really remarkable in any way and in a completely different class from I and II.

Opinions?

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The fact that Meat Loaf brought in Desmond Fucking Child as the primary replacement for Jim Steinman on Bat III is a disgrace. Not to mention the Steinman songs he did use weren't ones Steinman even wanted him to have.

I cannot hate on Desmond Child because he co-wrote a bunch of my favorite Aerosmith songs and a whole lot of other songs I love but the Bat Out Of Hell concept is Steinman's ... uhm... child and nobody else should have done it.

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In fact the part after Objects... (last five tracks) is my least favorite part from the first two. If the album ended with Objects... it would actually be perfect imo, and still longer than the original.


  • '98 remix of Life is a Lemon is better than album version

Where is this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Best_of_Meat_Loaf

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In fact the part after Objects... (last five tracks) is my least favorite part from the first two. If the album ended with Objects... it would actually be perfect imo, and still longer than the original.

  • '98 remix of Life is a Lemon is better than album version

Where is this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Best_of_Meat_Loaf

Gah! For some reason that one track off that album isn't available on Spotify.

Is this it?

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In fact the part after Objects... (last five tracks) is my least favorite part from the first two. If the album ended with Objects... it would actually be perfect imo, and still longer than the original.

  • '98 remix of Life is a Lemon is better than album version

Where is this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Best_of_Meat_Loaf

Gah! For some reason that one track off that album isn't available on Spotify.

Is this it?

Yes.

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I gave them all a listen in sequence again a few days ago and I've been listening to the first one like crazy since.

The original is a pretty much perfect masterpiece of epic rocking. So crazy and beautiful and ridiculous! I absolutely love it!

The second is not quite as great, but really not very far behind. Worthy sequel.

I think the third suffers from a) Meat Loaf's weaker vocals in old age and b) the change in style: whereas the first two have a sort of timeless quality to them this one goes for a more modern gothic vibe in both composition and production and suffers for it. Maybe this is related to the fist issue as this kind of hard rock is something you don't need that older bombastic vocals to pull off. Still decent but not really remarkable in any way and in a completely different class from I and II.

Opinions?

your assessment is spot on.

Edited by bran
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Loved the first album since before I could walk.

I like the second one,but some of the chorus's are a little too repetitive for my liking. You know, the same line repeated 4-6 times. Just comes across as lazy songwriting. One or two songs like this is ok on an album, but nearly every song on II is like this. (Only a problem if you listen to the album the whole way through I guess.)

I didn't even know III existed until fairly recently. I've only listened to it once or twice. It's ok, but doesn't have a patch on the first one.

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He should have done III at the 20th of Bat Out of Hell and it should have been all Steinman songs, they should have had it planned when they made It. He still had a strong enough voice to do the material but Todd Rundgren should have produced it. It would have been hard to get Roy Bittan and especially Max Weinberg at the time, because they had the Springsteen tour and Max had the Conan O'Brien gig, but they could have fit them in somehow.

There's also an album worth seeking out called "Pandora's Box" Steinman put out in the late 80s, some of those songs resurfaced and were much bigger hits, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" being the biggest.

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He should have done III at the 20th of Bat Out of Hell and it should have been all Steinman songs, they should have had it planned when they made It. He still had a strong enough voice to do the material but Todd Rundgren should have produced it. It would have been hard to get Roy Bittan and especially Max Weinberg at the time, because they had the Springsteen tour and Max had the Conan O'Brien gig, but they could have fit them in somehow.

There's also an album worth seeking out called "Pandora's Box" Steinman put out in the late 80s, some of those songs resurfaced and were much bigger hits, "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" being the biggest.

Steinman put out an album called Bad For Good as well that had some songs that later featured in Bat Out Of Hell II (Out of the Fying Pan, Rock' n Roll Dreams plus one or two more). I've never listened to the album, so no idea what it's like.

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The songs from "Bad for Good" are on You Tube, but Steinman did well with the songs from the album. It would have been a great follow up but even if Meat Loaf sang on it, I don't think it was as strong as the material on Bat I.

One of the songs on that album was covered by Streisand, and Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" came out of "Stark Raving Love".

But Meat Loaf did put this one out -

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I like the second one,but some of the chorus's are a little too repetitive for my liking. You know, the same line repeated 4-6 times. Just comes across as lazy songwriting. One or two songs like this is ok on an album, but nearly every song on II is like this. (Only a problem if you listen to the album the whole way through I guess.)

I get what you're saying. There's an issue with repetitiveness and not just with the choruses. You've also got tracks 3 and 4 (It Just Wont Quit and Out of the Frying Pan) and then tracks 8 and 9 (Everything Louder and Good Girls Go To Heaven) that in a very similar style but imo weaker so it's like you're listening to worse versions of two songs you've already heard a few minutes ago.

The worst instance of lazy songwriting is on Out of the Frying Pan where the second verse is just the first verse repeated. I hate it when songs have that. Still, it's such an amazing song I'll forgive it. It's strange because it sounds like it's straight out of a musical and I don't even like musicals.

Does anybody listen to any other Meat Loaf music (other than Bat Out Of Hells)? I've been listening to Bad Attitude. The first two songs(title track and Modern Girl) are pretty good songs. Rest of the album is decent but not special. Surf's Up sounds a lot like a short version of Objects In The Rear View Mirror.

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Dead Ringer is my fav Loaf album aside from Bat Out Of Hell

Don't mind this album, but Meatloaf's voice sounds very strained or something on a lot of the songs. Definitely not his best vocal performance. I think I remember hearing a story about how he blew out his voice touring Bat Out of Hell, but they rushed him back into the studio to get the follow up album recorded, anyway.

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Dead Ringer is my fav Loaf album aside from Bat Out Of Hell

Don't mind this album, but Meatloaf's voice sounds very strained or something on a lot of the songs. Definitely not his best vocal performance. I think I remember hearing a story about how he blew out his voice touring Bat Out of Hell, but they rushed him back into the studio to get the follow up album recorded, anyway.

I don't know the time period, but Loaf lost his voice completely at one point and couldn't sing at all. I think it was right after the Bat Out Of Hell whirlwind but could be wrong

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