Wild fat man singing- Quality (The Very Best Of Meat Loaf - Meat Loaf)

Member Name: nednod

Product:	The Very Best Of Meat Loaf - Meat Loaf
Date:	07/01/02 (1746 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wild, Great voice, Classic stuff

Disadvantages: Nothing

In 1977 an unknown man calling himself Meat Loaf, released his debut album, Bat out of hell 1. This album remained unnoticed for around 6 months, when it suddenly started selling wildly. That album, is now the third biggest selling album ever, have been in the album charts for 395 weeks in total, being outsold by Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac. It never actually reached no.1 in the album chart, no.9 being its highest entry to date.

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General facts
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Jim Steinman his real name, Meat Loaf was accompanied by many other musicians:
Guitar- Todd Rundgreen
Piano- Roy Bittan, who originally came from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
Keyboards- Jim Steinman(Meat Loaf), Roy Bittan & Todd Rundgreen
Bass- Kasim Sulton
Drums- Max Weinberg
Percussion- Jim Steinman(Meat Loaf) & Todd Rundgreen
Background vocals- Rory Dodd, Ellen Foley, Todd Rundgreen & Kasim Sulton
Motorcycle Guitar- Todd Rundgreen
Synthesizer- Roger Powell

He also had duets with such singers as Cher and Lorraine Crosby.

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The Best Of.
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In 1998 Meat Loaf decided to hang up his boots and finally, after 19 years of Rock n' Roll, released his "Best Of" record.

Drawn by Joe Pearson, the cover, similar Bat Out Of Hell 1 & 2, is of a man, with the wind blowing through his long hair, standing on the edge of what looks to be on an old broken bridge, with a gigantic bat hovering just below him. The ground is the remains of a desolate city, and the sky shows the clouds, forming into a man riding away on a motorcycle.

The first song on the album, which is made up of two CDs, is named "Home By Now/ No Matter What" and came from the film "The Lost Boys"

Andrew Lloyd Webber composes its opera like music, however its lyr
ics are by Meat Loaf. It starts off with an organ and lyrics, as if from a church or cathedral, then the keyboard takes over and Meat Loaf starts off with a quiet voice, getting louder, as you start to hear the violins coming in. After the first half of the song, Meat Loaf comes in with the second part, which, you may recognise to be a song that Boyzone totally ruined with their version, however, Meat Loaf does do it some justice. As the backing vocals start to come through the instruments more and more, ML starts to increase his volume, showing off what his voice range can get to. GREAT.

The second song shows what Meat Loaf really thinks of life, "Life is a lemon and I want my money back." It starts off with the backing vocal singing the title, and then Meat Loaf coming in with lyrics describing what life is really like for him, with lines such as, "It's a never ending attack and that's a fact I want my money back", "What about love? Its defective- it's always breaking in half" and "It's all or nothing, and nothings all I ever get." This song is good for if your angry or in a mood. GREAT.

The third song is one of my personal favourites, "You took the words right out of my mouth" is in some ways a love song, with ML describing a kiss he had with another woman and what he wanted to say to her. There is a short intro with two people talking, a man asking a woman questions to see if she loves him. After this there is a few seconds silence and then Meat Loaf comes in. ML describes where he was, "It was a hot summer night and the beach was burning." The chorus then describes what happened, "Well you took the words right out of my mouth, it must have been when you were kissing me" then he goes on to say what the words were,"And I swear its true- I was just about to say I love you." Then comes my favourite part of the song. All of the instruments stop and leav
e ML and the backing singers to carry on singing, GREAT

"Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad," the fourth song, is a heartbreaker song. It's relatively slow with just a piano and drums being played. The lyrics are very well thought of and are great if you're feeling sad, or if you've just broken up with someone. The songs chorus is ML telling his x-girlfriend, "I'm never gonna love you. Now don't be sad. Cause two out of three ain't bad." It brings a tear to your eye just reading that, doesn't it? GREAT.

The fifth song, "Modern Girl", is ML demanding "the future of the modern girl." Don't ask me.
This song is quiet fast, and contains a big guitar solo. It also repeats itself many times, however, though this may sound boring, it's quite uplifting and makes you want to go wild. GREAT.

Number six the album is another one of my personal favourites, it is especially good for when your feeling down and want to be cheered up. "Rock And Roll Dreams Come True" is a heart-warming song and it makes you believe (sorry if that sounded like something S Club 7 would say but it does). The chorus is a good example of this, "There's always something magic, there's always something new, and when you really, really need it the most, that's when rock and roll dreams come true." GREAT.

"Is Nothing Sacred" is a song that you make's you think about things that are happening in the world nowadays. ML pours his heart out describing what things are like, with lines such as, "Is forever just another word? Is nothing sacred anymore? Is a promise something people used to keep when love was fighting for?" ML really stretches his vocals in this song and its well worth it, a GREAT song.

The eighth song, "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" is ML dueting with Ellen Foley, one of his backing singers. Its about what a gi
rl and boy does when their love."Let Mother Nature do the rest. Ain't no doubt about it. We were doubly blessed. Cause we're barely seventeen. And we were barely. We're gonna go all the way tonight." A very long song but it works. GREAT.

"Heaven Can Wait" is moderately short, for a ML song. In it, ML is telling his girlfriend how he wants to stay with her, "I got a taste of paradise. And that's all I need to make me stay." GREAT.

The second CD is, in my view, better than the first. It has 4 classic ML songs on and it also shows off a bit more of the band.

In 1993, Meat Loaf returned to release his smash hit, "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" reaching no.1. The song starts off with a short introduction of a motorbike revving up. Then drowning out the sound of the motorbike comes the piano and guitar. After that, all goes quiet and ML starts singing, "And I would do anything for love, I'd run into hell and back." After this has repeated a good 10 times, with verses in between and the odd guitar solo, a woman starts to sing, "Will you hold me sacred? Will you hold me tight? Can you colorize my life I'm so sick of black and white?" With ML replying each time, "I can do that, oh, oh, I can do that." After a few more questions, the woman changes to making a few statements, "After a while you'll forget everything. It was a brief interlude and a midsummer's night fling. And you'll see that its time to move on." With ML replying, "I won?t do that. No I won't that." It is now nearing the end and it goes back to the chorus. Then it finally finishes with the motorbike noises coming back in. It lasts well over 12 minutes but even though it's very long its still a good song and will always remain a classic. GREAT.

"A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" again features Andrew Lloyd W
ebber's music, it is basically ML saying how you should try to do as much as possible when your young, "We'll never be as young as we are now" and "It's always been so, a kiss etc." Another long song but this one is not nearly as good as the previous song though it does get better nearer the end. GREAT.

No.3, "I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)" is another love song by ML, this time featuring a woman singing as well. In it, ML try's to persuade the woman to go out with him by telling her what he would do for her, "I'd never tell you one lie. I'd never let you down. I'd never leave." This is good song and stretches ML's voice to the limit. GREAT.

"Not A Dry Eye In The House", is another heartbreaker song, with ML describing how he feels after his girlfriends just dumped him. "Listen and you'll hear the sound. The sound of a heart breaking." This is a very good song, and is good for if your feeling down. GREAT.

The fifth song, well not really a song, "Nocturnal Pleasure" is a ML just talking for a few seconds. I don't know.

In the sixth song, "Dead Ringer For Love", features the famous Cher singing with ML. It is quite a fast song and it describes two people who go to a bar each night for some drink and Rock n' Roll, when what they really want is each other. "Rock n' Roll and brew. I know that you and I have got better things to do." This is a very upbeat song and with Cher with him, it works very well. GREAT.

"Midnight At The Lost And Found", the seventh song, is another upbeat song, its guitar solo adds to the song and its quite good, however, I don't have a clue what its about. GREAT.

"Objects In My Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" changes the tempo completely from the last two songs. It is a slow song, mostly with ML and
the piano by themselves, with the odd few guitar and drum sections where they help them along. The song tells of what seems to be ML's childhood. "But it was long ago and it was far away." It tells you of how it was so bad, "I'll hear that ugly, coarse and violent voice. And then he grabs me from behind and then pulls me back." Then he meets a girl and falls in love with her but she leaves, "But everything we tried was right. She used her body just like a bandage, she used my body just like a wound." This is a very, very good song and is probably one of my favourite ML songs, GREAT.

The final song on the album is probably ML's most famous song, I went to the pantomime just recently and they made the dame come in with the intro of it playing. They then used the phrase "Like a Dame out of hell" it goes to show how famous it really is. "Bat Out Of Hell" wasn't a hit when it came out but it will always remain a classic. The song starts off with a very long intro, with a big guitar solo in it. It tells us, how he going to, "Like a bat out of hell" be gone when the morning comes and how he and his lover should make the most of what time they have left. He then goes on to say he'll, "like a sinner before the gates of heaven will come crawling on back to her." After a few more guitar solos the song starts to near its end. But not before ML can get a few more lyrics in, "And the last thing I see is my heart. Still beating. And breaking out of my body and flying away like a bat out of hell." A truly great song that will always remain a classic. GREAT.

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Overall
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All in all this is a classic album, the music, the lyrics and ML's voice all make this one of the best albums ever!

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