Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell (Songs by Jim Steinman) ( reissue 180g vinyl LP )

Release date: 20-02-2017 (Originally released in 1977)

2017 EU reissue on 180g vinyl LP - Including the hit "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," the less bombastic "You Took the Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" and the peaceful "Heaven Can Wait". A mix of rock & roll (Phil Spector) and Opera (Richard Wagner) came to his typical Wagnerian rock.

Tracks:
A1. Bat Out Of Hell
A2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
A3. Heaven Can Wait
A4. All Revved Up With No Place To Go     

B1. Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad
B2. Paradise by the Dashboard Light
 a. Paradise
 b. Let Me Sleep On It
 c. Praying For The End Of Time
B3. For Crying Out Loud

There is no other album like Bat Out of Hell, unless you want to count the sequel. This is Grand Guignol pop -- epic, gothic, operatic, and silly, and it's appealing because of all of this. Jim Steinman was a composer without peer, simply because nobody else wanted to make mini-epics like this. And there never could have been a singer more suited for his compositions than Meat Loaf, a singer partial to bombast, albeit shaded bombast.

The compositions are staggeringly ridiculous, yet Meat Loaf finds the emotional core in each song, bringing true heartbreak to "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" and sly humor to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." There's no discounting the production of Todd Rundgren, either, who gives Steinman's self-styled grandiosity a production that's staggeringly big but never overwhelming and always alluring. While the sentiments are deliberately adolescent and filled with jokes and exaggerated clichés, there's real (albeit silly) wit behind these compositions, not just in the lyrics but in the music, which is a savvy blend of oldies pastiche, show tunes, prog rock, Springsteen-esque narratives, and blistering hard rock (thereby sounding a bit like an extension of Rocky Horror Picture Show, which brought Meat Loaf to the national stage). It may be easy to dismiss this as ridiculous, but there's real style and craft here and its kitsch is intentional. It may elevate adolescent passion to operatic dimensions, and that's certainly silly, but it's hard not to marvel at the skill behind this grandly silly, irresistible album. ALLMUSIC