Search - Meat Loaf :: Bat Out of Hell

Operatic Morality! Puzzled? Read on.

Mike London | Oxford, UK | 07/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Those who dismiss this undeniably popular album due to puerile lyrics (generally leveled at this album's sequel), over-the-top production, and Meat Loaf singing so passionately about such adolescent themes as a badly written farce totally miss the point. This is an album that pokes fun at all the rock and roll pretensions that had crept into rock music over the years (Townshend can you hear me?), and it succeeds wonderfully.There's no doubt about it. BAT OUT OF HELL takes all these adolescent themes, mostly raging hormones, and builds, with operatic flair and lots of kitsch, this preposterously silly album which never-the-less struck a chord with a great many people. BAT OUT OF HELL is a concept album, but it doesn't carry all the serious connotations that such a label implies. This is Steinman taking all these broad-way musical conventions and hiring Meat Loaf, who could belt out vocals like no one else, and giving these teen-age angst-ridden years such a ridiculous setting that you can't help but laughing at the idiocy of what people thought were so important in their youth. Steinman's and Meat Loaf's chief critics generally site the bombast and blowing up teen-age angst with such an operatic flair. They miss the point. I will always stand behind Steinman's position as an artist because he uses all these so called "weaknesses" for effect. It's a very silly album, but then, it's supposed to be. Even the cover-art is ridiculous. It's all about that bad boy/girl image that's so laughably fake that no one takes them as any real threat. Most call it "Just a phase they're going through." Steinman shows how the youth, when they begin taking themselves seriously as adults, are so concerned with issues that as people grow up realise, while important, aren't so damned dramatic as they made it out to be. [The album cover]. I'm sure most people remember wanting to do something out of the norm just so they can appear to be so tough and independent, and looking back are glad they outgrew it. This could be music or fashion or whatever. The whole album describes that state of young people wanting "bad boy" image which is really, really hooky. What makes this such a good album is even though it's all about that awkward transition phase between childhood and adulthood, Steinman deals with real issues, and surprisingly well at that. It's the very clear craftsmanship and the obvious "weaknesses" that are actually the strengths that makes this such a strong album. Although I've never though BAT had a straight-forward narrative, the title track (my personal favorite of both albums) introduces the type of characters we'll be seeing. The very last track tells of an individual who did make it past this phase and into maturity.One of the more interesting things about BAT OUT OF HELL is its position on sex. Steinman's lyrics have a very perceptive view of what sex is, and shockingly it's much more along the lines of what Christianity teaches. Although you cannot conclusively say BAT OUT OF HELL promotes sex only in marriage, it gives several portraits, with very distinct imagery, that suggests that the youth get so tied up in sex that they don't care at all about each other. The sexual urges has destroyed or drastically hurt most of the relationships depicted on BAT OUT OF HELL with the single exception of the last track. To me, "For Crying Out Loud" has always been the key track to BAT OUT OF HELL. The six songs that go before depict these youth, so bound up in folly they don't know or show real love, continually broken and hurt in their relationships. In "For Crying Out Loud," however, an individual, ravaged with age, has finally found some one to love at last. They're no longer concerned with sex just for pleasure but they've found actually found a love. There's such a jump in the age of Steinman's characters between the first six tracks and "For Crying Out Loud" that it BAT OUT OF HELL actually serves as a warning that if you don't grow up then you'll miss so much of what life has to offer. The first six tracks describe all the misadventures and stupid, malicious acts that these kids do, and then "Paradise By the Dashboard Light" transitions the characters from that song into old age, still without love. "For Crying Out Loud" then begins and is the only song dealing with an old person, and do to the transition provided in the previous song, it's reasonable to believe that Steinman wants to show what a lifetime of immaturity and bad boy posturing will get you. Steinman moves to the very heart and moral core of the record. This is where they discover that they don't have all the time in the world like they thought (in "Heaven Can Wait"). In the end, they also discover healthy sexuality as well, and are mature enough to raise their own children.It's all these different facets that make BAT OUT OF HELL such a fascinating listen and an amazing artistic triumph. Most of this album's critics are so far off base they look positively asinine. Those who are looking for a surprisingly deep and moral record that has a great sense of dramatic flair, this is for you.P. S. While I enjoy listening to BAT II moreso, from the artistic standpoint this is the better record because its such a cohesive and well-sequenced record. BAT II has some great songs but doesn't present such a perceptive and far-reaching statement as this record does."

Classic rock opera that's paradise by... you know what

Daniel J. Hamlow | Narita, Japan | 03/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title track begins with jarring , jamming keyboards, rocking guitar that more or less reflects the hard-rocking tone of this all-time classic. The main character here is someone who takes life by the throat in the dark, riding a "silver black phantom bike." With the line "When the motor is hot and the engine is hungry", I'm not sure whether he's talking about the bike or himself, such is the hunger of the main character. And even finishing ten seconds shy of ten minutes, it isn't excessive--worth every minute.The opening narrative between "the wolf with the red rose" and the girl, probably Ellen Foley, in "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth" is quite something. The question, "On a hot summer night, will you offer your throat to the wolf with the red rose?" After she presses him with all these questions, such as "Will he love me?", "Will he starve without me?" and having been replied in the affirmative, she finally answers his original question, repeated, "yes." He says, "I bet you say that to all the boys." What a punchline! Hey, women are like that! It bursts into an operatic blaze of sound, the setting being a hot summer night on a beach, where the girl does the title action, just when he was going to say "I love you." The chorus is done a capella with handclaps at the end, in contrast with the rest of the song.In "Heaven Can Wait", a sweet tender ballad, our main character, is feeling tamed by the girl, whom he equates with paradise. Fate has a funny way in things, as he says, "I got a taste of paradise/If I had it any sooner, you know I never would have run away from my home.""All Revved Up And No Place To Go" begins with a throbbing bass rhythm punctuated by Edgar Winter's sax, before going into frantic mode towards the final minute of the song.The sad and heartbreaking "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" is a narrative of a man telling a girl why he can't love her, all beacause of some woman in his past who told him what he's telling her now: "I want you/I need you/But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you/Now don't be sad/'Cause two out of three ain't bad." Yeah, but what a poignant one out of three!Then comes the all-time gem of the album--"Paradise By The Dashboard Light," an intense rocker punctuated by alternating by operatic power choruses. The story is well-told on classic rock radio, a one-night stand, one night love affair, call it what you will, hijacked by the girl who demands a more lasting committment before she puts out. Leave it to a woman to spoil things! Kidding! And when Ellen Foley shouts "Stop right there! I gotta know right now!" you better listen up! The tempo really kicks up and the tension builds up especially when Ellen confronts him: "What's it gonna be, boy? Yes or no?" And it keeps up when Meat Loaf responds with "Let me sleep on it." What a pressure cooker! Professor Bittan's piano is unmistakable here."For Crying Out Loud", which for a while has only Bittan's piano, later explodes with the NY and Philly Harmonic Orchestra. As for the live tracks, the guitar instrumental intro, "Great Boleros Of Fire," is a prelude to a live version of the title track.Well-known musicians: Todd Rundgren on guitars and sometimes on keyboards and backing vocals, "Professor" Roy Bittan, best known on Springsteen's E. Street Band on piano, drummer and fellow E-StreeterMax Weinberg, Jim Steinman himself on keyboards, Ellen Foley contributing backing vocals, and on the live tracks, Bruce Kulick, later KISS's guitarist.Jim Steinman's fantastic rock-opera style would be revisited in the long-awaited sequel, Bat Out Of The Hell 2-Back In Hell, and in some portions of Bonnie Tyler's Faster Than The Speed Of Night and Secret Dreams And Forbidden Fire. And Meat Loaf can really belt out those powerful tunes, but can be equally tender on the slow songs. A masterpiece, what else can I say?"

A Hell of a good album steps up to Bat

John Salonia Jr. | New Jersey | 03/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two words sum up this album: passion and artistry. Meat Loaf and Steinman aren't afraid to try something larger than life. They aren't afraid of taking risks. And the results fully pay off the listener's expectations. As another reviewer stated when this album first appeared, "Steinman has a gift for twisting cliches", and it certainly is true. He never found a better interpreter than Meat Loaf, whose voice was never more powerful and flexible than in these performances. The album speaks of love and disappointment, two interlocked truths of the human spirit --- and does it with power chords! All kidding aside, this is a truly great album, full of lyrics that range from the sensitive to the sensual, from the deeply-felt to the sardonically flip, and the music takes as many inventive twists and turns as the words. This and BAT OUT OF HELL II deliver the goods, proving that this musical partnership was no one-trick pony."