Product Description

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Track Listing

1. Bat Out Of Hell
2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
3. Heaven Can Wait
4. All Revved Up With No Place To Go
5. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
6. Paradise By The Dashboard Light: Paradise/Let Me Sleep On It/Praying For the End Of Time
7. For Crying Out Loud

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #925 in Music
• Brand: MEAT LOAF
• Released on: 2001-01-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Amazon.com
Overwrought and undeniable, Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell remains both one of rock's biggest--and least likely--hit albums. The byproduct of a partnership between beefy singer Marvin Lee "Meat Loaf" Aday and fellow journeyman/National Lampoon Road Show cast member Jim Steinman, Bat out of Hell met 1977's vaunted Year of Punk with a blast of neo-operatic, Wagnerian-scaled bombast (based on Peter Pan, no less) that was as reactionary as anything the spiked set and their supporters could possibly imagine--13 million units worth, and counting. Bat seems to have thrived on the same formula that's made Andrew Lloyd Webber a multimillionaire knight: if you do kitsch, do it big. And what could be more kitschy and emblematic of the '70s than the ubiquitous "classic rock" (an overused adjective that applies all too well here) of "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" or the breathless nookie-quest, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," replete with Phil Rizzuto calling the play-by-play? This digitally remastered edition also includes '78-vintage bonus live cuts of "Bolero" (the live show's equally over-the-top opener) and "Bat out of Hell" that showcase the production's energetic, perfectionist bent. The sonic upgrading here also underscores the oft-overlooked efforts of producer Todd Rundgren. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

The Real "High School Musical"
If all this record had going for it was the viscous cheesiness of Jim Steinman's lyrics, Phil Rizzuto's play-by-play fellatrix or the groin-bruising operetics of Mr. Loaf, Bat Out Of Hell would still qualify as an honorable mention in any discussion of late `70s arena-rock machismo. Fortunately, it is BOOH's musical undercard that continues to make it much more than a time period oddity. Supporting this teenage passion play is the production and guitar genius of Todd Rundgren abetted by two of rock's finest ensembles - Rundgren's own musical alter-ego, Utopia (Kasim Sultan, Roger Powell) and a lend-lease from the E-Street Band in the persons of Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan.

Rundgren retains his laurels as the era's most prolific front-man and technical Svengali. Right in the middle of a production run that included Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, XTC, Badfinger and Grand Funk, Rundgren drove the sonics of his all-star line-up through a heavy metal atom smasher that all but renders the sticky-fingered story-line hopelessly dazed, utterly confused and completely beside the point. Bat Out Of Hell is Wagnerian overkill designed for the one speaker technics of a 1972 Plymouth Duster - overwhelming, overwrought, overweight and over-the-top with every ear drum shattered and woofer blown.

Meat's opus-dopus remains joyously catatonic in it's blissed-out ignorance and is easily the smartest, dumb recording ever made. Five stars for this essential classic.

Bat out of Hell...still love it after all these years!
I first got hooked on this album when I was barely a teenager and could listen to it over and over. Now 30 yrs later I still occasionally enjoy listening to it. I no longer listen to rock music as I didn't care for the path it took over the years and pretty well only listen to country music now a days but Bat out of Hell has a timeless quality about it that I think I will still enjoy it in another 30 yrs. It is a great album in my opinion.

Awesome
Love Meatloaf! Especially Bat Out Of Hell. last song is a live version! Must get!