Track Listing

1. Where The Rubber Meets The Road
2. I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)
3. Original Sin
4. 45 Seconds Of Ecstasy
5. Runnin' For The Red Light (I Gotta Life)
6. Fiesta De Las Almas Perdidas
7. Left In The Dark
8. Not A Dry Eye In The House
9. Amnesty Is Granted
10. If This Is The Last Kiss (Let's Make It Last All Night)
11. Martha
12. Where Angels Sing

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7488 in Music
• Released on: 1995-10-30
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Note the track-listing: "I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)", "If This Is The Last Kiss (Let's Make It Last All Night)". Those titles alone would be enough to do an average singer in, let alone interpreting, emoting, living these songs as Mr Loaf is wont--in his inimitable way--to do. This successor to Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, must confront the very same problem he faced years before, after the staggering success of the original: how to follow up a worldwide smash? How to avoid a nagging sense of the anti-climactic? Particularly given the absence, this time around, of songwriter and all-round svengali Jim Steinman. Admittedly, two of his cast-offs--"Original Sin" (from Paradise Lost) and "Left In The Dark" (from Bad For Good)--take up a little of the slack; otherwise, the void is filled by Diane Warren, power-ballad hitmaker for Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, et al., whose penchant for orchestral flourishes, choral rhapsodies and wayward metaphors, exceeds even the master's. Preposterous, of course, but oddly hard to dislike. --Andrew McGuire

Customer Reviews

More rock opera from the master of the genre
I guess the follow-up to the mammoth epic that was "Bat out of Hell 2" was always going to be hard work. Fortunately, Mr Loaf and the gang didn't just try and reproduce the preceding album, but instead opted for a more eclectic approach to rock-opera, borrowing songs not just from the ubiquitous Jim Steinman but from Diane Warren, Paul Jacobs/Sarah Durkee, and even Tom Waits. The result is a collection of very fine, preposterous, overblown songs in the grand Meat Loaf tradition - but each one knows exactly when and how to stop. The variety of songwriters lends this album a similar atmosphere to "Bad Attitude", as does the wonderful B-movie-inspired artwork that adorns the album. Not many of the songs are real stand-outs - possible exceptions include the long-awaited interpretation of the Steinman classic "Left in the Dark", and the beautiful Tom Waits ballad "Martha" - one or two even fall a bit flat ("Original Sin" is nowhere near as good as the Pandora's Box original) - but every one is a good, solid, classic Meat Loaf performance and it's wellnigh impossible to complain about that! The singles "I'd Lie for You" and "Not a Dry Eye in the House" are just catchy enough to lodge firmly in your head too.

Second only to "Bat Out Of Hell" - and only just!
What can I say? You've got to hear it! Words don't come even come close. Every track (with the exception of number 6 - the Mexican one) is a classic. From the immense "I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)" to the sensouos little "45 Seconds Of Ecstacy"(that's how it's spelled on the CD), every track is a revelation. Get it - or forever be the poorer.

Bat Out Of Hell 2 and a half.
Released relatively soon (2 years; quite quick for Mr. Loaf) after Meat's previous album, Bat II, this album could have been Bat Out Of Hell III as, so I've read, Jim and Meat were discussing the idea, but Jim did not have the material. Meat wrote that this album is a guy's life story from his first date ('When The Rubber Meets The Road'). Although there are some (already recorded) Steinman songs on here, this is esentially a non Steinman album but is one of Meat's very best. Steinman's songs are standout tracks, especially the superb 'Left In The Dark' which Steinman had recorded on 'Bad For Good'; obviously a Meat song from the start. However, this is the first time that we hear the non Steinman songs starting to sound as if they are Steinman songs. This is especially the case with the excellent 'I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)'. The title alone sounds as if it could be Steinman. The actual song itself does, as well. And it's 6 and a half minutes long! But it was written by Dianne Warren. It was also a successful single. The funny seagues both work well, and all in all, it's a very satisfying listen, and the quality of the songs is maintained throughout. Meat is in excellent voice, and the album rocks throughout very nicely. It's one of Meat's best, and is up there with the Bat stuff.