Product Description

When Meat Loaf burst on the rock scene in 1978 with BAT OUTOF HELL, he seemed rather sui generis. Few bands of the erahad let theatrics seep into their music as thoroughly as Meat Loaf did (though credit also goes to chief songwriter JimSteinman and producer Todd Rundgren), and the singer hit commercial paydirt with BAT's mixture of theatricality, rock, and ballads. But the multi-platinum success of his debut putan incredible strain on Meat Loaf to produce a worthy follow-up, as he and Steinman battled over what direction the sophomore effort should take, resulting in numerous release postponements. Three long years later, DEAD RINGER finally emerged in 1981. Though it had a few strikes against it--Rundgren was no longer aboard, and the emergence of punk/new wave had taken the public's love for bombastic rock down a few notches--DEAD RINGER contains more than a few gems. Keepers include a fun duet with Cher, "Dead Ringer for Love", as well as "Peel Out" and "I'll Kill You if You Don't Come Back".

Track Listing

1. Peel Out
2. I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us
3. More Than You Deserve
4. I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back
5. Read 'Em And Weep
6. Nocturnal Pleasure
7. Dead Ringer For Love
8. Everything Is Permitted

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25282 in Music
• Released on: 2005-12-19
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

A Masterpiece!!!
You really can not claim to own Meatloaf's very best work until you have "Dead Ringer" in your collection.
This CD is a masterpiece in every sense of the word, a perfect hard rock album. My favorite songs on this album are the incrediable "Peel Out", "I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us" and the classic "Read Em And Weep" but there isn't one track on here that I don't like, it's just too sensationial of an album not to like.
"Dead Ringer" is a disc of which you will play again and again so if don't own it then do yourself a favour and order it today, you will be doing yourself one big favour!

The bell still tolled....
Was this album truly intended as the follow-up to "Bat Out Of Hell" or were the tracks rubber-stamped for that album the ones that appeared on Jim Steinman's smultaneously-released "Bad For Good" ? We will never really know, other than pick up tales of Meat Loaf and Steinman falling out over songs Meat considered poor quality, such as "Peel Out" which he is quoted as "hating with a vengeance". Then there is Meat Loaf's bad throat. Hmmmmm. Who knows ?

Either way, Steinman's album contained much the better songs as a true successor to "Bat", but this album obviously showcased the "voice" we had become enthralled by four years earlier, springing upon us literally like a bat out of hell, from nowhere. This is a "good in parts" album and you get the impression nobody was completely satisfied with it. However, its solid musical foundation of Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan and Garry Tallent, together with the peerless Rory Dodd pull it through, particularly on the album's masterpiece of Steinmanism - "I'm Gonna Lover Her For Both Of Us". Also highlights are (puzzlingly, given Meat Loaf's comment) "Peel Out"; "Dead Ringer" and "I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back" with it's similar ending to "For Crying Out Loud". The remaining tracks are somewhat disappointing, leaving the though that there was room for a couple more tracks on the album.

Overall, one has to say it was a disappinting follow up to "Bat" but worth owning all the same, along with "Bad For Good", although the (currently) un-remastered sound is awful.

Just imagine if "Bat Out Of Hell 2" had come out as intended with Meat Loaf singing the following tracks backed by this band - what an album that would have been ! "Bad For Good"; "Surf's Up" "I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us"; "Lost Boys And Golden Girls"; "Out Of The Frying Pan"; "I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back"; "Dead Ringer"; "Rock n Roll Dreams Come Through"; "Left In The Dark". Gets you wondering , doesnt it ??

A worthy follow-up?
Intended as a worthy follow-up to Bat Out Of Hell, this album eventually appeared in 1981 and was Meat's second album. In the interim between Bat Out Of Hell and Deadringer, Meat had suffered much following the success of his debut. All songs are penned by the legendary Jim Steinman (who at the time was working on his own album 'Bad For Good'; Meat walked away from 'Bad For Good' but has subsequently recorded nearly all of the tracks on it) and would not be until 1993 until we another Meat Loaf album would be written entirely by Steinman. Todd Rundgren was no longer responsible for the production of the album. However, there are some classic tracks. The album rocks in with 'Peel Out' followed by a Meat classic 'I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us' which appears to be a kind invitation by Meat to his best friend to show his woman a good time on his behalf. The song winds up to a crescendo before Meat winds it down and then back up again. It's great stuff. Meat slows the pace a little on 'More Than You Deserve' when his 'good woman' appears to be putting it around a bit with more than one lover at a time. The next two tracks are wonderful:'I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back' is not one of his most widely-known known but, for me, one of his best. Again, he winds it up before you feel and share with him his anger and hurt with the effective sound of breaking glass (a bottle?) followed by a slow, emotional section before he winds the tempo back up again. 'Read 'Em And Weep' is more well - known and is more of a ballad, but is full of emotion. 'Nocturnal Pleasure' is a monologue and appears to be an attempt to emulate the dialogue at the start of 'You Took The Words---' before the well-known and sucessful title track. 'Everything Is Permitted' works well as a closer.
A worthy follow-up? Yes, just about. Not as good, but enjoyable, nevertheless.