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: #11808 in Music
• Released on: 2003-10-27
• 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.

What "Bat Out Of Hell 2" Should've Been Like...
If, like me, you were disappointed with MeatLoaf's "Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell" CD, do yourself a favour and go buy this album. Quite simply, this should've been "Bat II". The songs are better, the production isn't OTT and it's more enjoyable.

"I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth") is similar in many ways to "I'll Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", only better. "Not A Dry Eye In The House" is one of Meat's best ballad's, whereas "If This Is The Last Kiss...." is just awesome. One of my favourite tracks is the one used to end this rock opera: "Where Angels Sing". Sheer class!

"Welcome To The Neighbourhood" may be shadowed by it's predecessor "Bat Out Of Hell II", but the more I listen to this CD, the more I'm beginning to like it better.

Jon.