Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell

1977

Track Listing                                                                            

1. Bat out of Hell                                                                                  5. Two out of three ain't bad     

2. You took the words right out of my mouth (Hot Summer Night)       6. Paradise by the dashboard light

3. Heaven can wait                                                                              7. For crying out loud

4. All revved up with no place to go                   

Band Members:        

Meat Loaf - Vocals             Todd Rundgren - Guitar              Roy Bittan - Piano            Kasim Sulton - Bass        

Jim Steinman - Keyboards              Ellen Foley - Vocals on track 6               Roger Powell - Synthesizer

Max Weinberg - Drums                 John Wilcox - Drums                   Edgar Winter - Saxophone    

Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto - Play by play                                  Produced By:  Todd Rundgren

Notes

This was the album that earned Meat Loaf and songwriter Jim Steinman their fame.  It was about 4 years in the making and wasn't a big seller from the start, but overtime this has been one of the best selling albums ever.  The album's music and lyrics were written by Jim Steinman and was sung by Meat Loaf.  After struggling to find a record label and producer, musician Todd Rundgren agreed to produce and play guitar on the record.  Other notable musicians are Bruce Springsteen's E Street band members Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg, also on saxophone was Edgar Winter.  The album included several hits such as "You took the words right out of my mouth (Hot Summer Night", "Two out three ain't bad", "Paradise by the dashboard light" and the title track.  To this day the album sells thousands of copies each year.  The cover is quite interesting.  There is long haired man on a motorcycle (perhaps the man in the title track?) who's bike is coming out of the ground in a graveyard.  Rolling Stone named Bat out of Hell  the 343rd best album of all time.  It peaked at number 9 on the Billboard charts.

Recommendations

This should be in everyone's collection.  There are only 7 tracks, but it is a solid performance that should have you laughing or smiling.

If you plan on purchasing Bat out of Hell

There are a few copies of this album available.  Mine was actually purchased for me by my brother at a garage sale at an excellent low price.  The version I would recommend is the remastered version (which I have).  It sounds fantastic and includes two bonus tracks, one being an excellent live version of "Bat out of Hell".  If you are unable to find this at a garage sale you can usually get it for less than ten dollars at your local record store or at Cdnow.com.

If you don't plan on purchasing Bat out of Hell but want to hear some tracks from it

More than half the album is worth owning, therefore I would say forget buying individual tracks, and just purchase the album.  If you still won't budge, I would recommend checking out my top 5 at Itunes or Napster, they are worth the listen.   For more suggestions you can check out my ideal compilation at my Meat Loaf Home Page.

My Top 5