Alex
22 Apr 2003, 22:33
Well, trying to take an unbias (but probably failing) look at the new album I decided to post my review of it, thinking that it would pass someones minute or two. Certainly gives me something to do :) Sorry for its length as always I do tend to get carried away! ;)
As you get the CD you realise that there are two discs, wonderful! More Meat for me!! However, if you are an avid Meat fan who buys everything that has the word Meat Loaf on it, you'll maybe have 3 of the 4 special additions. I'd do anything for love and a Kiss Is A Terrible thing to waste, both recordings from the Storytellers show, showed occasionally on VH1 in the UK and available to buy (or import from) in the USA. The Storytellers audio recording of Two Out Of Three is nothing new, being as it is on the American release of the Storytellers CD, which unlike the DVD is readily available here as there are no problems with different regions etc. The only new piece is the video to "Did I Say That?". The video is in itself very good, however, not quite as dramatic as previous videos might lead you to believe, budgets I guess stop that! :) Enough of this bonus CD, lets get to the juicy stuff!! The new material!!!
I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself
Comparative to the best Meat Loaf songs, CHSIB as some refer to it as, is a song of great Meat Loafdom. Starting with the piano and voice dramatics that have made and shaped Meat Loaf's greatest songs, adds slowly at first, then a rush of drums and guitar (again not too much of a change). It then middles and meddles carefully between the two extremes with a great upbeat chorus which will have you tapping your feet. Patti appears as vocally beautiful as ever (not taking away from her visual appearance, as whom could argue against that being more than a match for her great voice? ;) ). Little brief stops in the song, carefully orchestrated keep the flow in full motion and the drama reaches a tense finish when the 'Anything for Love'esque outro beats in with the Meat Loaf single line, with Patti fluently passing out carefully fitting comments in reply. The ending explodes a little into the full chorus again before finally dying down to the gentle softness that ends the song nicely and makes you look for the back button on your CD player to listen again. Dispite structurelly being like Anything For Love, musically its very different while being maybe more like a 'Jim Steinman' song than any of the others. A great song, which for me is the centerpiece of the album, greatly placing itself at the top of the list of Meat Loaf's greatest songs, making even the best Jim Steinman masterpieces seriously sweat for their places!!
Did I Say That?
Piano vocals start with a fantastic lyrical base, with a great story. A story for me is a guy regretting something he most presumably said, wishing he could take it back, or do anything to turn back time or do something to ask for forgiveness. With a dramatic upbeat the song livens and bops itself high and loud with another drop to piano vocals, and a tempo change slightly through that. The careful work that is applied to the changing of quiet to loud (but not too loud) in this song is very well done and perfectly attaches itself to the moment. Another one of the great songs of the album, still strongly smells of Meat Loaf like mint sauce smells of Vinegar.
Why Isn't That Enough
What can I say, another great piano and vocal start to this one, rarely getting much louder though, with bass and drums and other percussion added, this rarely gets louder than No Matter What for example. The chorus is the high point, where you can clearly hear Meat Loaf's voice shining through as good as days of old. Not really much more to say about this one, not the best song on the album, but only because of the quality of the others!
Love You Out Loud
Greeted by some drum harsh beats because shortly followed by a tense start with both piano and then drums pulling the tension up loud before the chorus, greets guitars and a slower lyric line but no less tense. This song has some interesting use of vocal muffling, again well carried out, as well as the main Rock of the album. If you like Out Of The Frying Pan, or similar dipping up and down songs you'll really like this one I think. Personally its great for me if only because of the great tension it seems to apply and frustration into the vocals. Well done Meat Loaf, a perfectly acted song, as well as well sung! Love then ending too! Bum Bum Bum Bum!! Nothing beets a good old fashion mentallity of "Ok, Ending the song right here, right now!".
Man Of Steel
Quite unlike most Meat Loaf songs, it starts with special effects and a lady reciting a poem, followed by the effects being sucked into a silence, with some great lines, leading you into a small storyworld, much like the others, but more noticably here. Balladatic for a moment until the chorus at which point a great shock to the system is executed with such perfection the body simply accepts that the sudden dramatic blast of rock was ok, and after a bit, actually, no... it was bloody marvellous! Made all the better by the dimming of the background music just before it in the bars preluding! Pearl makes a great vocal appearance with some lines near the end, seemingly the (very beautiful of course) lady that Meat has fallen for. The ending is a nice little bit of harmony with Meat and Pearl joining together.
Intermezzo (end of Man of Steel)
Pan pipes, seemingly appearing from the land of MiddleEarth. Gandalf has asked can he have them returned when you're done with them Meat, though he asks you take your time as he fears your wrath! (who wouldn't?)
Testify
What a gem!! Ab fab! So groovy!! Nice little introduction with guitars and angry men! Acoustic guitar follows with electric and drums closer. Upbeat as this song is, it never fails to have me singing along with the chorus "Oooh, I testify!" (admittedly it isn't that hard for me true, and yes there is more, but thats left to Meat and the backing vocalistics. Not for mere mortals like myself). Acoustic guitar appears again part-way through the song with a great harmony of vocals whispering the bridge before Meat begins to overlay it with the Chorus, and then... BOOM!! Time to dance ladies and gentlemen! WE HAVE CHORUS AGAIN!! Meat teases us a little more and adds another verse in before feeding us the delights followed by a few gospel like lines, then... CHORUS! My word, such a cheerful song!
Tear Me Down
Listen! Some songs are made for the summer, this is one of them! Posh car, roof down, driving down a long clean stretch of road, and this blearing out full whack! Nothing could beat it! A great version of "Hedwig & The Angry Inch"'s version, with a funny little piece of an interlude in the middle where a woman explains about the history of Texas and Meat Loaf! "Everything from Texas is big!". You know that as the music rises that you want to bop your head up and down and join in the singing, so why resist! Just turn up the heat in your house and stick a fan on and close your eyes! Come on! We've all done it.... haven't we?. ... errr. oh.
You're Right, I Was Wrong
Very Diane Warren, with the strong ties to Not a dry eye in the House, this a great love ballad as they go. Could easily be placed onto other albums without it seeming out of place, which is something that can be little said about some of the others, which while being Meat Loaf, definately below to a place of their own, that place being this album! The chorus is lead into with a progressively rising vocal line, and within it has some great big changes in notes which Meat seems to handle without a single problem at all.
Because Of You
Rock song that is beats its way careful and passes as one of the best songs on the album for me personally, with the great rememberable chorus lyrics, "This is Big Time! This is Larger Than Life!" it is definately a good addition to the album and would make a great single in my eyes as it is maybe quite a 'majority' song for those that aren't particually fond of Meat Loaf music in general but like the likes of Aerosmith and Brian Adams etc. Rock, but with Balladic elements, we like you, Because Of You!
Do It!
Oh my! What a shock! Can't really describe this well, other than to say that is as close as Meat Loaf comes to rap, its a bit strange to listen to at first, but after the initial spell of confusion as to why this made the album, I began to see why. Its such a different song to anything Meat has done it doesn't half leave it well for the last song on the album which is somewhat gentler than this Rock/Rap with the cries of Just Do It and Bag It Up. However, there will be quite a few people that dislike this song as its a taste of its own, and definately stands out from the rest of the album, which you may think this is a good or a bad point. For me it's indifferent. I neither particually like the song, but I wouldn't actively search for the skip track button on the CD player, as there are, as in everything, merits and bonuses which make the track listenable and entertaining :)
Forever Young
A great cover of the Bob Dylan song, well executed and perfectly trasported to Meat Loaf style. A gentle and romantic ballad, maybe taking on the elements of the heart that Where Angels Sing attempted to touch, its not that dissimilar in many ways to that song actually, having its balladic moments with its full on rock (yet still ballad) chorus.
Mercury Blues
Ho Ho! A wonderful cover of the country song, seemingly long ago forgotten yet not! As the name would suggest it takes on the blues base theme on the music side of things and is quite a fast beat. Drums and guitars dance and pop here and there, with the catchy chorus repeated in short intervals, none can resist fast forwarding the 2 minutes or waiting for this little gem to appear! Truely magic. Would be even better letter live!
Well, I hope this hasn't been too boring for anyone who even glanced at this, and that you can forgive the grammatical and spelling errors! ;)
Have fun, keep smiling!
See you on the Tour!!
Alex
As you get the CD you realise that there are two discs, wonderful! More Meat for me!! However, if you are an avid Meat fan who buys everything that has the word Meat Loaf on it, you'll maybe have 3 of the 4 special additions. I'd do anything for love and a Kiss Is A Terrible thing to waste, both recordings from the Storytellers show, showed occasionally on VH1 in the UK and available to buy (or import from) in the USA. The Storytellers audio recording of Two Out Of Three is nothing new, being as it is on the American release of the Storytellers CD, which unlike the DVD is readily available here as there are no problems with different regions etc. The only new piece is the video to "Did I Say That?". The video is in itself very good, however, not quite as dramatic as previous videos might lead you to believe, budgets I guess stop that! :) Enough of this bonus CD, lets get to the juicy stuff!! The new material!!!
I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself
Comparative to the best Meat Loaf songs, CHSIB as some refer to it as, is a song of great Meat Loafdom. Starting with the piano and voice dramatics that have made and shaped Meat Loaf's greatest songs, adds slowly at first, then a rush of drums and guitar (again not too much of a change). It then middles and meddles carefully between the two extremes with a great upbeat chorus which will have you tapping your feet. Patti appears as vocally beautiful as ever (not taking away from her visual appearance, as whom could argue against that being more than a match for her great voice? ;) ). Little brief stops in the song, carefully orchestrated keep the flow in full motion and the drama reaches a tense finish when the 'Anything for Love'esque outro beats in with the Meat Loaf single line, with Patti fluently passing out carefully fitting comments in reply. The ending explodes a little into the full chorus again before finally dying down to the gentle softness that ends the song nicely and makes you look for the back button on your CD player to listen again. Dispite structurelly being like Anything For Love, musically its very different while being maybe more like a 'Jim Steinman' song than any of the others. A great song, which for me is the centerpiece of the album, greatly placing itself at the top of the list of Meat Loaf's greatest songs, making even the best Jim Steinman masterpieces seriously sweat for their places!!
Did I Say That?
Piano vocals start with a fantastic lyrical base, with a great story. A story for me is a guy regretting something he most presumably said, wishing he could take it back, or do anything to turn back time or do something to ask for forgiveness. With a dramatic upbeat the song livens and bops itself high and loud with another drop to piano vocals, and a tempo change slightly through that. The careful work that is applied to the changing of quiet to loud (but not too loud) in this song is very well done and perfectly attaches itself to the moment. Another one of the great songs of the album, still strongly smells of Meat Loaf like mint sauce smells of Vinegar.
Why Isn't That Enough
What can I say, another great piano and vocal start to this one, rarely getting much louder though, with bass and drums and other percussion added, this rarely gets louder than No Matter What for example. The chorus is the high point, where you can clearly hear Meat Loaf's voice shining through as good as days of old. Not really much more to say about this one, not the best song on the album, but only because of the quality of the others!
Love You Out Loud
Greeted by some drum harsh beats because shortly followed by a tense start with both piano and then drums pulling the tension up loud before the chorus, greets guitars and a slower lyric line but no less tense. This song has some interesting use of vocal muffling, again well carried out, as well as the main Rock of the album. If you like Out Of The Frying Pan, or similar dipping up and down songs you'll really like this one I think. Personally its great for me if only because of the great tension it seems to apply and frustration into the vocals. Well done Meat Loaf, a perfectly acted song, as well as well sung! Love then ending too! Bum Bum Bum Bum!! Nothing beets a good old fashion mentallity of "Ok, Ending the song right here, right now!".
Man Of Steel
Quite unlike most Meat Loaf songs, it starts with special effects and a lady reciting a poem, followed by the effects being sucked into a silence, with some great lines, leading you into a small storyworld, much like the others, but more noticably here. Balladatic for a moment until the chorus at which point a great shock to the system is executed with such perfection the body simply accepts that the sudden dramatic blast of rock was ok, and after a bit, actually, no... it was bloody marvellous! Made all the better by the dimming of the background music just before it in the bars preluding! Pearl makes a great vocal appearance with some lines near the end, seemingly the (very beautiful of course) lady that Meat has fallen for. The ending is a nice little bit of harmony with Meat and Pearl joining together.
Intermezzo (end of Man of Steel)
Pan pipes, seemingly appearing from the land of MiddleEarth. Gandalf has asked can he have them returned when you're done with them Meat, though he asks you take your time as he fears your wrath! (who wouldn't?)
Testify
What a gem!! Ab fab! So groovy!! Nice little introduction with guitars and angry men! Acoustic guitar follows with electric and drums closer. Upbeat as this song is, it never fails to have me singing along with the chorus "Oooh, I testify!" (admittedly it isn't that hard for me true, and yes there is more, but thats left to Meat and the backing vocalistics. Not for mere mortals like myself). Acoustic guitar appears again part-way through the song with a great harmony of vocals whispering the bridge before Meat begins to overlay it with the Chorus, and then... BOOM!! Time to dance ladies and gentlemen! WE HAVE CHORUS AGAIN!! Meat teases us a little more and adds another verse in before feeding us the delights followed by a few gospel like lines, then... CHORUS! My word, such a cheerful song!
Tear Me Down
Listen! Some songs are made for the summer, this is one of them! Posh car, roof down, driving down a long clean stretch of road, and this blearing out full whack! Nothing could beat it! A great version of "Hedwig & The Angry Inch"'s version, with a funny little piece of an interlude in the middle where a woman explains about the history of Texas and Meat Loaf! "Everything from Texas is big!". You know that as the music rises that you want to bop your head up and down and join in the singing, so why resist! Just turn up the heat in your house and stick a fan on and close your eyes! Come on! We've all done it.... haven't we?. ... errr. oh.
You're Right, I Was Wrong
Very Diane Warren, with the strong ties to Not a dry eye in the House, this a great love ballad as they go. Could easily be placed onto other albums without it seeming out of place, which is something that can be little said about some of the others, which while being Meat Loaf, definately below to a place of their own, that place being this album! The chorus is lead into with a progressively rising vocal line, and within it has some great big changes in notes which Meat seems to handle without a single problem at all.
Because Of You
Rock song that is beats its way careful and passes as one of the best songs on the album for me personally, with the great rememberable chorus lyrics, "This is Big Time! This is Larger Than Life!" it is definately a good addition to the album and would make a great single in my eyes as it is maybe quite a 'majority' song for those that aren't particually fond of Meat Loaf music in general but like the likes of Aerosmith and Brian Adams etc. Rock, but with Balladic elements, we like you, Because Of You!
Do It!
Oh my! What a shock! Can't really describe this well, other than to say that is as close as Meat Loaf comes to rap, its a bit strange to listen to at first, but after the initial spell of confusion as to why this made the album, I began to see why. Its such a different song to anything Meat has done it doesn't half leave it well for the last song on the album which is somewhat gentler than this Rock/Rap with the cries of Just Do It and Bag It Up. However, there will be quite a few people that dislike this song as its a taste of its own, and definately stands out from the rest of the album, which you may think this is a good or a bad point. For me it's indifferent. I neither particually like the song, but I wouldn't actively search for the skip track button on the CD player, as there are, as in everything, merits and bonuses which make the track listenable and entertaining :)
Forever Young
A great cover of the Bob Dylan song, well executed and perfectly trasported to Meat Loaf style. A gentle and romantic ballad, maybe taking on the elements of the heart that Where Angels Sing attempted to touch, its not that dissimilar in many ways to that song actually, having its balladic moments with its full on rock (yet still ballad) chorus.
Mercury Blues
Ho Ho! A wonderful cover of the country song, seemingly long ago forgotten yet not! As the name would suggest it takes on the blues base theme on the music side of things and is quite a fast beat. Drums and guitars dance and pop here and there, with the catchy chorus repeated in short intervals, none can resist fast forwarding the 2 minutes or waiting for this little gem to appear! Truely magic. Would be even better letter live!
Well, I hope this hasn't been too boring for anyone who even glanced at this, and that you can forgive the grammatical and spelling errors! ;)
Have fun, keep smiling!
See you on the Tour!!
Alex