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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Meatloaf's "Bat Out of Hell" live is worth a listen or two, May 25, 2005
Listening to Meat Loaf singing the complete "Bat Out of Hell" album live with the Melbourne Symphony under the baton of Keith Levenson might be one of the strangest live recordings you ever listen to for the simple fact that the original is so ingrained in your mind that when Meat Loaf sings pretty much every line from start to finish somewhat differently it just seems to odd. After all, the original 1977 album where Jim Steinman defined operatic rock for now and all-time has been thundering in our heads for over a quarter century. It was one of the best selling albums of that decade and when CDs start being produced "Bat Out of Hell" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" were two of the oldies that everybody was trying to get a hold of (they waited twenty years to to the day to release "Sgt. Pepper" on CD).
The album only made it to #343 on the "Rolling Stone" list of 500 greatest albums, but the reason is pretty obvious: only Steinman was writing this sort of megabombastic music. You want to hear more of the same? Listen to the first and last tracks from the soundtrack of "Streets on Fire" or pick up "Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell" if you want to hear anything like the original. The only other thing remotely in the ballpark would be Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies" album and that is only in terms of a few key tracks (e.g., "Elected") and those still fall short.
So the 2004 recording "Bat Out of Hell: Live With the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra" is interesting, more to hear Meat Loaf adding live intensity to the vocals than the use of strings and such. You only get the seven songs from "Bat Out of Hell," along with the spoken prologue to "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" (notice how quickly the crowd quiets to listen) and the play-by-play for "I Can See Paradise By the Dashboard Life." The bottom line is that to no one's surprising, including the singer, the live version ends up suffering in comparison to the original. Fans will be interested in hearing it once or twice, and they can ruminate on whether they can hear anything different that Patti Russo is doing from Ellen Foley's original vocals or if the symphony is adding depth to Steinman's music, and then they will do just what I did.
Go back and listen to the original again and marvel at how gloriously over the top and powerful it still is after all these years.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's Bat Out Of Hell...but a bit better, November 2, 2004
If Jim Steinman had his way (and Todd Rundgren had the money) there probably would have been an orchestra on all the tracks of "Bat Out Of Hell" instead of just on one of them. So, you could kind of see "Bat Out Of Hell Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra" as a realisation of a vision - with the album finally released as it was always intended to be.
Of course, it's dangerous to mess with a classic record. Therefore, I had some reservations about this version. But, thankfully, they were unwarranted. Meat Loaf and the Neverland Express are amazing throughout - Kasim Sultan (bass, musical direction) has the group as tight and together as they've ever been. Six of the tracks are recorded with the orchestra, rather than all seven ("All Revved Up" is just Meat and the band), but it's not so bad for that. "All Revved Up" is a little...well, it's a touch off-tone with the rest of the album, and it's a bit too...slow. But hey, Meat's not as young as he used to be.
The rest of the album I have no complaints about, however. I was never a big fan of "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", but this version is perfectly fine (as good as the Night of the Proms versions, for sure), and the orchestra really do manage to add something to all the rest of the songs, taking them to a real, new place, that justifies the purchase of this album even if you already have the original "Bat" CD (I've got at least three copies of it, myself - the original, the Revamped version, and the 25th Anniversary edition - and I still think this was money well spent).
Probably the pick of the tracks (and this could just be me with my love of the song, it's always been my favourite) is "For Crying Out Loud", with Meat really delivering a stunning performance. It's moving. It's not quite as good as the original (but what is?), but it's up there.
Then there are bonus features - though this only applies to Aussies and people in the UK, or so they tell me. The CD comes with two extra tracks - "I'd Do Anything..." and "Couldn't Have Said It Better", both from the Melbourne concerts. Like "Paradise", I was never a massive fan of "I'd Do Anything For Love" (I know, blasphemy, huh?), but the version here is pretty good, I admit. "Couldn't Have Said It Better" (of which I've now heard four versions, including the studio) is at its best here, with Meat, the band, and the orchestra making it a real extravaganza.
The bonus DVD contains some great stuff. A teaser of the full-length DVD package is provided by the concert footage of "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" and audio of "Dead Ringer For Love", which is really good. The video clips of "Couldn't Have Said It Better" and "Did I Say That?" are included - which is a very nice touch, I thought, even if the songs are edited to death. But what's really nice is a bonus that DVD owners don't get - versions of "I'd Lie For You" and "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through", recorded live with the Symphony. They're very good (but there's no option to kill the picture gallery that shows when you play them - a minor quibble). My only regret is that he didn't play "Modern Girl" (I requested it at the signing in Melbourne where he announced that the MSO concerts would be released on CD and DVD, and he just looked at me and said "No", a little disbelievingly).
This is a great package, and comes thoroughly reccomended. Get this one and chuck it in the car, and get the DVD when it comes out - for home use. Just because there's less on here, don't confuse it for being an inferior product.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Brutal Honest Review., August 24, 2005
Anyone who knows Meat Loaf is still around, good for you!This album is exactly what it says, the 1970's Bat Out Of Hell recorded Live in 2004. What to expect? Some different musical arrangements, new musicians (a bigger and better line up)
Their names? Paul (guitars), Randy (Acoustic guitar, guitars), Kasim Sulton (still the same, Bass, background vocals), Mark (Keyboards, Piano), John (Drums) C.C. (background vocals, percussion) Patti Russo (Meat's best sidewoman. Where's her record deal?? You may also notice the absence of Jim Steinman... who? you ask, the songwriter! the man playing piano in the 2 out of 3 video. A not so common word people mention critically is Meat's voice. In 1977 Meat Loaf was in his twenties, he had a voice that boomed alot of ears! Was even given an award in 1993 for best Rock Male vocal. Since then Meat has continued to do his best to live up to that award. He took on a schedule, that would fill up eight days a week (figurative speak) Can anyone guess what happened? Many things, you name it, collapsing, throat colds, drinking (c'mon alot of rockers did it LOL still sung! In 1994, Meat's voice turned around a corner, for the better alot would say. And then for others, they missed his young 22 yr old tenor voice. The man is now 55, sings (and drinks the ol' tequila ;o) and still the notes as long as he's always tried too. His voice is like the way it was in Anything For Love (his 3 note worthy awards) (best album, song, and rock male vocal.) The difference? Its louder, and he even changes some notes he can't reach anymore. They sound great, he's older, so he's supposed to sound fifty-five. The passion is more there than ever, the hard working sweat is all there, whats missing to most people is the tenor from the 1970's.
This album should impress any classic rock fan, the man can sing, maybe not like your screaming Judas Priests' & Van Halens' (bands I both like) but remembering Meat's always been theatric and passionate. Its a prefereance that's very tollerable, you either like it or you don't.
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