Bat Out of Hell

My father isn't a person who likes to talk about music a lot, which may be a product of our dismissive avoidant personalities, but hearing him say something nice about an artist (or person in general) boosts my thoughts on that person or album.

Bat Out Of Hell is not anything special or out of the ordinary, but it does the simple things well. It's theatrical and fun, and really accessible.

Paradise by the Dashboard Lights is the only song worth listening to on this one but it is so camp that I just can't go higher than a 2 for the album. Sorry meatloaf

Esencialmente una rock opera, me ha recordado un montón al Rocky, por lo que sea.

Really bizarre that this took so long to get distributed and was considered such a risk by labels when it sounds like this. And it's great!

I've never really liked Meat Loaf, but this *is* the classic. Bat Out Of Hell is, in my opinion, hokey and ridiculous. But the real problem is that I find it more hokey and ridiculous than fun. And don't get me wrong, it is at least a little fun. But it's *very* hokey and ridiculous. This is like as glam as glam gets. But I also don't think Meat Loaf has quite the charisma for the music he makes. But this doesn't stop him from going full force, which is important. I really had the most fun here with the high energy moments, like the lengthy title track, and other little pockets across here. But I just can't content with Meat Loaf's balladry. Most of them just drag so much for me. Although, I did end up thoroughly enjoying For Crying Out Loud. I just don't think this is really a record for me. Although, I get the sense that if you're into musical theater, you'd love this. Also, the production is really good, courtesy of Todd Rundgren, so at least it has that too.

When Metal is not taking its egg if to seriously it can be over the top and a little campy

There is nobody like Meat Loaf. He really carved out his own niche for himself in the late 70's. This incredibly silly over the top persona that made goofball epics somehow churned out records that topped charts and sold millions of records. Bizarre guy, but a fun listen. It's kind of ridiculous and cheesy but that is part of the charm. The album cover helps too. Good if you don't expect the world from it.

Bat Out Of Hell is zo gigantisch over de top, maar zo tof. Rip saucijzenbroodje, we zullen nog vele karaoke-avonden genieten van je ouvre.

Many listens. Great singles and mediocre non-singles.

Spodziewałam się czegoś innego, możę klimatów metalowych, trash metalowych, patrząc po okładce. A tu coś takiego! Ale dobrze skojarzyłam po głosie z singlem I Would do Anything (...). Bardzo ciekawa stylistyka, sporo się na tej płycie dzieje, wokalnie, muzycznie, aż za bardzo chyba, ale w żadnym razie nie jest to minus. Trochę przypomina mi to muzykę do musicalu filmowego? No ciekawe doświadczenie, mocna postać w muzyce, szkoda, że tak poleciał prywatnie pod koniec.

This is like a 70s B movie in album form. I wouldn't say it's *bad*, but I sure would struggle to say it's good.

Eh, fuck it. Why not. We all need a little more melodrama in our lives.

A hard listen, feels like he really just wanted to write a broadway show.

I give albums I don’t like 2 stars. I give albums that I don’t understand why anyone would like it 1 star. This was a borderline. So if someone who does like it can explain why I might revise this.

If this is what hell sounds like I need to start praying.

Underhållande

1970s forays into prog are always so interesting. You can hear every bit of 80s balladry in the way this guy sings, plays, and arranges, but he’s just so damn insistent on these incredible, progressive arrangements. Well, actually, the guy singing isn’t the guy writing the songs. But it does feel like they’re the same person, I guess. Though it’s firmly grounded in pop sensibility (the anthemic choruses, the drum patterns, AOR and pop influences), it truly ascends in a way I haven’t heard many other works of art do.

This isn’t to say it necessarily ascends higher than your average great album, but it does ascend to a status of greatness. I would’ve really appreciated some drums in “Heaven Can Wait,” and there’s not as much of an overarching concept as I’d hoped for with the whole “rock opera” thing, but I can absolutely make do.

Overall this album does the whole “prog-pop-ballad” thing really well, and its influence and impact on culture is measurably large. I also enjoyed it plenty, and would recommend it freely and easily.
8.2/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES
REASON: impact, quality, and relevance

Favorite track(s): Bat Out of Hell, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

Heard before
Previous rating: 6/10

If you were an American teenager during the late 1970s you almost definitely owned this album. It’s hard to be objective about something that is so ingrained into m’y adolescence. There are some absolute classics on here. But a few tracks that aren’t, so not quite five starts.

Back in the late 1970s (when I was in my early 20s) you could not set foot at a birthday or a dinner party without someone having this on the turntable. (Also Monty Python's, "Live at Drury Lane", but that's another issue)

People genuinely touted it as "The Greatest Album Ever Made"

Of course, it isn't. It's a campy, silly, tasteless extravaganza that's like someone heard "Macarthur Park" and said, "like that, but rock and roll. And bigger". Even the quiet ballads are loud and over the top.

Like a less talented Nick Cave, Steinman has clearly never heard of the word "restraint" and throws every thing he can think of into his epics and looks around for anything left over that he can stuff in as well. A key change? A tempo change? A second middle eight? Some sexual innuendo? Word play? Religious imagery? A pre-recorded voice over? Spoken word intros? Why not all of them?

Todd Rundgren's production takes these overstuffed, silly songs full teen angst and gothic excess and inflates them further with strings, and choirs, and speed guitar, and thundering piano and drums, and raises the trite to the level of kitsch ecstasy.

Over the top (in more ways the one) you have Meatloaf himself, emoting in a full throated, utterly sincere, Broadway vocal that just keeps going. Just when you thought he couldn't get any bigger, he switches up a gear and goes harder.

Obviously the whole thing is vastly overblown and totally ridiculous. Which is why, I guess, it sold like hotcakes and is still selling today.

Očekivala sam neku over-the-top katastrofu ali nije uopšte toliko loše. Malo više baladasto nego što bih ikad mogla zamisliti na momente.

That was interesting, because of course I’m familiar with Meat Loaf - from “Bat Out of Hell 2", “Dead Ringer for Love", and various other collaborations, and of course from “Wayne’s World". The original “Bat Out of Hell” was more of a legend from days gone by; I knew a few songs from it, but I’d never listened to the whole album.

I’m glad I’ve finally caught up on it, and as expected, this album fully deserves the legendary status it’s been given. In the context of the 300 albums I’ve listened to so far, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman’s greatest achievement is probably that they each stuck to what they do best. I have no idea if Meat Loaf would ever have become famous with his own songs. Nor do I know how those songs would have worked with Jim Steinman’s voice. But one thing is certain: Jim Steinman’s songs with Meat Loaf’s voice are world-class.

As I’ve often mentioned when discussing outstanding albums: it can be that simple!