Bat Out of Hell

I do not like rock operas. This is no exception. The saxophone in "All Revved" goes hard and there's some decent moments throughout, but largely don't care for this.

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!

3/5. Bat Out of Hell is an album I’ve always been aware of but have never listened to until today, and it’s honestly not what I expected. By the cover I had always expected a Judas-Priest-esque metal record, but it’s actually more of an extremely theatrical rock opera that features a lot of piano/orchestral balladry. Though there are still some intense rockers like the opening title track or “Paradise by the Dashboard light” which are for me the highlights on the album. To me the ballads sometimes veer too much into cheesy territory to where I can’t fully enjoy them. But when it all comes together and works, there’s some great stuff to be found on this record.

I thought this would be heavy metal based on the cover.

Wooaaaah Steinman! and Meatloaf of course! Loved this album for a long time now. Theatrical Rock is right up my street, but loving also the rock n roll and biker rock (just made up a genre!) elements. The album cover is just the icing on the cake for me.

It’s a 10.

I mean… sometimes, you just feel like a fucking moron for not listening to an album sooner. It’s happened to me countless times over the past 916 days, and yet that same feeling of awe still takes a while to wash off of me. I knew this one had monstrous acclaim, but the only Meat Loaf song I knew going in was the ever-pastiched “I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)”. I like that song, but its overuse in a number of movies & TV shows & commercials over the years, along with my childhood brain thinking people named after food were weird & annoying (see: Carrot Top), simply made me not want to listen to anything else Meat Loaf had done.

I think my younger self needs to be shot into hell so I can come back out of it like a damn bat, because this was fucking awesome. That title track might be Todd Rundgren’s magnum opus in terms of a generalized production style, & while I know he set out to slightly mock Springsteen by taking his style & turning up the bombast to 11, he accidentally reaffirmed his style & took it into a stratosphere that I would argue not even Bruce himself would’ve wanted to match or top. It might even be why none of the other Springsteen albums here carry that same energy. When someone else does it this good, why bother to retread it? All of the harder rock-driven songs here carry the same general soundscape, but since they’re all structured differently & flow together rather cohesively, it never struck me as a big deal at all. I think they all range from great to fantastic.

The power ballads here will make or break the album for some people. I loved them, but even I will tell you I felt a little burned out of them by the end of “For Crying Out Loud”, if only because the backing instrumentation & bombast could only hold together the slight repetition for so long – it’s a really good closer, don’t get me wrong, but you can only hear the same California metaphors & the words “for crying out loud” so many times. They are a bit melodramatic & a touch cheesy, but if you’re willing to buy into them, they’re just as good as any other track on the album & any other power ballad of the 1970s, really. I especially liked “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad”, just because the sense of showmanship throughout the album is at its most prevalent point on that one, and it just fully captivated me. If you don’t like them, they’ll probably knock the album down a bit, but they’ve more than earned their place in the tracklist to keep a natural flow going.

Overall, it’s just one you need to hear. Words will not do a sick guitar riff justice, or let Meat Loaf’s vocals enter your ears. It is a quintessential ‘70s album, and one that holds up highly nearly 50 years later. It’s a 10 in my book, it’s worth all the acclaim, and if you’ll excuse me, I need to see just how fucking washed Carrot Top is so I can justify my younger self’s stupidity. I should’ve heard this years ago, man. Fuck you, Carrot Top.

This is exactly the level of overdramatic I aspire to be.

When I saw the name Meat Loaf, I thought he would be sone type of metal artist or something. Instead I got some nice rock that sounds perfect for its era. Personally, my favorite song is Paradise By The Dashboard Light. 5 stars.

I've listened to this one several times over the years. It always feels like I'm just listening to an OK musical soundtrack. It's completely over the top, which is fun, but Meat Loaf's voice isn't all that special and the songs all feel like lesser borrowed ideas from other greater artists. All of that averages out to about a 3 for my taste.

Some all time classics on here! If they’d swapped Dead Ringer for Love into this and got rid of one of the piano ballads I might consider this a 5!

I love this rock opera vibe. It’s giving Queen energy. What an epic vocalist! I feel like I had to clap after the last song. What a gem.

I have had some tangential exposure to this album and have maybe accidentally heard a track or three. I always had this idea Meat Loaf and this album were some sort of gag, maybe? I don't know, exactly; these thoughts and memories are pretty ethereal for me. I had pretty low expectations when I got this album last night, which has only served me well.

I don't think this is anything I would have spun intentionally, but having it pop up for me on the list has been a pleasure. I appreciate the operatic qualities, the somehow-tasteful-yet-over-the-top instrumentation, AND the dude has pipes. The song structure throughout the whole album is also a positive for me. The verse-chorus-verse-bridge structure makes sense; I don't necessarily get tired of it, but when I listen to music that strays from those boundaries, it always feels like a relief somehow

This album has won me over. I didn't want to like it, but it's too good for me to have felt that way for long

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’m torn on this one. It’s simultaneously cheesy as hell, whilst still being iconic. The ‘Loaf doesn’t do much as sing these tunes, rather batters them into submission over the course of several minutes. The titles are ridiculous, the lyrics equally so, and the music hits all the late 70s stereotypes, but I challenge anyone to listen to ‘Paradise…..’ and not be belting it out by the end of it. Although I want to hate it, I think I secretly love it

Gotta love a good rock opera. I really wish I had seen this musical. Also, I learned who Meatloaf was from SpiceWorld as a child. So fabulous. Definitely a listen from start to finish situation instead of adding a song to a random playlist. But it brings me joy.

Essentially a Broadway musical put to a hard rock template, and that's where the problems begin for me. It's maximalist, and "sounds" the part, but what initially feels ambitious and fantasy villain-esque on the surface ultimately comes off as a little too melodramatic, kitschy and indulgent for its own good.

The title track in particular doesn't really use its length to evolve musically, rather repeating the same "peaks" which could have easily amounted to around 4 minutes. By the time you've reached the album's mid-section, you've been inundated with screeching guitars and crashing piano to the point of fatigue and parody.

Epic … loved it!

Was expecting metal but was not at all disappointed.

When it's got a good hook, I enjoy musical theatre and the more theatrical end of pop music. Even though the words “rock opera” don’t get me particularly excited I found the title track of Bat Out Of Hell to be pretty awesome - it's got a hell of a driving melody and plenty of character. Unfortunately it is in no way representative of the vast majority of the album which is home to too many overwrought takes on overlong Elton John-style ballads which are sadly not my thing. Occasionally they’ll bloom into something else, but not often enough for me.

eeeeeejjjj, jeg har simpelthen hørt det her så meget - men det gør jeg ikke længere. Af gode grunde. Jeg synes simpelthen, det er irriterende nu. Jeg har ikke tid til musical-rock længere.

okay... ovenstående var skrevet, inden jeg faktisk gik i gang.
det er jo crazy

det er så fjollet, så ekstravagant, dekadent, et overflødighedshorn af klaver, vibrato, motorcykler og høj fart ud af helvede

det kræver lidt, men det giver så meget til gengæld

okay så - værsgo, tag mine fire stjerner

3.8