Well, the original intention I had was to review Meat Loaf's “Hang cool teddy bear”, which up to yesterday as far as I knew was his most recent album, even though it was last year's release and would therefore not fit into the “Meanwhile...” section. However, as I searched for information on that album, it came as something of a surprise to me that he actually has a new one out this year! But --- and here's the interesting bit --- it's only been released in Australia and Germany (the latter only two weeks previous to my writing this), not scheduled to be out here or anywhere else until next year.
But using my contacts I was able to source a copy of it now, and therefore my plans have obviously changed. So I now present for you, possibly the first ever review outside of Germany or Oz (or possibly not, but here's hoping) of the brand new Meat Loaf album, which you can't buy until next year.
(Note: due to its very limited availability, YouTubes from this album are pretty rare. Now, I could make my own, but it seems YT are under some sort of instruction to disable audio in any files that refer to the new album, so chances are mine would suffer the same fate. For now, I've included the only ones I can find that still work. If anyone wants to hear the whole album, pm me.)
Hell in a handbasket --- Meat Loaf --- 2011/2012 (Sony)
First off, some bad news, which may in time become good news. As on last year's effort, there is again no contribution from Jim Steinman on this album. He writes no songs, plays no instruments and is not involved in the production. The potentially good news is that, as the album is not slated for release around the world until next February, Meat Loaf has publicly indicated that it is possible Steinman could be involved before then, so that the world-except-Australia-and-Germany release in 2012 could turn out to be a beast of a very different nature. Should that occur, we will re-review the album as it is then released, but for now, as I say, no Steinman input at all.
So in his absence Meat Loaf has assembled a plethora of songwriters, much as he did on previous album (which I haven't listened to yet) “Hang cool teddy bear”, and indeed the previous ones, but he doesn't get involved in the songwriting himself. He has had a stab, on various albums going back to 1983's “Midnight at the lost and found”, but even then they were co-compositions and it's clear Meat's talents lie in other areas. But I'm glad to be able to report that the Neverland Express, who have been with him since 1995's “Welcome to the neighbourhood”, are in place again.
“All of me” opens the album on slow choral vocals, then Meat Loaf's unmistakable voice cuts in and he's sounding as good as ever. Nice piano fills come in, drums slowly keeping the beat until the guitars snarl into the mix, and the song gets going. For Meat Loaf it's oddly restrained, in fact sounding more like something you'd expect from Bon Jovi, but it's a nice opener, if not the powerblast you get with albums like “Dead ringer”, “Bad attitude” or indeed the classic “Bat out of Hell”. Lovely piano outro from Neverland Express's Justin Avery, then “Fall from grace” gets the party started with a hard rocker with AOR and stadium rock tones, nice fluid guitar from Paul Crook, who also produces the album, and again some great piano work from Avery.
They're probably all well known and respected, but I know none of these songwriters. There's no Diane Warren, no Kara DioGuardi, Desmond Childs or even Nikki Six, as on previous albums. It would appear Meat pulled in some country writers to help, like Wade Bower and Dave Berg, but in fairness I don't immediately see the country influence on the songs that was very obvious on, for instance, Bon Jovi's “Lost highway”. Another rocker in “The giving tree”, a real stomper in the mould of “Life is a lemon (and I want my money back)” off “Bat out of Hell II”.
The trend these days seems to be to have a rap on your album, no matter the genre. I don't personally think it always works, but for “Mad mad world (The good God is a woman and she don't like ugly)” --- surely a contender for the longest even Meat Loaf song! --- Meat ropes in Public Enemy's Chuck D to perform the rap, and it works quite well. The song itself is dramatic and powerful, with a great sense of almost panic in the melody, lots of hard rock guitar and pumping drums, Avery's piano again adding another layer to the music, as does Crook's organ.
For a Meat Loaf album, the songs on this are all quite short: only three of the twelve tracks go above the five minute mark, and one of those only by a few seconds. There are, in other words, none of the epics we've become used to. In fact, it's the shortest since 2003's “Couldn't have said it better”. The songs are short and snappy and I guess many of them will be slated for single release. “Party of one” is another sharp rocker with a nice keyboard intermission, as it were, backed by nice, er, backing vocals, and for a heavy track there's some really effective violin --- yeah, I said violin --- from Ginny Luke.
And then some fiddle on “Live or die”, another hard puncher, and it's interesting that so far we haven't heard one single Meat Loaf ballad. His albums are usually famous for them --- remember “Objects in the rear view mirror”? Or “Surf's up”, though admittedly that was a cover of a Steinman song. But you can usually expect him to slow down the action at some point. We shall see. For now, Caitlin Evanson's soulful fiddle adds a very celtic feel to this song, toning down the hard rock just a little, then we're into a cover of the Mamas and the Papas classic “California dreamin'”. If you know this song (and if not, why not?) there's nothing more I can say about it, other than that Meat does a good rendition of it, taking the gears down just a little, and performs a really interesting duet with Patti Russo, while saxophone from Dave Luther paints the picture better than any words ever could. I have to say, I've always preferred Colorado's version above all, including the original, but this is not a bad cover.
“Another day” starts off with echoey, rolling drums and a lovely little piano line, and perhaps the first ballad has arrived? Meat does, as ever, a great job wringing out the last drop of emotion and passion from the lyric, and great keyboards from Paul Crook add another layer to the story, the drums getting louder and more persistent as the song gets into its stride. Another song about homeless people, the subject is certainly not new, and will always continue to be a blight on our countries until something proper is done to tackle the problem, so it's nice to see another established artist taking on the theme. Not that singing songs will help, but perhaps awareness will be heightened, if only for a little while. Meat certainly sings with conviction, almost tears in his voice, and yes, in case it wasn't clear, this is the first ballad, and a very good one, worth having waited for.
There's a great stride rocker then in “40 days”, with pulsating organ (ooer --- yeah, yeah I know!) and angry guitars as Meat sings of the End of Days, another popular subject for songs as we head towards the year we find out if the Mayas were full of sh1t. Or not. Great little stabs on the mandolin too, courtesy of Glen Duncan. But come on, Meat: rain for forty days? That's a light shower here in Ireland!
There's another duet with Russo in “Our love and our souls”, a kind of semi-ballad, with this time a definite country flavour. She certainly can sound like Cher on occasions! “Stand in the storm” kicks everything back up to high gear with its tearing guitar riff that opens the song, and guest appearances by country star John Rich, Mark McGrath and rapper Lil John. So yes, of course, that means it's the second track on the album to feature a rap, but like Chuck D's contribution on “Mad mad world”, John's performance fits in very well with the theme and mood of the music, and the song as a whole works well. Again there's a country style to the song, with pedal steel guitar from Bruce Bowden, and given that dichotomy Meat Loaf does well to meld the three genres: rock, country and rap, into one cohesive song which really is more than the sum of its parts.
The album closes on the acoustic ballad “Blue sky”, with Meat singing for the angels, his voice almost cracking with emotion, a volcano of hurt just held in check. It's a short, but very powerful and evocative song, and really all things being equal quite an effective and worthy closer.
Though the world at large won't get to hear this album until February next, I'm already impressed and I think you will be too. Even without Steinman's input it's already heading towards another classic from the man with the biggest voice in rock, and should the master songsmith decide at the eleventh hour to climb onboard, this album could be even better. As it is, it stands as a really excellent effort from Meat Loaf, and I have no doubt that once it's released across the world it will sell in its millions.
TRACKLISTING
1. All of me
2. Fall from grace
3. The giving tree
4. Mad mad world (The good God is a woman and she don't like ugly)
5. Party of one
6. Live or die
7. California dreamin'
8. Another day
9. 40 days
10. Our love and our souls
11. Stand in the storm
12. Blue sky