Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell (1977/2012)
 FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time - 46:38 minutes | 1006 MB
Official Digital Download - Source: HDTracks | Front cover

 Bat Out Of Hell is the definitive masterpiece by Meat Loaf. The album is adored by countless generations and is Meat Loaf’s first collaboration with composer Jim Steinman. Bat Out Of Hell is one of the bestselling albums in music history, having sold over 43 million copies worldwide. It is included on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and has been certified multi-Platinum. It reached #1 on Billboard’s Top Pop charts and features the exhilarating singles “Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad” and “Paradise By The Dashboard Light.” A must-own recording.


 There is no other album like Bat Out of Hell, unless you want to count the sequel. This is Grand Guignol pop -- epic, gothic, operatic, and silly, and it's appealing because of all of this. Jim Steinman was a composer without peer, simply because nobody else wanted to make mini-epics like this. And there never could have been a singer more suited for his compositions than Meat Loaf, a singer partial to bombast, albeit shaded bombast. The compositions are staggeringly ridiculous, yet Meat Loaf finds the emotional core in each song, bringing true heartbreak to "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" and sly humor to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." There's no discounting the production of Todd Rundgren, either, who gives Steinman's self-styled grandiosity a production that's staggeringly big but never overwhelming and always alluring. While the sentiments are deliberately adolescent and filled with jokes and exaggerated clichés, there's real (albeit silly) wit behind these compositions, not just in the lyrics but in the music, which is a savvy blend of oldies pastiche, show tunes, prog rock, Springsteen-esque narratives, and blistering hard rock (thereby sounding a bit like an extension of Rocky Horror Picture Show, which brought Meat Loaf to the national stage). It may be easy to dismiss this as ridiculous, but there's real style and craft here and its kitsch is intentional. It may elevate adolescent passion to operatic dimensions, and that's certainly silly, but it's hard not to marvel at the skill behind this grandly silly, irresistible album.  


Tracklist:

 01 - Bat Out Of Hell
 02 - You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
 03 - Heaven Can Wait
 04 - All Revved Up With No Place To Go
 05 - Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
 06 - Paradise By The Dashboard Light: Paradise/Let Me Sleep On It/Praying For the End Of Time
 07 - For Crying Out Loud