Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell... - [CD]

Product description BAT OUT OF HELL II is the long-awaited sequel to 1977's BAT OUT OF HELL and reunites Meat Loaf with the creative team of writer/producer Jim Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren. Personnel: Meat Loaf, Mrs. Loud (vocals); Jeff Bova (various instruments); Tim Pierce, Eddie Martinez, Pat Thrall (guitar); Brian Meagher, Sr., Brian Meagher, Jr., Justin Meagher (bagpipes, drums); Lenny Pickett (saxophone); Roy Bittan (piano, keyboard, synthesizer, programming); Bill Payne (piano); Steve Buslowe (bass); Kenny Aronoff, Jimmy Bralower, Rick Marotta (drums); Kasim Sulton, Rory Dodd, Amy Goff, Elaine Goff, Jim Steinman, Cynthia Geary, Brett Cullen, Michelle Little, Robert Coron, Max Haskett, Curtis King, Todd Rundgren, Ellen Foley, Eric Troyer, Gunnar & Matthew Nelson (background vocals). Recorded at Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles, California and The Power Station, New York, New York. "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" [by Jim Steinman] was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Song Of The Year." "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" won the 1994 Grammy Award for "Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo." This edition of BAT OUT OF HELL II is limited to 5000 copies. The CD is packaged in a cog-shaped box. BAT OUT OF HELL II: PICTURE SHOW contains three videos, three live performances, interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage. This Deluxe Edition of BAT OUT OF HELL II: BACK INTO HELL contains the complete original 1993 album as well as a disc of remixes and radio and single edits. Personnel: Meat Loaf, Mrs. Loud (vocals); Jeff Bova (various instruments); Tim Pierce, Eddie Martinez, Pat Thrall (guitar); Brian Meagher, Sr., Brian Meagher, Jr., Justin Meagher (bagpipes, drums); Lenny Pickett (saxophone); Roy Bittan (piano, keyboard, synthesizer, programming); Bill Payne (piano); Steve Buslowe (bass); Kenny Aronoff, Jimmy Bralower, Rick Marotta (drums); Kasim Sulton, Rory Dodd, Amy Goff, Elaine Goff, Jim Steinman, Cynthia Geary, Brett Cullen, Michelle Little, R Amazon.com At a certain point, bad taste and bombast becomes so excessive and so grandiose that they're no longer an easily dismissed irritation but an astonishing monument to the warped imagination. Such a monument is Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell , the long-delayed sequel to 1977's Bat Out of Hell . Once again songwriter/producer Jim Steinman has isolated high-school parking-lot aphorisms and inflated them to Wagner-on-Broadway proportions, casting Mr. Loaf as a heavy-metal Ezio Pinza. Typical of the album's strategy is its big hit single, "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)." Steinman piles on the guitars, drums, synthesizers, and choral voices as if he were Phil Spector producing Kiss playing the Who songbook. The rest of the album tackles the themes of teenage lust, frustration, and rock & roll fantasies in similar fashion. It's somehow beside the point to complain about the puerile lyrics, the leaden rhythms, the derivative melodies, the histrionic vocals, or the overblown arrangements. Steinman knows how to push his audience's buttons, and with Meat Loaf's help, he hits those buttons with a sledgehammer. --Geoffrey Himes