Meat Loaf's new album

[Ritterskoop]

Come for the Loaf, stay for the Jim Steinman. Seriously, the Loaf sounds pretty weak but the Steinman of it all is just as busy and overdone and glorious as ever.

To be fair, I've only listened to the first two tracks, but the second one is over 11 minutes long, so I feel like I have enough info to have an opinion.

Skip track one. Just. Ugh.

But track two is the title track, in the sense that the lyric that forms the album title is in here. But the big news is ..... Ellen Foley and Karla DeVito are back and they sound gruff and passionate as always (Foley) and powerful and pure as before (DeVito)! The two of them sing solo, together, and with the Loaf, and disguise some of his faults, which are so, so many.

The $500,000 question I always hoped for on Millionaire was about Ellen Foley doing the lead vocals on Paradise By the Dashboard Light, and Phil Rizzuto (maybe being tricked into) doing the radio play-by-play on that same song. Karla DeVito was in the video, lip-synching, and toured to support the album Bat Out of Hell.

I got to see Foley a couple of years ago at a club called Iridium in NYC and she was amazing.

[Vandal]

So what's it gonna be? Yes...or...no?

[Ritterskoop]

Let me sleep on it.






I think we have the roles reversed.

[Vandal]

Let me sleep on it.






I think we have the roles reversed.

What roles?

[Ritterskoop]

The gender roles from the song. De nada.

I'll have a more specific recommendation on buying the album or not in a day or two, after I've heard the rest of it. But I do recommend the single "Going All the Way is Just the Start" if you like DeVito or Foley.

Or Steinman.

[Estonut]

I saw this album on sale over the weekend, so I ordered it, mostly for old times' sake, rather than really expecting a whole lot. I haven't received it yet.

The $500,000 question I always hoped for on Millionaire was about Ellen Foley doing the lead vocals on Paradise By the Dashboard Light, and Phil Rizzuto (maybe being tricked into) doing the radio play-by-play on that same song. Karla DeVito was in the video, lip-synching, and toured to support the album Bat Out of Hell.

Perhaps I'm misremembering some of the dialog, but I had always assumed that the Rizzuto part was just clipped from old play-by-play, but the Wiki article on the song confirms your version:

Baseball broadcast
His pushing the matter is mirrored by New York Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto broadcasting a portion of a baseball game that serves as a metaphor for his attempts to achieve his goal, accompanied by funk instrumentation and the two characters talking in the two individual left and right channels.

Rizzuto's baseball play-by-play call was recorded in 1976 at The Hit Factory in New York City by producer Todd Rundgren, Meat Loaf and Steinman. Rizzuto publicly maintained he was unaware that his contribution would be equated with sex in the finished song, but Meat Loaf asserts that Rizzuto only feigned ignorance to stifle some criticism from a priest and was fully aware of the context of what he was recording.

In a nod to the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry, some radio stations in Boston created a version where Rizzuto's part was substituted with Red Sox announcer Dick Stockton describing the baseball play.[

I got to see Foley a couple of years ago at a club called Iridium in NYC and she was amazing.

A few years ago, I noticed, and started watching, a PBS show called "Front and Center." It features live performances from different artists each week, all recorded at the Iridium.

[rayxtwo]

I used to have season hockey tickets for the Blues. One night, I get home about 11:30 after a game and my mom tells me that my friend called earlier that evening and asked if I wanted to go over to her house for dinner. I tell her it's way too late now and I have to get up for work in the morning. She said that he really wanted me to go over there because she was having meatloaf for dinner. I just went on to bed. The next afternoon, I run into my friend. He's going crazy on me. He starts ranting about his sister having meatloaf for dinner last night. I tell him, yeah, so, what's the big deal???? He says, "You don't understand... she had Meatloaf for dinner. He was at her house." Turns out he was really there. Her husband was a roadie for a lot of different bands and since she was a really good cook, a bunch of them came over to their house for a home cooked meal. They had a pool table, ping pong table, card table and a lot of other things that made the band members feel like they were back at home. They left guitars, drum sets, t-shirts and all kinds of other stuff behind when they left. They're house looked like a mini Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. He gave me crap for years about missing that night.

Ray

[TheConfessor]

I got to see Foley a couple of years ago at a club called Iridium in NYC and she was amazing.

A few years ago, I noticed, and started watching, a PBS show called "Front and Center." It features live performances from different artists each week, all recorded at the Iridium.

Back when WWTBAM was in its prime, the Iridium used to be in the basement of the Empire Hotel, where all contestants stayed courtesy of the show. For many years, Les Paul played there every Monday night with his jazz combo. On the night before I taped my winning episode, my companion and I got tickets to see his show, as a relaxing way to prepare for the next day. I really enjoyed it, and he sounded great, especially for an 86 year-old man who had to relearn how to play guitar after having a stroke in his 60s. I got to meet Les Paul after the show. I've always considered him and the Iridium an important part of my Millionaire experience. A year or so later, the Empire was extensively remodeled and the Iridium moved to its current location on Broadway at 51st Street.

[Ritterskoop]

Y'all, this album kind of sucks so far except for the wretched excess of track 2, and that is not a drawing point for many.

It makes me want Steinman to get with Adam Lambert or someone who can sing this stuff.

I turned off the CD on the way to school, and Meat Loaf's "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth" was on the radio and it was terrific, especially the clapping part at the end.

I guess we all sang better 40 years ago. Ouch.

[Ritterskoop]

Grim.

He sounds like your drunk uncle at a bad talent show.

Thumbs down on the album, but buy "Going All the Way is Just the Start" for fun.

[T_Bone0806]

Ellen Foley also is a little trivia detail as she was in one season of the show "Night Court", playing the public defender role which Markie Post filled for the remainder of the show's healthy run.

I listened to the sound bites from Mr. Loaf's new effort. Let's just say there won't be a Boney headed his way...

[Ritterskoop]

I thought she was terrific as Billie Young on Night Court - the issue was that (1) they wanted Markie Post all along (she was still on another show) and (2) Foley and Anderson had more of a sibling vibe and the producers wanted a romance.

The album is truly dreadful. I don't even know what to call that wide, broad vibrato. He is sort-of on the notes sometimes, but not often enough or for long enough.

I am going to write to Jim Steinman and tell him to hook up with Adam Lambert (not that way). They would be perfect for each other.