Bat Out Of Hell II is Meat Loaf's sixth album. It was released in 1993, sixteen years after the original Bat Out Of Hell album.
Epic is such an over-used word these days. But this album is features some truly epic music, and I'd Do Anything For Love is an excellent example. It is also intensely passionate, yet wonderfully cheesy at the same time. The song structure is magnificent and features so many wonderful elements, such as the chorus "ahhs" and the use of piano. The icing on the case is the incredibly powerful female vocals.
The recording quality is sometimes quite 1980s sounding, despite the album being released in 1995. But it does a great job of bringing together the multitude of voices to create span the intensity range from a soft whisper to the Big Bang, so I rate it highly.
Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back is dominated by a hypnotic groove, which feels like it could go on forever. Also, I quite enjoy the silly lyrics of the bridge (eg "What about X?", "It's defective").
The opening of Rock And Roll Dreams Come True is soooo 80s. Yet it builds on this soft-focus opening to create a wonderfully layered masterpiece. Again, the backing vocals and piano works a treat. And again, the lyrics are both wonderfully cheesy and passionate:
I treasure your love, I never want to lose it
You've been through the fires of hell
And I know you've got the ashes to prove it
Not to mention, the wonderful notion that the religion of rock'n'roll can solve any problem in the world:
Once upon a time was a back beat
Once upon a time all the chords came to life
And the angels had guitars even before they had wings
If you hold onto a chorus you can get through the night
...I could go on all day raving about the poetry, imagery and truisms of this song, suffice to say it's an all-time favourite for me.
On the other hand, It Just Won't Quit is a bit of a letdown. The chorus is super catchy, but otherwise I find it drags on aimlessly. The ballads of Good Girls Go To Heaven and Lost Boys And Golden Girls are also nothing to write home about.
Out Of The Frying Pan is a return to the typical Meat Loaf brilliance. It is dripping with vivid and powerful phrases, including my favourite "the sun is just a ball of desire". The key ingredient though, is the endless build-up throughout the song. Meat Loaf is a master of the pre-chorus and manages to capture this wonderful anticipation throughout an entire 8-minute song Everything Louder Than Everything Else also works this to perfection.
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