Meat Loaf…well, by writing this I may be losing any cool that I’ve managed to convince you that I have, as the fact is that Meat Loaf just isn’t cool. Back in the days of Bat Out Of Hell, I expect he must have been given that it stayed in the top 40 for years, but nowadays he’s seen as dad rock. And that just ain’t cool.

But what can I say? I’ve always liked Meat Loaf, since the first time my dad played me his LP of Bat Out Of Hell (see, dad rock). It is obviously the big album, the one everyone loves, but I’ve always had a major soft spot for Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell.

In the 16 years between Bat I and II, Meat Loaf floundered slightly without his songwriter, Jim Steinman. The genius behind the music of these albums (and some other Meat Loaf ones) is Steinman, although credit must go to Meat Loaf for his performance – I saw him live in 1996, and he really is a showman.

Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell was the much hyped follow up to Bat Out of Hell and the reunion of Meat Loaf and Steinman. The album is however much more polished sounding than the first, possibly due to better recording techniques in the early nineties and also possibly due to Steinman maturing as a songwriter.

I say maturing with a pinch of salt…there are no songs quite so obvious as Paradise By The Dashboard Light here, but the themes on this album are similar to those of Bat I. Sex, women, lost loves, old friends, rock and roll…Meat Loaf doesn’t change.

1. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
2. Life is a Lemon And I Want My Money Back
3. Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through
4. It Just Won't Quit
5. Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)
6. Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are
7. Wasted Youth
8. Everything Louder Than Everything Else
9. Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)
10. Back Into Hell
11. Lost Boys And Golden Girls

The big hit from this album was of course I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That). It’s a great song, but as far as I’m concerned it’s been overplayed now, and I rarely listen to it, skipping it more often than not. It’s full of piano, drums, guitar and synth, producing very full sounds to go with Meat Loaf’s alternately soft and rough vocals. There is a section with a female vocalist, and one thing I’ll say about Meat Loaf is that he picks the women who sing with him perfectly. Their voices always match the style of the music, very powerful and the ideal compliment to Meat Loaf himself.

When I was younger, my favourite song from this album was Life is a Lemon And I Want My Money Back, because it’s quite angry and lists lots of things in life which are “defective”. It also includes a rather sweary line from Mr Loaf – “you can shove it up your ass”. I sometimes think his music should really have more swearing in it, but he’s a bit too clean for that. Never mind.
Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through is now one of my favourites on the album, although it took me a while to appreciate it as it is quite understated. It has a driving beat and steady rhythm with gentle backing vocals. It is fast paced but doesn’t jump out like some of the other tracks, and so it is easy to pass it by without noticing, but it’s worth a proper listen.

It Just Won’t Quit is a softer song, starting as a ballad but it gets a little too lively to get that title. It starts off very slow, with just Meat Loaf and a gentle piano backing, but it soon picks up with a steady drumbeat. However, it is a bit melancholy as the lyrics are about being lost and not knowing what the problem is. I really like this song, again it was a slow burner because it doesn’t jump out at you, but now I really enjoy it.

The next track, however, does jump out and grab you. Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire) opens with very simple but very effective guitar riff, which is soon joined by a lively piano riff. The fast pace is set right at the opening by the guitar, and is continued throughout by the drums, guitar and piano. Meat Loaf does ballads very well, but it’s his fast paced rock songs like this that I love – his voice fits with the music perfectly.

Track number 6, Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are, is possibly a candidate for Stupidest Song Title Ever. Really, does it need to be so lengthy? You can guess what the repeated line in this song is, and you can probably guess the subject – lost friends, lost loves, an abusive childhood, and how it doesn’t get easier as time passes. This is the epic ballad of the album, and it isn’t bad, but it’s quite long and I tend to skip it more often than not as I get bored. It is mainly Meat Loaf’s vocals backed by piano, although it also features guitar and drums.

The following track, Wasted Youth, is a waste of time and is really annoying. It is a two and a half minute narrative of Meat Loaf destroying a guitar and his dad getting angry. Skip it. It annoys me.

It does however lead into my favourite song on the album, Everything Louder Than Everything Else. The pace is set from the start, and it never lets up. The drums keep going right through, and there are sections which are just Meat Loaf singing with the drums keeping time. The bassline in this track is very funky, and can be heard best in a short section with just the bass and Meat Loaf singing. The subject of this song is that life is for living, and theres a few lines I really like: “Forget the questions someone get me another beer” and “A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age” – how true, I try to be wise and productive and it just goes wrong. This song is one of the main reasons that I love this album – it’s so lively, cheerful and don’t give a s***.

Strangely, the end of Everything Louder Than Everything Else is a 15 second section of bagpipes. And not even exciting bagpipes, just ten notes repeated over and over. This moves into a solo saxophone section, which is the opening of the following track.

Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere) comes a close second behind Everything Louder for my favourite track on the album. It’s another upbeat track, but doesn’t have the same style of lyrics as Everything Louder – Good Girls is about rebelling, or not as the case may be. It opens with a funky saxophone riff and the drums – the presence of the sax in a lot of Meat Loaf’s songs is a bit of a redemption in the cool stakes, a bit of sax is always cool (or am I just biased as a saxophonist??). The track is full of guitars, drums and very big synths. In one line Meat Loaf sings that he’ll be praying the title line is true. Who wants to go to heaven anyway???

I have to be honest and say that I usually stop the album here. Or rather, go back and listen to my favourites again. The last two tracks aren’t bad, I just find them a little boring. Back Into Hell is an instrumental, and uses the refrain from Good Girls as its main theme. It’s good, just not overly exciting. Lost Boys and Golden Girls is another ballad, but it doesn’t have the same character as the others on the album, and is quite frankly bland. It does however hark back to the style of the ballads on Bat Out Of Hell, just without the same character and storytelling that they benefitted from.

I really love this album. It doesn’t match the raw perfection of Bat Out Of Hell, but that doesn’t make it bad. It’s different, but I think that is what has brought it criticism – perhaps if it didn’t have the Bat Out Of Hell name attached to it, people would have expected less. As it is, it was measured against Bat Out Of Hell, and of course it fell short.

So maybe I’ve just lost any pretence of cool that I had, but so what – I’ve outed myself as a Meat Loaf fan, and I’m big enough not to care! This is a great album, it’s one I’ve been listening to for 16 years and I have no intentions to stop anytime soon.