Meat Loaf
Bat Out Of Hell

THE REVIEW

Someone on this site wrote that Rock n’ roll was born with this record. Well, even if it's a horrible boutade, we can certainly say that a certain type of r n’ r was indeed created with this extraordinary work by Jim Steinman, performed by a superb actor like Meat Loaf, the ultimate icon of the rebel after James Dean (rebels, it should be noted, from a scripted performance). Meat Loaf, a savvy actor of cult musicals like "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and more recently in the film "Fight Club" in the role of the transgender Robert "Bob" Poulsen, manages to reach heights of drama that will have no rivals in all of rock, except perhaps for the best Phil Spector, David Yow of Jesus Lizard, and James Thirlwell (Foetus).

The album, a concept about a rocker who on his motorbike must save a girl from hell, is an exaggeration of all rocker stereotypes, indeed, and many of these clichés might have been born here. Steinman's unrestrained and deliberate baroquism (heavy metal solos, crescendos, high notes, various redundancies) are precisely the spice of this work, which I repeat, derives its brilliance from magnificence. The tracks, from the manifesto-title track of an era, to "Two out of Three Ain’t Bad", slow and pompous, are a continuous alternation of extraordinary ballads ("You Took the Words Right Out", "Heaven Can Wait") and injections of grandeur ("Paradise by The Dashboard Lights"). It’s worth highlighting the lyrics of the latter, truly amusing and self-ironic. The title of masterpiece naturally belongs to the already mentioned "Bat Out of Hell", fast, dramatic, with an Oscar-worthy performance by Meat Loaf, perhaps the best “musical” track ever recorded.

This Rock Opera will be followed by two more chapters that will conclude a truly legendary trilogy, and although the quality standards do not reach the heights of this ancestor, both are of exquisite craftsmanship. Jim Steinman, one of the most underrated personalities in musical terms, coined a powerful and unforgettable character and story, and only a milestone like "Original Sin" (Pandora's Box) does justice to his compositional and expressive stature, characterized by an ironic and overwhelming reinterpretation of the vices and virtues of rock n’ roll.