Meat Loaf
Couldn't Have Said it Better

THE REVIEW

Mr. Marvin Aday, known to most as Meat Loaf, owes his fame mainly to the masterpiece that was "Bat Out of Hell", a record that since the late Seventies has allowed him to sell just a few tens of millions of copies. At a time when punk and heavy metal were on the rise, releasing an LP that was a concentrate of Fifties rock'n'roll and that exuded from every single groove the passion of Jim Steinman, the true deus ex machina of the entire operation, for the most classic musical could have proved more than just a gamble, but, ironically, that album launched both into the pantheon of world music.

The idyll naturally doesn't last long and shortly after, the two would spend the Eighties bickering with lawyers, all while Aday tried to keep the business afloat between one bankruptcy and another. As tradition dictates, however, after fifteen years of disputes the long-awaited reconciliation occurs, with a new album that could only repeat the formula of their great success, namely "Bat Out of Hell II", which definitively boosted Meat Loaf's standing. The old grudges, however, wouldn't go away and shortly after their partnership is interrupted again: Aday is still a great organizer of others' work and from that moment on his career would return to very high levels, also because he would surround himself with top-notch authors and musicians.

This "Couldn't Have Said It Better" is from 2003, it is rarely cited among his reference albums but it is certainly a record of great quality, with all the credentials to become a small classic. By managing, on this occasion, to attract figures of the caliber of James Michael, Nikki Sixx, Diane Warrenn, and Tod Rundgren, as well as seasoned session musicians like Kenny Aronoff, "Couldn't Have Said It Better" proves to be a complete album, with quality songs, excellently played and produced. Do not expect any change in musical direction, it wouldn't make sense: Meat Loaf presents himself once more doing what he does best, that is, masterfully interpreting grandiose, compelling songs, perhaps more suited to a Broadway show than a rock festival.

The eponymous opening track reprises the winning duet with the spirited Patti Russo but the subsequent "Did I Say That" and "Why Isn't That Enough", more rhythmic, highlight Aday's interpretative skills even on more subdued songs. After the brief instrumental interlude, which ideally divides the album into two chapters, the second part lives up to the first thanks to songs like "Testify", one of the best tracks on the album, which manages to alternate more vibrant passages with evocative choruses, while "You're Right, I was Wrong" and "Because of You" revisit that pianistic rock style, always straddling rock'n'roll and AOR, which had already brought luck to Our Hero in the past. Ending with two covers, Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" and "Mercury Blues", an old classic from the Forties, here present as a hidden track. "Couldn't Have Said It Better" did not achieve particular success at the time of its release, but in return, the long tour was a sell-out pretty much everywhere, confirming how the weight and charisma of a figure like Meat Loaf remained intact over the years. Excellent album, fresh and lively, yet another great test of another immortal of rock'n'roll.

"Couldn't have said It Better":

1. Couldn't Have Said It Better
2. Did I Say That
3. Why Isn't That Enough
4. Love You Out Loud
5. Man of Steel
6. Testify
7. Tear Me Down
8. You're Right, I was Wrong
9. Because Of You
10. Do It!
11. Forever Young