Do you love me, will you love me forever....

I was watching the BoSox pre-game show a few weeks ago (I DON'T KNOW WHY!) with Meat Loaf as the guest chatting it up with Jim Rice. Apparently, he grew up a Yankees fan, but has switched to the Red Sox. Seeing him got a conversation going about how Bat Out of Hell is one of my favorite albums of all time, consisting of great melodies, killer hooks, sly humor and over-the-top production. I recall the Hartford Advocate (when it was really alternative) picking Bat Out of Hell as its #1 album of 1979, even though it took much longer for it to become commercially successful. Bat Out of Hell is similar in many ways to Springsteen's Born to Run, both angst-filled, overblown, bombastic. But what separates the two, in my opinion, is Bat's wonderful tongue-in-cheek undertones. For example, You took the words right out of my mouth, oh it must have been while you were kissing me sung in full Phil Spector wall-of-sound; and using a Phil Rizzuto narration of an inside-the-park home run attempt on Paradise by the Dashboard Light (with a very hot Ellen Foley) is absolutely inspired! I found Meat's subsequent efforts quite boring. Unfortunately, he announced that Bat Out of Hell III will be coming out in October. But don't be sad, 'cause one out of three ain't bad.