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| re: Welcome To The Neighbourhood Vs Bat Out Of Hell 3: The Monster Is Loose | |
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Wilbury 08:56 am UTC 06/20/11 |
| In reply to: | re: Welcome To The Neighbourhood Vs Bat Out Of Hell 3: The Monster Is Loose - rockfenris2005 08:09 am UTC 06/20/11 |
| Jim's too close to the whole thing to judge it. Phil Spector called Jim just a pale imitator after Jim took the reigns of the Celine Dion project. In the 70s Bob Dylan described Neil Young, and this is highly paraphrased, as stealing his sound to the point that Bob would turn on the radio and 'hear himself singing songs he hadn't yet written'. We can all agree, including Jim, that Diane Warren's work on WttN is not as epic, not as big, not as expansive, not as over the top. Yet somehow it is still trying to imitate? Jim doesn't have the monopoly on plays on words, and nor should he. Let's say that Jim invented a genre, he should be flattered. Diane Warren has paid her dues, she can do whatever she wants. Yeah Meat said that Blind As A Bat should have been the first single, but that the label wouldn't relent. It certainly would have been nice! It wouldn't really have changed anything though, surely? Might have made it easier on Meat in interviews, so he didn't have to trot out his "well, it was originally written for me" story every time. > > > > Something weird is happening to me. I've always liked > > Neighbourhood. I've never had a problem with its so called > > 'imitation' of Steinman's style. In fact I've always > > thought that is an unfair accusation. But recently I've > > been finding it a little boring. > > Well, it's an accusation that Jim himself has made. > > QUOTE: > > After watching "Bat Out Of Hell II" sell 10 million > copies, Steinman said he advised Meat Loaf to try > something "totally different" for the follow-up. > > Instead, the single off his next album was an incredibly > derivative faux Steinman tune, "I'd Lie For You (And > That's The Truth)." Steinman was equally irritated and > amused. > > "Even the title is very mild compared to what it > imitates," Steinman says. "I think, 'So big deal.' I'd lie > for you? That's hardly a one-night stand. I'd embezzle at > least. Sign phony checks. But lie? I don't know." > > Check the link as well > > But it's still an enjoyable album for me. > > > > And I've started listening to TMiL for the first time in > > years, and the whole thing is a lot better than I remember > > it. > > I think it's better than "Hang Cool Teddy Bear". I can > actually listen to the whole thing, believe it or not. > > I had written the entire thing off as shit. And while > > the arrangements and Meat's vocals still annoy me in some > > parts, if I can try to not be too picky then on the whole > > it ain't bad at all. > > Compared to the other popular music that's out there, it's > worlds better. But as a Bat album...Well, that's the > problem. That's the problem that most people have with it. > As TMIL, it probably wouldn't have been all that bad. They > wouldn't have had to live up to the Bat name and more > songs like "Elvis in Vegas" could have been thrown in, and > bad Steinman covers taken out. > > Sure it's not a real Bat 3 without > > Jim etc etc, but as an album its actually pretty good. > > > > For as much as the Desmond pretending to do Bat 3 thing > > was one big farce, if it was the shake-up that Meat needed > > to get him out of the adult contemporary AOR thing that he > > was doing on Neighbourhood and CHSIB, then maybe it wasn't > > ALL bad. > > He tried to do that, and he eventually kinda pulled it off > with "Los Angeloser". But even the first single of TMIL > was more of the same, another romantic Meat Loaf duet. And > that was another mistake. They needed to do something more > daring. "Blind as a Bat" should have been the first > single, or even "Pig", even though I dislike what they did > to the song. > > > > ALSO on the subject of safe adult contemporary muzak, I > > sure wish Meat would stop recording with Tim Pierce. > > > > > Chika asked: > > > > > > > Do you have a big collection of mr Steinmans music? > > > > > > I have a fairly big collection but my collection is not > > > nearly as complete as Ryan's collection. For example, I > > > don't have the Stoney and Meat Loaf album and I believe > > > that Ryan has the original vinyl in his collection. I have > > > the ordinary Welcome To The Neighbourhood but I thought > > > that the Diane Warren songs (which were the hit releases) > > > were an attempt to imitate Jim. There are songwriters like > > > Ryan who are influenced by Jim but they do not imitate > > > Jim. Even the first video, "I'd Lie For You", picks up > > > where the video for "Anything For Love" ends. As you know, > > > WTTN was the first release after Bat 2 and I think that > > > they were attempting not only to capitalise on Bat 2's > > > enormous success but to make it sound like the follow > > > album was a Steinman album. Of course one could argue that > > > there are two covers of Jim's songs on WTTN but Bat 3 > > > contained a cover of "Its All Coming Back To Me Now" and > > > many people were very critical of Meat for putting Bat 3 > > > out (including Jim and Ryan). To me the main difference > > > between the two is that WTTN does not use the official > > > BOOH brand name. So, Chika, to answer your question, yes, > > > I have a fairly large collection of Jim's music but I > > > won't be buying the new WTTN. I bought Bat 3 out of > > > curiosity. Its not that I don't respect Meat Loaf. He is a > > > wonderful actor and he often gives Jim a lot of credit > > > during interviews. Nobody else has understood Jim's music > > > like Meat. But I worry about WTTN becuase of the way it > > > followed Bat 2 and I worry about Bat 3 because it used the > > > BOOH brand name even though Jim didn't work on it. I do > > > have a copy of WTTN somewhere but I feel no need to > > > purchase the the special edition. Ryan, on the other hand, > > > is a real collector and I would bet good money that he > > > purchases the new release. Actually I would be interested > > > to know if anyone on the board wants to compare WTTN with > > > Bat 3. Also, is this new special edition of WTTN worth the > > > extra money? Will there one day be a special edition of > > > Bat 3: The Monster Is Loose? | |
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