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| Another Braver Review | |
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Ali 02:54 am UTC 07/06/16 |
| Firstly a note of reassurance. Have you been let down by a Meatloaf album before? Don’t worry: this one’s good. You can trust it. It will be there for you. Apologies that this is so long. I got carried away and then kept on going… Who needs the young? Like a middle aged lady sitting in a theatre eating a homemade packed lunch with her legs wide open, Who Needs the Young is as gloriously unselfconscious as ever. After a rather cute little opening bridge which capers on to the scene like an overexcited terrier at a fairground, the intro gradually settles and matures into something that gets gradually sexier until the main melody bursts forth like an unexpected erection. Unleashed for the first time upon a new generation that has forgotten that punk ever happened, this is a song that is going to offend a lot of people. There is something rather wonderful about that. Meatloaf's voice, ravaged by years of overuse lends the words a special poignancy: the line “My voice just isn’t what it was!” suddenly sounds courageous and powerful. Great art does not always have to be beautiful and this album is very much a work of art. Going all the way There are very few rock songs that can justify a playlength of greater than ten minutes and to the best of my knowledge Jim Steinman has written all of them. Like some sort of musical King Midas, his production turns everything it touches to aural gold, and never more so than when he applies it to his own material. Going all the way is a true Steinman classic in his usual inimitable style. Don’t be fooled by the beginning: this is not just another version of “Braver than We Are”: this is so much more. Speaking in Tongues Speaking in Tongues is my new favourite thing: not only my favourite song on the album but currently my favourite thing. I genuinely like it more than I like, say, coffee or my sofa or anything else I'm fond of. This is a *perfect* song. One of Steinman's great strengths as a writer is, and always has been his willingness to ‘go there’: "There are things that we learn at the end of life, there are things we learned at the start" is a line of huge poignancy. Meanwhile the gentle acoustic accompaniment is the aural equivalent of lying in a bath full of warm honey with someone gently massaging your shoulders. Mmm… Loving you’s a dirty job: Justification if ever it was needed for Steinman’s policy of reworking songs until they reach perfection, this feels genuinely revitalised. The real touch of genius is the new backing riff, which announces its presence as soon as the track begins and adds something that you will never have realised was missing before. I’m not sure I can listen to Bonnie’s version again after this. Souvenirs I like this song more the more I hear it. It starts with a rather gorgeous saxophone intro (we’re back in the bath of honey again) then gradually works itself into a delightful frenzy of classic Steinmanian/Meatloavian excess. The line “crying icicles instead of tears” is a throwback to “Two out of three aint bad” and the melody echoes Left in the Dark in places, but nevertheless this stands alone as a genuinely great track and I would probably like it more if the first four tracks weren’t quite so exceptional. Only when I feel More spoken than sung at times, this does feel very much like what it is, part of a larger whole. I solved the problem that others have complained of by simply attaching “Break it” to it on my playlist. Problem solved. ;) More More is a true heavy rock anthem and Meatloaf growls his way through it like an angry tiger at a disco. The female vocal line begins to take over towards the end of the song, drifting gently out over the cacophony like candy floating incongruously in a vat of boiling lead. Fans of "Life is a Lemon" will love it... Godz A familiar classic from Tanz der Vampire, this is as brilliant as ever. Please set aside any worries that Meatloaf might not do the song justice, he really really does. Train of Love Very polished and Meatloaf’s vocal performance is one of the best on the album. If I’m going to be picky, and that’s after all what reviews are for, it lacks the emotional poignancy of the earlier tracks, but it’s still very enjoyable. If you haven’t already heard Braver then you’re in for a treat: this album is one more perfect primal scream from the team that changed music forever. ------ I think this may actually be my longest Rockman post ever. If you’re still reading this then I’m very touched: if you’re coming to Manchester in February I will buy you a drink! Now I’m going to go back to listening to Speaking in Tongues on repeat another 30 times… | |
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