| THE LONGEST AND MOST SCHOLARLY REVIEW OF A MEAT LOAF ALBUM EVER FROM JIM STEINMAN FOREVER FB PAGE - NOT SAYING THAT I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING SAID | |
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steven_stuart 02:31 am UTC 09/21/16 |
| At long last, I’ve heard as much of the Braver Than We Are album as is currently available (which is to say, the whole bloody thing save one track), wherever one can find it, to the public. Everybody’s chiming in with reviews, so I suppose it’s my turn. Two warnings before we proceed, though: I tend to get long-winded about what I like and didn’t like song-wise, which is why I didn’t make this a conventional group post in and of itself. If you’re willing to stick with me all the way through, then more power to you! If you’re not, then just don’t leave a comment. To comment on this, you really need to read the whole thing with an open mind. (Having said that, I did include a section before the track-by-track breakdown with my overall review if you still want to know my general impressions.) If you’re the kind of person who only wants to hear praise for the album, this review might not be for you. I will simply say up-front that while I love Meat and Jim, I don’t have to out-and-out love everything they do together. There were a lot of bright spots, but I saw weak ones as well, and I’m not going to beat around the bush with regard to them. If you don’t like an even remotely critical eye, don’t read this. Saves me having to deal with bashing. OVERALL: MEAT’S VOICE: This has been the big question for many curious fans, especially those watching his live material of late, where Meat (let’s be honest) hasn’t so much sung his and Jim’s classic material as he has alternated shouting and muttering it over a safety track and a bevy of background vocalists that vainly attempt to camouflage his shortcomings. Like him for what he used to do or hate him for what he is now, he really shouldn’t be performing any of the material he and Jim created, old or “new,” in a live format anymore. In a studio, however, it is much easier to compensate for what isn’t there, so this album was always going to be a toss-up. As recently as 2011, Paul Crook, who handled the lion’s share of production on Braver, managed to make Meat sound halfway pleasant on Hell in a Handbasket, so it was possible he could pull off something. Well, this album shows what a difference five years makes. I won’t mince words: Meat’s voice is totally shot, and in most cases, not even the (clearly present) AutoTune covers for it. (It becomes especially obvious considering that when the same thing was done on Handbasket, they processed everybody’s vocals so Meat didn’t sound otherworldly or out-of-place; on this album, maybe because of the rush to finish things up, the mixers threw caution to the wind and didn’t give the other vocals the same attention, because Meat sticks out like a sore thumb on an album of otherwise strong, minimally processed voices, almost like Pierce Brosnan compared to the rest of the cast of Mamma Mia!.) With that in mind, I won’t be covering Meat’s vocals unless it’s necessary to point them out anywhere else in the review; once the obvious is stated, there’s really not a lot more to say. Having said that... MATERIAL: For being entirely recycled material with new bits and bobs stitched on, it’s a surprisingly good collection of tracks. The songs I loved, I really loved; the songs I liked, they were alright but I wouldn’t miss them. There’s only one song I absolutely didn’t care for out of the bunch that are currently available, and I’ll get to that down the way a bit. (Do I particularly care for the order they appear in? Not necessarily, but I haven’t tried re-arranging them yet. Gonna wait for the full album to do that.) Most of my love for the songs is owed to... ARRANGEMENTS: Meat made a lot of noise on mlukfc.com in the months of production leading up to completion about how this album was going to boast a lot of new sounds in terms of arrangements, and that it would sound more “current” and not like the material he and Jim used to cut (a word used here to mean “record” :P). Naturally, having heard with dismay -- like everyone else -- what Meat and Desmond Child at one point considered “the future of Bat Out of Hell” (Desmond’s words, to be fair, not Meat’s), I was skeptical as to how well this could be pulled off by Meat and anybody without Jim’s direct presence and firm hand. For the most part, however, upon hearing the album, I’ve been surprised and pleased by what I’ve heard. If Justin Avery Music is the one responsible for these arrangements, color me impressed! I’d love to hear what he could do with more of Jim’s offbeat oeuvre. I didn’t always feel the “background vocals as co-lead chorus” effect was necessary, or as effective in the studio as it is live for covering Meat’s (admittedly ample) ass, but, as Jim’s body of work proves, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to what you know. TRACK BY TRACK: 1. Who Needs The Young This was a track I was particularly concerned about. Meat has always said he wanted to include this on an album, but I had always felt there was an obvious reason it never turned up until Braver. That obvious reason, of course, is simply that it had never been a rock number. Every iteration of the song we are aware of from past projects of Jim’s which included it basically presents the song as a wacky, ghoulish cabaret tune -- “Das Chicago Song” gone violent and turned up to 11, Brecht and Weill if they let a high schooler with a leaning toward scatological humor contribute to the lyrics. Whatever the song’s relative merits, it did not sound in demo (or other) form like a “typical Meat and Jim track.” Meat has always emphasized that his music is rock with theatrical elements, as opposed to theater with rock elements; whatever the blend of the two may have been, “Who Needs The Young” has never sounded like it would fit in on a Meat Loaf album (especially after Meat reportedly rejected some of Jim’s demos for Bat III, as per Jim’s old blog, for sounding “too theatrical”), and without Jim directly helping to massage the arrangement, I was unsure of how well it would turn out. Until now! MY GOD, I was SURPRISED and PLEASED by what happened here!! The arrangements really make this track. The best way to put it for those who haven’t heard more than a sample is that it sounds like a wonderfully demented outtake from Repo: The Genetic Opera (or the Devil’s Carnival series of films by the creators of Repo). Asked to sum it up in a phrase, I’d call it “The Pandemonium Shadow Show gone rock sets up shop in Berlin during an economic depression, 1930.” I came in doubting it would work, and came out feeling it’s one of the best tracks on the album! Works surprisingly well as an opener, setting the tone for much of what follows (especially with the “My voice just isn’t what it was” lyric, where Meat sounds positively frantic, almost as though he’s reluctantly admitting defeat even as he shouts down the world), and I couldn’t love it more. 2. Going All The Way Is Just The Start (A Song In Six Movements) Well, I’ve already aired these feelings, but it’s worth noting that I don’t care for the new title for two reasons: Nothing major has changed materially, in my opinion, to justify changing the main title. The subtitle makes no damn sense because the six movements are never delineated at all, and it doesn’t sound like the song has six movements. For example, “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” had “Paradise,” “Let Me Sleep On It,” and “Praying For The End Of Time” -- there was a clearly delineated three-act structure, and you could tell which part of the song was which. It sounded like a tri-fold number. By comparison, “Going All The Way...” has no such delineated structure (at least until we get liner notes indicating otherwise) and sounds like a single whole, or -- to be generous -- two movements, like it is in Tanz der Vampire. Maybe three, if you want to push the long ending from the Karine Hannah demo (which gives the song its new title) as a separate entity. (Certainly not six, whatever way you slice it.) The whole thing stinks of trying to disguise the fact that this is money for old rope. Sorry, but I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid on this one. Were I in charge, especially with the album’s release so far in the future, I’d veto the title change (yes, even with the single and early promo materials already available) and call a spade a spade. But, as I am frequently reminded in a public venue by at least one creator of this album, I’m not in charge, so I have to be content with airing my feelings here. With that out of the way... I really love Karla and Ellen’s guest vocals; it was a wise choice to let them do most of the singing, and they easily come away the stars of this tune. (Having said that, I can’t help feeling that some of those previously named for the track, like Bonnie Tyler, Lorraine Crosby, or even Patti, might have been good to include as a contrasting timbre rather than including both Karla and Ellen, who sounded so similar that until I heard Ellen’s vowel sounds, which are very distinctive [pay attention to how she sings any vowel sound with an “r” on the end, for example], I couldn’t tell when the switch occurred, though it got easier as the song went on. I admit that for a half second I even thought to myself, “No wonder it was so easy to replace Ellen in 1978, you can barely tell the difference unless it’s visual.” I know, I know... in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, “Lord, I apologize for that right there. Be there with the starving pygmies in New Guinea, amen.”) The new lyrics aren’t horrible. They’re not all that, but they’re not egregiously bad. Having seen some of Jim’s rough drafts lately (“Devil’s Playground” anyone?), I feel I had good reason to worry. After hearing them, I see no reason to worry, although I admit to a little disappointment; the new lyrics sound like the kind of stuff Jim came up with and abandoned as he first developed the song, and then when Meat asked for some new words, he just went over the old pile of papers and chucked verses in where he felt they were appropriate. They don’t sound classic Jim, or even new-wave Jim... they just sound generic. They’re not amazing. But they were okay. I agree with Jim that listening to either of the two four-and-some-odd-minute variants of the single edit does not do this track justice. I can understand why Jim doesn’t like them; they sound like they were made by a monkey reading a copy of ProTools for Dummies. With whole chunks of the song missing, it sounds like only half a thought, and you entirely miss the new lyrics, which are included in one of the segments that was edited out, so anything new or distinctive about the song is not there. Listen to the full version if you can get your hands on it. Whatever else you think about the song, you will agree the full version is best. This track managed to stick fairly close to the arrangement we all know, while giving it more of the rock edge we’ve come to expect from a Meat record. It didn’t sound like something Jim wouldn’t do, so kudos for that. On this track, however, the gossip grapevine suggests we don’t have Justin Avery to thank for this; allegedly this and the next track were produced by Jim and his usual crew, and handed to Meat’s team to slap vocals -- and possibly a few instrumental overdubs -- on. (Shades of the Dead Ringer days.) I feel like this isn’t a big reveal, because a) so far it’s gossip, so until the album comes out with distinct credits who knows what’s true, and b) listening to “Going All The Way...” and “Speaking In Tongues,” you can just tell that Jim put his fingers in the pie more on those than anywhere else on the album. While they sound consistent with the rest of the album’s arrangements, there’s something distinctly Jim about them. (Perhaps on “Going All The Way...” it’s the obvious reliance on Bova’s programming going into “Sometimes it’s the flesh...” :P) 3. Speaking In Tongues Far and away one of my favorite tracks on the album. This is easily the biggest transformation of any that the songs on the album have undergone; this went from a throwaway boner joke to something like a hymn. The new bridge in particular makes the whole shift in tone work. When Meat said he was trying to get Jim to add another verse in an interview, I thought that Jim would just use both of the previously existing verses from the two Over the Top/Dream Engine variants and call it a day, but he exceeded my expectations and went above and beyond the call of duty to deliver a track that sits easily alongside “Read ‘Em And Weep” and “Everything Is Permitted” as an underrated classic Meat Loaf ballad. Arrangement-wise, this is one of the tracks where I feel the co-lead chorus of background vocals was unnecessary; while Meat’s voice sounds obviously processed, it also sounds strong enough to carry most of the song without needing help. If the chorus really needed to be there, it could be used on the repeat of the first verse which closes the song, but I don’t see the point in using it for more than that -- it only draws further attention to Meat’s vocal state. (While I’m talking about the vocals, aside from the female lead, they sound like they were ported in from another place and plopped into the track without caring about their effect on the overall sound; the band and the singers sound like they’re in two entirely different worlds, which, owing to the rumor discussed above, may well have been the case. But still, you couldn’t mix it so they sounded like more of a whole? A little reverb, perhaps? No? It sounds like a rough track.) Also, I admit to missing the “Christmas tree” verse, even though it doesn’t really fit with this arrangement; maybe Meat can record a version of the song as a novelty track, with that verse replacing the repeat of the first verse, if he ever gets that Christmas duets album he’s talked about over the past few years onto the market. :P 4. Loving You’s A Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It I hate to be “that guy,” but I’m gonna say it. Let’s tick all the boxes: cover of a previously released Jim song made popular by a female artist? Check. Meat singing most of the female’s part of the song? Check. Decent but unexciting new arrangement? Check. All this needs is a not-so-carefully-chosen female celebrity in place of Stacy Michelle (who, I might add, is one hell of a singer), and an ostentatious unnecessary string arrangement (though in this case I think it would have helped), and this could be a Bat III outtake. It sounds for all the world like “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” and “Cry Over Me.” (And more than that, it sounds like Meat and his team playing a game of “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)” with Desmond and his crew.) I’m sorry, but it does. If you like this track and not those, opinion is subjective, and my subjective opinion is you’re a fuckin’ hypocrite, ‘cause this sounds exactly the same stylistically. With that note out of the way... it’s fine. It’s not Bonnie’s, but it’s fine. For all the Eighties production and the gobs of Todd Rundgren-arranged background vocals, I vastly prefer her version, which at least was exciting and had some movement to it. Like the Bat III tracks I compare this to, this version sort of plods along, and it doesn’t do anything particularly new. Unlike them, it seems to go out of its way not to sound like previous versions. I can see what Meat was trying to do, but it just doesn’t work for me. The intro is epic, very guitar-driven, but after that, it’s just confusing, and it takes a moment for you to realize that it is Bonnie’s song and not something new with the same title; there’s nothing familiar to latch onto until Meat starts singing. I’m not his biggest defender at times, as many will attest, but Jim picked those intro chords for a reason -- change whatever you want to about the arrangement, but leave the basic chords there so we know what the hell we’re listening to. We shouldn’t be waiting for the first verse to start in order to know what we’re hearing. (Also, I know Meat has said they were deliberately trying to step away from the traditional Rundgren-ized Steinman sound, but I miss the long fade with “There were times we had it all...”/“It’s a dirty job...” playing off of each other. The way it ends, it sounds just like the ending of the “All Coming Back” single edit. I thought this album wasn’t supposed to remind us of Bat III.) 5. Souvenirs This one was the first I heard (along with “Train Of Love”) before the rest of the album leaked, so it had a lot of time to grow on me. It’s alright, but it’s not remarkable. I can see why Jim purportedly doesn’t really care for this track, but I do like it for what it is. Arrangement-wise, I liked the horn section, very Springsteen or even Billy Joel (a comparison that would make Chris Clark very happy), but it could not have sounded more synthesized and fake. I mean, you’ve got a sax player in the band, let him do more solo sax like the demo; it won’t kill you. (Dave Luther sounds great on the rest of the song, for Christ’s sake!) Also, I really, really missed Jim’s piano from the Seventies demo, which was not just filler like it is here. Jim’s piano pulsed. It moved with the track. (In fact, I’d argue it’s some of the best rock ivory-tickling, in terms of normal rock piano and not traditional Steinman sound anyway, that Jim has ever recorded.) This just lays there. Also... who the fuck made it a rule that we can’t fade out a song on record anymore? This is noticeable on other songs on this album, but especially so on “Souvenirs.” Why are we circling back to earlier in the song to give it a strictly defined ending? We can totally fade into the distance! It’s okay to do that! As if you needed a reason, the demo has already set the precedent. The song is over at the thought that the vocalist “[doesn’t] want to play with you no more” -- we don’t need to go back and reiterate what they’ve already said. (Maybe that’s just me.) 6. Only When I Feel Remember how I said at the top of this (already way too long, sorry!) review that “[t]here’s only one song I absolutely didn’t care for out of the bunch that are currently available”? You’ve guessed it. Everyone’s talking about how “real” this is, and as “real” is a term with a very flexible definition, I can swallow that if I must. Meat himself is saying that he had a perfect vocal for this track, but he sacrificed it because, presumably speaking as a method actor, he wanted a vocal that reflected the pain this character was in. Boy, does this vocal reflect pain! Specifically, my pain at having to listen to it. If this is how the other songs sounded without tuning, then Meat needs it, and should stop pretending that it’s a crutch other artists use but he doesn’t rely on. If you as a listener like this track for any reason, fine, but in my book it’s not art, unless you consider the sound of a man on his last legs trying in vain to shit out anything that sounds like a note to be art. (And some people willingly listen to Yoko Ono, so I’m fully prepared for people to defend this track.) If this were a live show, maybe, if I really tried, I could justify it, buying the standard Loafer line that it’s not about the vocals but about the experience and the showmanship. But this is an album, where everything is under a microscope and can be tweaked to absolute perfection. And I came to hear singing, not... this. As if that weren’t enough, I agree with Jim that it’s only half a song. Without “If It Ain’t Broke (Break It)” attached, this is a trifle, and I say that not even necessarily agreeing that those two movements, if you will, belong in one song. It’s a nicely produced and arranged (except for the vocals) trifle, but it’s still a trifle. It doesn’t work as a standalone piece, and if it’s meant to be an intro or segue to “More,” it’s unnecessary. (I’d like to do as someone on the Rockman has done and cobble together a mix of this and “If It Ain’t Broke” from Bat III, and see how it sounds. Maybe I might like it more then.) My honest vote, and this is going to be a couple of really unpopular opinions in a row, so bear with me: If one is not going to replace the current take with the tuned vocal in the can (if it exists) before release, they should just drop this song from the album. It doesn’t add anything when it’s there, and it subtracts nothing when it’s not there, as listens where I skip the song have proved. If they absolutely feel the need for ten or more songs, they can do one of two things -- they can elevate the Imelda May duet bonus tracks, which at least are Steinman even if they are covers of previously released Meat material, into the album proper, or they can take the two non-Steinman bonus tracks (which I fully admit not having heard) and slot them in where appropriate. “Prize Fight Lover” alone, if it bears any resemblance to the Hang Cool Teddy Bear bonus track of the same name, is good enough in my opinion to stand alongside any Steinman song on this album. (I may be alone in this, but I will gladly sacrifice the “All Songs by Jim Steinman” billing -- which is erroneous anyway, as Michael Weller contributed to the lyrics of “Souvenirs” and changing a couple of lines in “More” doesn’t eliminate Andrew Eldritch’s part in shaping it -- if it means the album is made up of consistently produced and performed material.) 7. More If you’ve heard “More” once, by either The Sisters of Mercy or on the Wuthering Heights EP, you’ve heard this track done just fine, and arguably with better arrangements in either case. (Of the two previously released versions, I would say, programming aside, that Meat’s arrangement hearkens more to the Wuthering Heights version than The Sisters’ -- small surprise, as I understand the Wuthering Heights version was one of the tracks played over the tannoy before Meat took the stage on his pre-Bat III tour in 2005.) Nothing revolutionary goes on here. The two new lines Jim drops in to replace what is presumably Eldritch’s political ranting are not particularly creative, and as a “delightful” bonus, we get to hear more of those moments where Meat either couldn’t clearly discern the lyrics on whatever previous version of the song he listened to for reference (a la “Rise above yourself”/”cell” on “Cry To Heaven”) or changed a word or two, like he says he often does, for reasons that only make sense to him. Not bad, but not great. 8. Godz The arrangement on this track is garden variety “new-wave Meat” (lots of heavy guitars, pounding drumbeat, relentless pace), but on the plus side, it’s not particularly rangy, Meat’s vocals don’t sound so obviously AutoTuned (arguably the most consistent on the album), for once the co-lead vocals of the chorus work (in any incarnation of the song, it’s a number for a group anyway), and the unintentional message of the lyrics give this song a real resonance with the current political climate in America. I actually think “Godz” might be the sleeper hit of the album, especially if they play it on any alternative stations. The one drawback is the spoken word section (which, I might add, comes at kind of a weird spot in the song instead of being the intro like it was in the Neverland version -- whoever rearranged the structure of this song to make it sound more “conventional” should be slapped). It’s an album where Meat and Jim purport to really be working together, so spoken word was always going to be a part of that. But it’s usually Jim doing it, not Meat. Granted, for a variety of reasons, Jim’s probably in no condition to record it now, but you mean to tell me he hasn’t done countless demos of this song in better shape over the years, like he does every other damn song he’s ever written, from which he could drop in a sample of his voice, maybe even add effects to it so he sounds like the dictator addressing the goose-stepping troops through a bullhorn or something? Don’t get me wrong, Meat handles it well enough, but for continuity with the rest of the work they’ve done together, and to at least make it seem like Jim cared and was more involved than “consulting” (whatever that actually means), tossing in some new lines, changing a song title, and allegedly producing a couple of band tracks, it wouldn’t have hurt to use Jim (or at least his presence) here. Just my two cents. 9. Skull Of Your Country Don’t know, haven’t heard it yet (aside from the sample at the 429 Records site, which certainly sounds interesting, to say the least), and will be just as surprised as you guys! 10. Train Of Love Some people (looking at you, AG Fad) don’t like this song to begin with. I do. The demo sounded sparsely produced -- which it probably was owing to Jim’s financial resources at the time; especially in theater, you work with what you can get -- but it’s a really great uptempo shouter, almost in the tradition of Stax or Motown or even Northern soul, with Jim’s typical lyrics with twists worthy of a Möbius strip. I would even argue that, properly produced and arranged, with the music industry in a different state of being, this could have been a desperately needed radio hit (it’s even already of somewhat appropriate length, edit-wise) for Meat. This version, however, just sits there. The arrangement isn’t horrible; I like the background vocals, that slide guitar work is impressive, Meat’s voice even manages to sound great in spite of the tuning. But the track is just not terribly exciting, and it definitely doesn’t feel like an album closer. It also suffers from the same problem “Souvenirs” and, to a certain extent, “...Dirty Job...” did -- there are elements from the previously recorded version (in this case, the three chord pattern twanged on guitar in the intro that could have become a powerful booming foot-stomper for multiple guitars or horns, the pulsing piano or synth riff that I think is played on organ or electric piano in the demo, and some of the background vocals) that aren’t there which would give it some extra juice with the proper treatment. Icing on the cake, if you will. And without them, the track is sort of lifeless. The Allmusic reviewer once said of Dead Ringer that “Meat Loaf often sounded only warmed over” compared to the “fiery listening experience” of Bat Out of Hell. I would say the same about Meat’s version of this song compared to what the demo suggests could have gone into it. CONCLUSION As Emperor Joseph frequently says in Amadeus, “Well, there it is.” Like it or hate it, I’ve said my piece. Comments welcome! | |
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