Meat Loaf: Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006)

I remember everything. I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday. OK, I don't remember all the exact details but... I remember the feeling. I can understand what it must have been like when George Lucas announced the prequel trilogy to "Star Wars" just bursting with excitement, which is an understatement. The adrenalin the moment the announcement hits, and you want to climb up to the roof in the middle of a cyclone sweeping through the Kansas prairies, away to the marvellous land of Oz, where your house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, while you're screaming from the top of your lungs: "SHUT...UP...AND TAKE...MY...MONEY!!!!!!" When that teaser poster first appeared, with the image of young Anakin and the shadow of Darth Vader, people were in awe. It was more than a blockbuster. It was an event.

Suddenly at some point in the year 2003, probably after Meat Loaf had just released "Couldn't have said it better" in Germany and the UK, Meat and Jim both announced that there would be... wait for it... I want to savour this as much as I can... seriously, after I just typed that I could feel shivers in both of my arms... I want to savour this some more. OK, alright... Meat and Jim had announced the release of "Bat out of Hell III: The Last at Bat" (or "The Final at Bat"). So many feelings... Firstly, is this actually for real? When will it be released? They said 2005 but will this actually happen? "Bat II" had taken years. What songs would Jim write? What songs would he reuse? Would there be anything from "Dance of the Vampires" or "Batman"? How would it sound? Would it be more theatrical or more rock? How would "Bat III" fare in the year 2005? OH GOD, what would the cover art be like??? Considering there were people who bought "Bat" originally on the basis of that artwork, and then fell in love with the album, what would they dish up this time? Has it suddenly gotten cold in here or have I been shivering that much?

Each little hint, every speck of news wherever we could get it was tantalizing. Also, this was the first time I'd actually experienced this first hand, since I only became aware of "Bat II" when it was released. I can remember Meat saying that Jim had written a song that was even longer than "Anything for Love" (was he referring to "Braver Than We Are" aka 2016's "Going all the Way"?). I remember Meat saying he'd gotten 4... 8 songs from Jim. He'd walked past Jim in the street and Jim just told him, "I've got 8 songs now." I read this in an article which was given to me in 2004.

In 2005, after concluding his final world tour, and releasing a live album of "Bat out of Hell" with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on the Australian leg of his tour, which is well worth listening to btw, Meat had set up another tour called "Hair of the Dog". I can remember wondering what, if anything, would feature from "Bat III" at these concerts, and when the set list emerged... there were three titles that immediately caught my attention. I only knew what one of them was, and that was a cover version of "Black Betty". "Whore" was another one. "Only When I Feel" was the last, and *that*, *that* my friends was the song from "Bat III".

A recording had reached me of the first performance, and I sat there anxiously waiting for whatever I was about to witness. The audience had been cheering something or other, when a dark eerie haunting piece of music began to play, and Meat announced to the assembled crowds, "From Bat III....!" Again, the shivers...! OK, I recognized half of this song, because it was "If It Ain't Broke (Break It)" from Jim's soundtrack for "Wuthering Heights", a musical he'd produced for MTV in 2003, but this was the full version, and it was called "Only When I Feel". In spite of how much I'd enjoyed it, and was more intrigued than ever, I did feel like this wasn't going to be the centre piece of the album. He was holding it back for some reason. It would probably be a song called "What Part of my Body Hurts the Most?" which had been performed at the "Over the Top" Jim Steinman concerts in 2005. Don't even get me started on this song... because I think it would have been the Number 1 of this album, gobbling up the charts. I can see the music video, with Meat as an older man directed by Tim Burton, and it's just sublime, all of it.

Something changed however. Jim had been unwell in 2004, and there had been difficulties with the contract, but for whatever reason Jim was no longer involved in producing the album. It didn't bother me much, since Jim hadn't produced the original "Bat" anyway, and this didn't mean that he wouldn't be involved in some other capacity. The concern came when it was revealed that Jim wouldn't be writing all of the songs either. There would be non-Jim Steinman songs on "Bat III". Hang on, what? When I thought of a "Bat III", I pictured Meat Loaf as the singer, Jim as the writer and fantasy art on the front cover. Meat as much said this in an interview on the "Bat out of Hell II Picture Show" tape. I felt like I'd been woken from a dream. What the Bat out of Hell was this then???

I won't go into the details of what happened next here, since it doesn't interest me on this blog and there are other places you can read about it where we have more time for these things, but the "Bat III" that would emerge on Halloween 2006 would feature seven songs from Jim, all covers and two of them unreleased. The other seven songs would be written by a team of writers collaborating with album producer Desmond Child, including James Michael and Nikki Sixx who had worked on "Couldn't Have Said it Better", Diane Warren and more. What was listening to this going to be like?

Before we can get to that though, WHAT ABOUT THE COVER??? O.M.G. ("God has left the building!" being a song title Jim had intended for "Bat III"). So after like a decade of waiting, I actually got an answer to *that* question. Dunno why some talented artist couldn't have mocked one up for us and put it on Deviantart or somewhere, *hint, hint*. There it was, and my immediate impression was... um, ah, that's it? There's nothing wrong with it, don't get me wrong, and if I'd seen it in some other context I would probably have absolutely loved it, but...? That was it? It was a strange experience.

Let's have a look at the songs. There are several ways we can do this, but I'm just going to look at it as if I've never heard any Meat or Jim or "Bat" at all, well except for the ones we all know.

"The Monster is Loose"---I can't believe how heavy this is. Meat has never done a song like this before. Listen to those noises he's making at the end! The monster really has been set loose. Applause!

"Blind as a Bat"---this would be a classic for any number of musicians. It would be a mistake not to release this as a single, and that's exactly what happened. It didn't get released, although it was released as a promo. What the heck??? How could they pass this up? The extended version is even better. That's what should have been on the album.

"It's All Coming Back to me Now"---Meat, it is farking epic that you have finally recorded this song, but why did you skip on two of the verses??? You have no excuse on an album, this is Steinman sacrilege! Oh wait, I wasn't supposed to be doing that, was I? As a song, it feels like a movie. It makes me think of Rose from "Titanic", and that is awesome in my eyes. Marion Raven should tackle more of Jim's songs too.

"Bad for Good"---Meat joins forces with Brian May of Queen on "Bad for Good". Holy cow, that instrumental! I just wish it was a bit longer. This is a song that could go longer than "Bat out of Hell" (Note, since I can't help myself: it was something like fifteen minutes when Meat did it live in the 80s.)

"Cry over Me"---Diane's contribution to this album. Damn, these lyrics! This is a killer song! They were right to release it as a single, but not before "Blind as a Bat". This is my favourite of all the songs Diane wrote for Meat.

"In the Land of the Pig the Butcher is King"---shit!!!!!!!! Stop the farking press!!!! What the hell is this???? Those guitars, the lyrics, Meat's vocals, more shivers down my arms. I can feel them running down my neck. This is the best moment on here. The record company were probably too scared to release it as a single, due to the dark and frightening lyrics, but OMG if they had... not to mention what a video would have been like. I love this.

"Monstro"---yeah, I like this enough.

"Alive"---I hear a lot of fans liking this song, a lot. Meat himself didn't like it, but that's not going to influence my opinions here. As a song, well it's OK I suppose. It's cool when you crank it, when it gets to the middle bit.

"If God could Talk"---the title bothers me and it bothered Todd Rundgren too (when he was working on the album.) Wouldn't God do a lot of talking but we just wouldn't hear it? It's a nice enough song though.

"If it Ain't Broke (Break It)"---this feels like Meat Loaf meets the Blues Brothers soundtrack. It probably only needed to be a two minute song like the original, and there I go again... but... make sure you hear the live version on the "Guilty Pleasure" album too.

"What about Love?"---again, this is nice, and there's a big theatrical bit in the middle that I particularly enjoy, but it's no... see next song.

"Seize the Night"---I loved it! Now it's Meat Loaf meets "Batman", since this feels like a song that could have been in a "Batman" movie (and almost was apparently). I love how it connects with the following song too.

"The Future ain't What it Used to be"---Meat's duet with Jennifer Hudson, who was either just about to win an Oscar for "Dreamgirls" or she just had, and what? This wasn't released as a single?????? An absolutely crying shame! And in context with the other "Bat" albums, it really captures how I felt when I heard Jim wouldn't be writing all of the songs. The future ain't what it used to be... 

"Cry to Heaven"---and so the album comes to an end, once again evoking memories and feelings from "Titanic"... oh and "Bat" and "Bat II", of course.

When all is said and done, there was only one real way to judge this album stacked up against all of my other memories, how did it hold up in the car? At the time it was like the adult version of hearing "Bat II" on long road trips in the 90s so there you go, I guess. It's a memory I will cherish as much as those other ones.

Was there anything else? Undoubtedly! What would Jim's "Bat III" have been like? Jim addressed this in 2006 in his blog entries. It would have contained songs like "We're Still the Children" (a song he'd written for his Batman musical), "Braver" (which Meat eventually recorded in 2016), "Paradise Lost", "No Lips, Hands or Butts", "God has Left the Building", "The Monster is Out of the Cage" (all unheard songs), "Cry to Heaven" and "The Powers of Darkness" (another unheard song), oh and "What Part of my Body Hurts the Most?" Jim had also mentioned "Not Allowed to Love". Both of these songs would emerge in his hit musical "Bat out of Hell". What would it have been like? I can only imagine, but it's probably best not to after a while. It's all a bit Mirror of Erised from "Harry Potter". Or here's another way you can look at it: "I want you... I need you... but there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you... Now don't be sad... cause TWO out of THREE ain't bad."

As ever, thank you for reading,

Ryan.