Since a very early age
Meat Loaf has been one of my favourite singers. I went through a Meat renascence a few years back and decided I was going to track down all of his albums that I didn't already own. Most
Meat Loaf fans are familiar with the
Bat Out Of Hell albums and
Welcome To The Neighbourhood (the successful follow up to Bat 2) Some of them might even own the
Dead Ringer record. But what I was after was the mid period Meat, the albums that even after his successful comeback in the early 90's remained somewhat under appreciated.
It took me a while but after a bit of searching I got my hands on
Midnight At The Lost And Found,
Bad Attitude and
Blind Before I Stop. These albums had been released in a period from 1983-1986, when legal-wrangling and drugs and alcohol had effectively stalled
Meat Loaf's career.
Of these three releases
Bad Attitude is without doubt the finest as it captures that sense of excitement, grandeur and lost innocence that made
Meat Loaf a star with the
Bat Out Of Hell album. This is due in no small part to it being the only one of the three to have some wonderful Jim Steinman compositions included on it.
As Bad Attitude was released in the 80's its production values differ vastly from any proceeding
Meat Loaf release with a glossy sheen of studio perfection covering everything. This is initially jarring as it's a totally opposite sound to the one long-term Meat fans are accustomed to hearing. But after a couple of spins it becomes more acceptable to the ear.
Despite the sleek production the thing that makes Bad Attitude stand out from the others is the quality of the song writing. Not only does it contain the two Steinman numbers but Paul Jacobs, a man who previously contributed a couple of the more underwhelming tracks to
Midnight At The Lost And Found has raised his game and written some superb songs for Meat to lend is vocal chords to.
Another thing that marks the album out from the rest is that it features the talents of Bob Kulick on guitar. Yip, that's right, the man who helped Blackie Lawless out on timeless Crimson Idol album and who has also worked with people like KISS, Lou Reed and uhhhh... Michael Bolton His guitar playing, though rather low in the mix on occasion is what holds the album together and at several sections including the last track
Sailor To A Siren he is freed from his leash to let rip with finger tapping-tastic solos.
The album starts with the title track
Bad Attitude and from its first crashing chords and drum fills it's obvious that Meat means business. Its theme is the Steinman standard of a young rebel out on the road, breaking the speed limit and all the rules. It's classic
Meat Loaf and despite its glossy 80's production it encapsulates exactly what Meat's appeal is. It even features another legendary rock singer The Who's Rodger Daltery, who pops up halfway through the song to play the disapproving father to Meat's tearaway son with great effect.
Modern Girl is probably the only song on the album that most people will be familiar with as it was released as a single at the time. It's also the only track that has made it onto various
Meat Loaf Best Of's down the years. This, despite the quality of the song is borderline criminal when you consider some of the other classics on featured on the record.
The piano lead intro shows that Meat had overcome the vocal problems that had plagued him for several years and as soon as the song explodes with the
"Gimme the future" section, where he is joined by some female backing vocalists, the song is off and racing down the freeway of life. It's a wonderful, uplifting song to which Kulick lends a fairly concise but superb solo to at 2.21.
The next two tracks
Nowhere Fast and
Surf's Up are the two songs from the pen of long term
Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman. Jim is one of my all time favourite songwriters so I was looking forward to hearing two of his compositions which were new to my ears.
Nowhere Fast is initially a bit of a curve ball, it starts off with some heavily processed drums and keyboard programming that could have escaped from a Cyndi Lauper record. Initial fears soon subside as the song ensnares you with its strangely funky bass line and a maddeningly addictive keyboard part at the end of each breathless vocal section. Each verse is quietly sung in a stream of consciousness style which builds up the tension allowing for the much louder
"And if you don't have anywhere to go" bridge to shock the first time listener. The lyrics deal with a relationship that doesn't seem to be making any progress and include a Steinman gem in:
"Your heart is trying to rock but it can barely beat at all Your soul is trying to run but all your body does is crawl" The chorus too is outstanding and causes me to annoy anyone in earshot with my attempt at a Meat impression (you should see the looks I get on the bus).
Seasoned Meat fans will also be taken aback at
Surf's Up as it starts with a piano section which Jim later re-used in the Bat 2 classic Objects In The Rear View Mirror. It's very strange to hear a section of a much loved song in its initial form but it doesn't detract from the song in any way. In Surf's Up Steinman has delivered yet another classic ballad for Meat to sing. It tells the tale of Meat walking on a beach with the girl of his dreams promising her that
"...When the waves are pounding on the sand tonight, I'm wanna take your hand and make it good and make it right".
But in true Steinman style this heartbreaking beautiful scene isn't all what it seems. It turns out that
Meat Loafs intentions aren't entirely pure as the wryly delivered hook at the end of the chorus informs his lover that
"Surf's up, and so am I".
I'll let you decide what Meat is singing about there. Although I hold no responsibility for any disturbing mental images that follow.
After two songs of such high quality you would think the album would take a bit of a dip, but thankfully this is not the case.
Piece Of The Action is another moving, well written track who's chorus is only slightly marred by some very odd keyboard sounds in the background.
Jumpin' The Gun picks up the pace with some good old fashioned rock and roll along the lines of Dead Ringer For Love. It's a duet with Meat being joined by Zee Carling (nope, never heard of her either) and deals with a guy and a girl who are tired of waiting for each other to decide what the other wants and now just want to have some fun. It's a short song, coming in at just 3 minutes 13 seconds but trust me, its chorus will get lodged in your head for days.
The album then for the first time puts a foot wrong with the below par
Cheatin' In Your Dreams. It starts off as a piano led ballad until an awkward time change at 1.35 turns it into a mid paced number which is pretty weak until the 2
nd verse kicks in and Meat starts to inject some real feeling into the proceedings. It definitely finishes stronger than it begins but doesn't match up to the rest of the record.
Don't Leave Your Mark On Me sounds like it could have come from a Magum album with its chugging palm-muted structure suggesting a major Kulick influence. The chorus perhaps leaves a little to be desired but it's still a decent attempt as 80's Hard Rock.
The last song
Sailor To A Siren begins with some eerie keyboards and a picked guitar part which strangely enough bring to mind Jim Steinman's production work with the Goth band Sisters of Mercy. It again kicks in with some very Hard Rock guitar playing and includes the aforementioned Eddie Van Halen esque solo. I'll bet you weren't expecting to hear that in a
Meat Loaf song.
Bad Attitude despite being a relative success at the time didn't re-launch Meat's career as he hoped it would. A string of disasters including the death of the album's drummer Wells Kelly two weeks before the world tour plus Meat's wife Leslie being hospitalized due to a mental breakdown halfway through the tour put paid to a full time return.
The absolutely abysmal follow up record Blind Before I Stop (trust me, there is a reason why no one knows anything about this album) didn't help matters either and Meat spend the rest of the 80's in obscurity. All was not lost however as events had been set into motion for the full time return of Jim Steinman and a follow up to the million selling Bat Out Of Hell. But that's a story for another time.
Written by
Stuart Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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