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Old 06-15-2011, 06:30 PM   #36 (permalink)
Trollheart
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Original sin --- Pandora's Box --- 1989 (Virgin)

When I first picked up this CD, purely out of curiosity due to the cover, I caught the words “Written and produced by Jim Steinman” --- that was all I needed to know. Being a big Meat Loaf fan, I was aware (as I'm sure my readers are) that Steinman was the creative force behind the big man's phenomenal successes like “Bat out of Hell” and “Dead ringer”, and had released his own solo album prior to this, under his own name. This, however, is a project, and though Steinman writes most of the songs, plays the keyboards and produces the album, he does not take vocal duties. The project goes under the name of “Pandora's Box”, and this was their only album. Amazingly, it was a total flop, but then, I'm sure you have tons of albums in your collection that were less than successful when released --- doesn't mean they're bad albums. Maybe some people just don't know a good thing when they see it.

I would hazard that, had this been released as a Meat Loaf album, with the man singing on it, it would have been a lot more successful. Perhaps even had it been heralded as “Jim Steinman” it might have garnered more interest, but to the average record-buyer, before the inception and global dominance of itunes, this was just another mildly interesting rock record sitting on the shelf, and unless you picked it up and examined it with more than a cursory glance, you missed seeing that Steinman's name was attached to it. I really think the marketing (or lack of it) sabotaged this album's chances of breaking commercially.

All that aside, it's a fantastic record, a real gem. Combining the best of Meat Loaf (without him of course) and Jim Steinman, and recruiting people like Ellen Foley, Roy Bittan and King Crimson's Tony Levin, it's a powerful and dramatic rock opera, complete with choirs, a full orchestra and even monologues and soliloquies, not to mention some amazing songs.

It starts with a spoken intro, twenty seconds long, spoken by Ellen Foley, known from her work with Meat Loaf, then kicks right into the title track, a storming rocker with vocals by at least three girls: Ellen, Laura Theodore and Gina Taylor. The lyric puts a twist on the term “original sin”, changing it from the Adam and Eve connotation to the idea of something that hasn't been tried before: ”I've been looking for an original sin/ One with a twist and a bit of a spin/ And since I've done all the old ones/ Till they've all been done in/ Now I'm just looking/ Then I'm gone with the wind/ Endlessly searching for an original sin.” The song features a great “arena moment”, when the music stops for a moment as clapping hands keep the rhythm and all the voices chant the chorus. A great start.

Next up we hear the famous 20th Century Fox theme (you know the one, from all those films you've watched), and we're into a cover of the old Doors classic, updated to reflect a male instead of a female character. It's a very funky number, almost disco in parts, Ellen Foley again taking vocal duties as she sings ”He's the king of cool/ He's the devil who waits/ Since his mind left school/ He never hesitates.” Featuring some great piano work from Roy Bittan from Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and a great horn section, it bops along with great verve, with a line from Wilson Pickett's “In the midnight hour” thrown in, and ending with the famous keyboard riff from “Light my fire”. Sweet!

One of the best tracks is also one of the best ballads on the album, Gina Taylor taking over for “Safe sex”, with its clever lyric ”Baby there's no such thing/ Baby it just ain't true/ And there's no such thing as safe sex/ When it comes to loving you.” It's driven on a piano and guitar melody, heavy thumping drums helping the song along, but it's Gina's powerful and tortured voice that really makes the track. There's real raw emotion in her voice as she cries ”There's always the danger of losing control/ And of breaking my heart / And exposing my soul/ There's just no protection from the look in your eyes/ Or the touch of your hand when I break down and cry.”

Much of Steinman's work has ended up recycled and reissued on later albums, often those recorded by Meat Loaf: “Surf's up” originally appeared on Steinman's first solo album and was later on “Bad attitude”, and “Lost boys and golden girls”, from the same solo album was later the closer on Meat Loaf's follow-up to “Bat out of Hell”, “Back into Hell: Bat out of Hell II”. Here, the song “Good girls go to Heaven (Bad girls go everywhere)” also resurfaced on that album, but I prefer the original, having heard it first here. It's a real rocker very much in the style you'd expect from a Meat Loaf album, which is probably why it was included in “Back into Hell”. Steinman's lyrics are always slyly sarcastic, and the title tells it all. Elaine Caswell takes over to sing this one, and does a really good impersonation of Bonnie Tyler too!

Ever heard Verdi's “Requiem” for guitar and keyboards? You will if you listen to this disc! Steinman calls it “Requiem Metal”, and it leads into a track which, although it isn't a song, is still one of the best and most innovative on the album. Steinman himself voices the monologue to “I've been dreaming up a storm lately”, with the sounds of wind behind him as he takes the role of a serial killer who believes he sees reflections of his future victims in his mirrors at home, and then has to go out and find the person and kill them if they don't measure up to the reflection. Which of course they never do. ”I've been dreaming of mirrors/ Millions of mirrors/ An endless army of mirrors/ Out of control/ Reflecting people to death.” He goes on to explain to his newest potential victim ”They create a reflection and then/ I have to go out and find the real thing/ That matches it./ And almost always, when I put the real thing in front of the mirrors/ It is not nearly as beautiful as the reflection that came first/ And at that point I have to destroy the real thing." You can hear the unhinged menace in his voice when he snarls ”They decide themselves what they want to reflect/ They won't obey me!” Sends shivers down yer spine!

The track that follows you will probably know, as it was hijacked by Celine Dion and became a big hit for her, proving my theory that had this album been properly marketed it could have done so much better. “It's all coming back to me now” is the second ballad on the album, and sold with power and emotion by Elaine Caswell. If you aren't a fan of La Dion, then you may have come across it on Meat Loaf's “Bat out of Hell III: The Monster is loose”. It leads into the instrumental “The opening of the box”, which features the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and runs into another spoken monologue, this time voiced by Ellen Foley, with absolutely incredible rhythm as she reads out “The Want Ad”, a caustic rebuff to all the people who have answered her personal ad. There is great echo reverb on the track too, giving it an extra dimension. It has a great little black humourous ending too, and then she stays on vocals for the dancy “My little red book”, written by songsmith Burt Bacharach, then we're into the final slow song, if not actually a ballad.

“It just won't quit” is sung by Elaine Caswell, in her final action on the album, and was also covered by Meat Loaf on “Bat out of Hell II”. It recalls elements from the title track, and rocks along nicely. The penultimate track is a truly exceptional piano solo by Steven Margoshes which encompasses the title track, the above and also “It's all coming back to me now” and goes under the title of “Pray Lewd” (Prelude, geddit?) before things come to an explosive end with “The future ain't what it used to be”, again also covered by Meat Loaf on “The Monster is loose”. It's a storming piece, and well worthy of being the closer to the album. Gina Taylor takes vocal duties for the last time, and a great job she does with the track. Great lyric as always: ”Say a prayer for the fallen angels/ Stem the tide of the rising water/ Toll a bell for the brokenhearted/ Burn a torch for your sons and daughters.” My only small gripe is that instead of leaving it ending on a very effective piano melody, there's a sort of reprise with a kind of gospel-choir chanting to the end. I personally think it doesn't work, and would have preferred the track, and album, to have ended on the piano outro. You'll know what I mean when you hear it, and you can make up your own minds.

“Original sin” really is the classic that never was, and it's such a pity. Few people will ever get to hear and enjoy this album, and probably a large percentage of those will hear it by accident. Perhaps reading this review will help add to that number, and if so, then I'll be happy.

TRACKLISTING

1. The Invocation
2. Original sin (The natives are restless tonight)
3. Twentieth Century Fox
4. Safe sex
5. Good girls go to Heaven (Bad girls go everywhere)
6. Requiem metal
7. I've been dreaming up a storm lately
8. It's all coming back to me now
9. The opening of the box
10. The want ad
11. My little red book
12. It just won't quit
13. Pray lewd
14. The future ain't what it used to be



Suggested further listening: "Bad for good", "Bat out of Hell" by Meatloaf, also "Bat out of Hell II" and Bat out of Hell 3", and "Bad attitude"
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Last edited by Trollheart; 11-04-2011 at 09:15 AM.
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