Bad attitude --- Meat Loaf --- 1984 (Arista)
After the phenomenal success of “Bat out of Hell” and the very successful followup, “Dead ringer”, Meat Loaf fell out with producer, songwriter and collaborator Jim Steinman, and released two albums without him, before they kissed and made up for 1993's “Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell”. The first was the pretty abysmal “Midnight at the lost and found”, which is more or less universally acknowledged to be Meat Loaf's worst and most disappointing album. “Bad attitude”, by comparison, is a lot better, but it's still no “Bat out of Hell”. Still, for an album on which Meat Loaf was, as it were, flying solo, this time he did a much better job, and the album is very close to his original sound.
Although lacking any of the longer compositions that characterised both “Bat out of Hell” and “Dead ringer”, and no spoken parts or tracks, this is an album full of snappy, catchy, chartworthy rock and pop songs, and to be fair, there's not a bad one in there. Two of the songs are Steinman-penned, but the rest are mainly written by the songwriting partnership of Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs, the latter of whom also plays piano and keys on the album.
It starts with the title track, and the signature motorbike sound to get a decent rocker going, with Meat in fine vocal form. Bob Kulick adds a new dimension with his ferocious guitar playing, and additional vocals by Roger Daltrey help this song stand out, and it's a great opener. Taking as its theme the old teenage rebel idea, the song declares
”Every hero was once/ Every villain was once/ Just a boy with a bad attitude.” The first and most successful single from the album is next, “Modern girl” beginning on a piano ballad melody, which then kicks into a high-powered dramatic rock song so typical of Meat Loaf. On this song Meat duets with Clare Torry, who we've heard before on Floyd's classic “Dark side of the moon” (she's that amazing voice on “The Great Gig in the Sky”), and there's great rollicking piano and good heavy guitar, with great backing vocals and a very infectious melody. Two songs down, and no complaints so far!
“Nowhere fast” is one of the two songs contributed to the album by Jim Steinman, and it's a rocking, thundering hurtler, with typical Steinman lyrics involving motorbikes, cars, girls, roads and freedom. It features some very electonica-type drum machines and programming, which somehow don't seem at odds with the album but fit in very snugly alongside the guitar and keyboard sound. For a Steinman song it's remarkably simple: no fitting in forty words per line as is his usual habit, and this works in the song's favour, making it very accessible and very memorable.
His other song on the album actually comes from his own album “Bad for good”, the exquisite “Surf's up”, with a very “For crying out loud” motif --- this one
has as many words squeezed into each sentence as possible! But it's a powerful, emotional song, backed by piano and some pretty powerful guitar, though here it's Meat Loaf's bombastic voice that carries the song. Ive heard Steinman's version, and it's damn good, but here Meat just knocks it, as they say, out of the park. He really gives it everything he has, and you can almost imagine the sweat dripping down his ample frame as he belts out the vocals, growling
”My body is burning/ Like a naked wire/ I wanna turn on the juice/ I wanna fall in the fire/ I'm gonna drown in the ocean/ In a bottomless sea/ I'm gonna give to you/ What I hope you'll be givin' to me.” Hell, you feel exhausted just listening to the guy!
“Piece of the action” starts (and ends) like a ballad, but the song is a powerful rocker, decribing the hopes and dreams of a man who wants to rise above his humdrum life and get out there, into the big wide world. Great piano on the intro and Meat Loaf at his gentle best before he ramps it up and roars his frustration. “Jump the gun” is another fast rocker, with additional “gunshot” sounds (!), with a beat sort of in the mould of “Dead ringer for love”. A common thread running through this album seems to be the idea of starting a song off slow, like a ballad, then speeding it up, and this happens again with “Cheatin' in your dreams”, one of two songs penned by John Parr (he of “St. Elmo's Fire” fame). This he writes himself, while the next one up is co-written. “Cheatin'” has a really nice boogie rhythm, sort of mid-paced, the slowest, other than “Surf's up”, on the album so far. Very soul/motown backing vocals.
Parr's other song, “Don't leave your mark on me”, starts with slow, spacey synth and an almost Doors-like keyboard intro, but soon reveals itself to be another fast one, with a cantering beat and some great keyboards, but the best has been held back to close the album, as “Sailor to a siren” gets going. Opening with a Fairlight-programmed choral vocal which pretty much runs through the song, it kicks in and gets faster, with a superb guitar solo by Kulick in the middle.
If nothing else, I believe “Bad attitude” proved that Meat Loaf was not just “the guy who sang Jim Steinman songs”, and that he could survive without his partner in crime. This is a superb album, and the fact that he (generally) did it all on his own is tribute to Meat Loaf's expertise and talent. Okay, so it's no “Bat out of Hell”, but it's no “Midnight at the lost and found” either!
TRACKLISTING
1. Bad attitude
2. Modern girl
3. Nowhere fast
4. Surf's up
5. Piece of the action
6. Jump the gun
7. Cheatin' in your dreams
8. Don't leave your mark on me
9. Sailor to a siren
Suggested further listening: "Bat out of Hell", "Dead ringer", "Back into Hell: Bat out of Hell II", "The minster is loose: Bat out of Hell III", "Welcome to the neighbourhood"