Things are slowly brought to an end through the ultimate music-loving teen rebellion song, “Everything Louder Than Everything Else”. This is followed by the haunting “Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)”. And prior to the comparatively minimalist “Lost Boys and Golden Girls” which closes the album almost subtly, there is a short instrumental titled “Back Into Hell”.
Although some songs were taken from other Steinman projects, they were songs that cried out for the Meat Loaf treatment; indeed some were written for him just before he lost his voice in the late 1970s.
Verily, it is the voice of an angel (albeit an unconventional one) singing heavenly music that originated in Hell. If, as according to Pope Benedict XVI, I am to go to that unholy place of fire and brimstone for listening to this music, then I’ll go down with a piña colada in my hand and my iTouch plugged into my ears, singing it with gusto.
When he sings, it feels as though the universe is about to split in two from the pure, undiluted strength of his unique voice. For the most part he does not let rip, but when he does chills of excitement vibrate up the vertebrae.
Surely there never has been, and never will be, another artist with the same sheer, raw, unrestrained vocal power, emotion, volume and range that Meat Loaf is blessed with. I sincerely hope there won’t be.
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