Bat Out Of Hell III

by cameron | Sep 27, 2006 | Uncategorized

Listening this morning to "Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose", Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf’s new third installment of the story of … of… what the hell is this the story of? I have no idea. I’ve been listening to the original Bat Out Of Hell for 30 years and I’m completely clueless as to what it’s about. Something about a guy and a motorbike. And chicks. Fuck it, what more do you need to know?

Highlights of this new album…

• Brian May’s cameo in the opening bars and solo of the new version of "Bad For Good" (yeah Tony Goodson – we finally get to hear Meat singing it). When this came on and I heard that guitar I was like "holy crap! that’s gotta be Brian May!" and so I looked it up. Oh yeah.
• Steve "I used to play for David Lee Roth but then I quit and his career disappeared" Vai does the solo on "The Land Of The Pigs (The Butcher Is King)".

Ermmm… that’s about it. The album doesn’t grab me as a new classic, in some ways it kind of reminds me of any one of Alice Cooper’s post-Constrictor albums, a little bit too much gothic theatre and attempted metal. I think the catchiest track is perhaps "What About Love" a piano-driven duet with Patti Russo penned by Desmond Child. That should be the first single off the album. That or "Bad For Good" but I prefer Jim’s original version of that off his own album when Meat was resting his voice. Love to know what you think Goodson.

UPDATE: I’ve listened to the new and old versions of "Bad For Good" back to back several times now this morning and I’m pretty sure that, while the new version has Meat’s voice, May’s guitar and a massive arrangement going for it, the original version is definitely the superior. It’s faster, the arrangement is lighter, and Jim’s voice has a sense of urgency and desperation about it which really make it a plea on behalf of all of us who feel like we didn’t really turn out like the world would like us to be. What a chorus. I’ve been belting this out at the top of my voice all morning (sorry Dave next door):

And I know that I’m gonna be like this forever
I’m never gonna be what I should
And you think that I’ll be bad for just a little while
But I know that I’ll be bad for good

My Top Artists from Last.fm

by cameron | Sep 25, 2006 | Uncategorized

Okay I know I’m slow off the mark on this one, but I’ve just installed and started playing with Last.FM and it’s… pretty frakkin cool. Here’s my profile if you care. And here’s a list of the top listened to artists on my iPod. Keep in mind my iPod is only a couple of months old, but this looks pretty accurate to me.