[.ca] Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell (Deluxe Edition) (2CD)

From Amazon.com:
At a certain point, bad taste and bombast become so excessive and so grandiose that they're no longer an easily dismissed irritation but an astonishing monument to warped imagination. Such a monument is Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell, the long-delayed sequel to 1977's Bat out of Hell. Once again songwriter-producer Jim Steinman has isolated high-school parking-lot aphorisms and inflated them to Wagner-on-Broadway proportions, casting Mr. Loaf as a heavy-metal Ezio Pinza. Typical of the album's strategy is its big hit single, "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)." Steinman piles on the guitars, drums, synthesizers, and choral voices as if he were Phil Spector producing Kiss playing the Who songbook. The rest of the album tackles the themes of teenage lust, frustration, and rock & roll fantasies in similar fashion. It's somehow beside the point to complain about the puerile lyrics, the leaden rhythms, the derivative melodies, the histrionic vocals, or the overblown arrangements. Steinman knows how to push his audience's buttons, and with Meat Loaf's help, he hits those buttons with a sledgehammer. --Geoffrey Himes

THIS IS WHAT ROCK AND ROLL IS:
This music will leave you breathless. Hold on for a ride that you will never forget. Ever time I listen to Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are I get a shiver up my spine. Probably the most beautiful song ever written. I DEFINITELY recommend this album.

You will love it:
Mr. Himes is a great wordsmith but he knows nothing about good music. If you like Meatloaf you'll love this collection.

I'm in the Room at the Top, You're at the End of the Line:
I had owned the 1993 Bat out of Hell 2 album for many years, since high school, and to this this day I can never get tired of any of the songs! Jim Steinman is a genius when it comes to grand rock bombast, and in this remastered release, the sound quality is better than ever. As far as the 2nd CD goes, I like the first couple of edited songs, especially the Radio Edited "I'd Do Anything for Love," since that was the one that hooked me to Meatloaf in the first place. Still, I'll always enjoy listening to the full 12-minute version more.

Amazing:
This album is one I've enjoyed for years. The soaring vocals, the different depths of music, its really an enjoyable experience. The songs stay with you long after you stop listening. There's a lot more going on musically in this one cd than any of the new artists that are out there. A must for everyone.

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING!!!!!:
There is nothing else in popular music that comes close to equalling this masterpiece!!!! If nothing else, BAT OUT OF HELL II: BACK INTO HELL is worth buying for the first two tracks, "I'd Do Anything Fo Love (But I Won't Do That)" and "Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back" and for "Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are". Everything about the songs is overblown but that's the point about it; the first BAT OUT OF HELL notwithstanding, there has never been anything like this in popular music before or since!!!! The songs and the sound quality are excellent, and despite being 10-12 minutes in length, "I'd Do Anything For Love..." and "Objects In The Rear View Mirror..." are worth listening to all the way through!!!! The Deluxe Edition remasters the original album while adding a bonus disc with multiple single edits and remixes of four tracks ("I'd Do Anything...", "Life Is A Lemon...", "Objects In The Rear View..." and "Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through"). Go back into hell with BAT OUT OF HELL II!!!!!

• I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
• Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back
• Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through
• It Just Won't Quit
• Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)
• Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are
• Wasted Youth
• Everything Louder Than Everything Else
• Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)
• Back Into Hell
• Lost Boys And Golden Girls
• Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are
• I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) (single edit)
• Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through (radio edit)
• Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back (radio edit)
• Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are (Wild
• I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) (longer edit)
• Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back (Ty Cobb edit)
• Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are (Wild
• Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through (Knute Rockne edit)
• Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back (1998 remix)