MoeFOH's Album of the Week... Week #24

[MoeFOH]

MoeFOH's Album of the Week 🎶

Same as the movie thread, each week we're going to spotlight an album... be it a classic, new release, hidden gem, or outright turd... and open it for discussion: i.e. post up your favourite tracks, clips, lyrics, experiences if you saw live, etc... or dive deeper and give us a critique on why you think it's great, overrated, or a complete train wreck... And finally score it for us...  

All contributors go into a monthly prize draw for a 3-cigar sampler! 

PM me with suggestions if there's an album you want to nominate for next week's discussion. 

 

Week #24: Bat Out Of Hell

Moe says: Just an out-and-out rock classic, in my opinion. Started listening to it in my youth and still remains a go-to favourite, part of the furniture as far as my music DNA goes. 

Wiki says: 

Bat Out of Hell is the 1977 debut album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. It is one of the best-selling albums in history. The album was developed from a musical, Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan, which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. It was recorded during 1975–1976 at various studios, including Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren, and released in October 1977 by Cleveland International/Epic Records. Bat Out of Hell spawned two Meat Loaf sequel albums: Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006).

Bat Out of Hell has sold over 43 million copies worldwide. It is certified 14× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is the best-selling album in Australia. As of June 2019, it has spent 522 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, the second longest chart run by a studio album. Rolling Stone ranked it at number 343 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

Over to you...

Who's a fan? How highly do you rate this album?

Thoughts, memories, experiences, favourite tracks...? 

Post em up!

Score it out of 10!

[MoeFOH]

 

[SpecialK]

Paradise By the Dashboard Light..... and that's about it...  The whole album came across as musical theatre to me... 

[Ken Gargett]

one of those 10/10 without question. still listen to it a lot. groundbreaking, brilliant, fun, fabulous. what a voice. and the band! well, what do you expect if you use a good chunk of the E Street Band! 

for once, the general public got it right - best selling album of all time (well, right if you excuse them not putting bruce 1) in australia. in the UK, if i recall, 500 plus weeks in the charts. back here, the longest ever gap between an album being at number 1 - over 2,000 plus weeks. amazing. 

[JohnS]

Any album that sells in excess of 30 million copies is often a cultural landmark. This one is the ultimate expression of Phil Spector's vision for his wall of sound from the sixties, only in the seventies it sounds even fuller on this album!

[Rhinoww]

I was a music snob in middle school when this was released. Mainstream metal was not my thing. 
Over time I have come to appreciate much of the album. Still not great for me, but a respectable 7/10, mostly due to fine aging. 
in middle school it would have gotten a 1/10 😂

[La_Tigre]

10/10 … just a complete album for what it is…

[Chucko8]

With that many million copies sold it's fair to say that it got something right to bond to the notes in people's wallets.

[Chibearsv]

This album is an odd one for me.  After some day in high school, I went to the local record store and had enough money for one album.  I thumbed through almost every album in the store looking for something new and heavy.  At that time there wasn't a lot of heavy rock being released.  When I saw the album cover from this band I never heard of, I knew I was on to some heavy metal that I could show off to my buddies that I had discovered.  I bought Bat Out of Hell and couldn't wait to get home and play it.  When I did, I thought it was pure crap and pitched it in the trash.  Years later during a particularly bad time I was having with the girl I thought was "the one", I heard "Two Out of Three Aint Bad" on the radio and thought it was absolutely brilliant.  I bought the album again and gave it a full listen and thought it was great.  It's a fantastic album but not a musical style I choose to listen to regularly.  Hard to rate, but I totally understand anyone giving it a 10/10.  For me, 7/10

[Doctorossi]

I just don't get it. From a distant perspective, I can see the craft and quality of execution, but I can't for the life of me understand why someone would want to put it on and listen to it. 5/10.

[Cigar Surgeon]

As others have said: it's a complete album. 10/10. 

[bassistheplace]

I've always appreciated the theater of Meat's work. It's an iconic record and has to be a 10/10 as others have noted. It's not the type of record I put on and listen to

I did meet Meat a couple of years ago. He moved to Nashville and I got a chance to talk with him for a while at a party. Still far out and very dramatic. So sad he died recently. He was a resilient dude. His life story is amazing

[Paladin865]

Bat out of Hell was an outstanding, classical album. I don't believe it came out almost a half a century ago. The album stands the test of time. The brilliant composition of the late Jim Steinman . I definitely concur 10/10