Meat Loaf

Very Best Of Meatloaf

Truly The Best Of Meatloaf

Review Score:

(8/10)
The one thing that the music industry isn't lacking for are CD collections and retrospective "BEST OF" discs from Meatloaf. There is everything from "Hits From Hell" to a 2-CD live set "limited edition" not to mention the plethora of import CD compilations.

However, with all of that said, "The Very Best of Meatloaf" is the best of the lot, both from a quality and content perspective. This collection has ALL of Meatloaf's hits, near-misses, and "cult" favorites (and you can't beat the discounted pricing for this 2 CD set, either). There are also some cuts from Meatloaf's "non-Steinman" albums from the 80's that were not so successful such as "Modern Girl" and "Midnight From the Lost and Found". One missing recording that I would have liked to have seen in this collection is Meat's rendition of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land".

Also included is "Dead Ringer For Love" from his 1981 album which is another Steinman original with Cher taking the female lead. This was not commercially successful, but still one of my personal favorites.

For the casual fan, this is the only Meatloaf CD that you'll need to have in your collection (this collection has 5 of the 7 tracks from the classic 1977 "Bat Out of Hell" album).

For the connoisseur of Meatloaf, 3 additional Steinman songs ("A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste", "Is Nothing Sacred", and "Home By Now/No Matter What") plus a remixed version of "Life Is A Lemon" (which actually sounds different than the original) justifies the purchase. If "A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" sounds familiar, you may recall hearing the last portion of this song ("Tire Tracks and Broken Hearts") during Meatloaf's VH1 Storytellers. The problem with VH1 was that they never announced the song and never played in it's entirety. It's worth listening here.

Steinman's collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber ,makes for an interesting combination of musical talent. These tracks seem sub-par at first listen, but they grow on you with multiple plays.

Highly recommended.

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