“Mountain’s Leslie West and Mama Cass aside, rock has produced precious few 300 pound icons like this one time Ted Nugent vocalist, unnoticed Motown artist, and ROCKY HORROR SHOW scene-stealer. Even if you’ve never heard a note of BAT OUT OF HELL (which is unlikely), this everything-INCLUDING-the-kitchen-sink masterpiece deserves legendary status for its jaw-droppin’ cover art alone. Backed by a quirky cast including sax maniac Edgar Winter, soul-beltin’ mama Ellen Foley, motormouth baseball legend Phil Rizzuto, and members of the E Street Band and Utopia, Meat Loaf’s debut was a schlock-splattered tag team effort with bombastic, lyrically longwinded composer/pianist Jim Steinman. Crammed with SPECTOR-esque groove-ology and maniacal musical maneuvers, the seven sonic slabs of operatic slam-glam here are really mini-plays…in fact, boy-meets-girl barnburner PARADISE BY THE DASHBOARD LIGHT is divided into three subtitled acts. Super-producer/guitar guru Todd Rundgren lets rip like a Harley in heat on the crash ‘n burn title track, the Loaf sweetly laments lost lust on TWO OUT OF THREE AIN’T BAD, and you can almost smell the sexual sweat on ALL REVVED UP WITH NO PLACE TO GO. He may be thinner now and sport a better hairstyle, but BAT OUT OF HELL will forever remain Meat Loaf’s meal ticket to musical immortality.”
-Dave Chavers, “User Reviews of Bat Out of Hell [by Meatloaf]” Allmusic.com. September 12, 2015.
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