Bat out of Hell
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Template:Album infobox Bat out of Hell is the extremely successful second album of singer Meat Loaf (Marvin Lee Aday), released in 1977 (see 1977 in music).
The album featured music of a bombastic and Wagnerian style. When Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf starting proposing it to music companies they had a lot of trouble finding someone willing to produce it. But when guitarist Todd Rundgren heard it, he immediately decided he wanted to produce the album. They still needed a label and it took them some more time before they finally settled with Cleveland International Records.
The album was not an immediate hit; it was more of a growing one. Bat out of Hell still sells about 200,000 copies per year and has sold an estimated 34 million copies worldwide, 16 million in the US alone, becoming one of the top five biggest selling albums of all time. It remained 474 weeks in the UK charts, a feat only surpassed by the 477 weeks of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Template:RS500
Steinman is credited with the album cover concept, which was illustrated by Richard Corben. The cover of Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell was modelled on it.
In 1993 a sequel called Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell was released, which includes the hit single "I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)". A second sequel is scheduled for a September 2006 release.
Track listing
- "Bat out of Hell" –9:51
- "You Took the Words Right out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)" –5:04
- "Heaven Can Wait" –4:41
- "All Revved Up with No Place to Go" –4:20
- "Two out of Three Ain't Bad" –5:25
- "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" –8:28
- "Paradise"
- "Let Me Sleep on It"
- "Praying for the End of Time"
- "For Crying Out Loud" –8:44
- (All music, lyrics, and spoken material by Jim Steinman.)
The album also exists in numerous other formats and rereleases, including a twenty-fifth anniversary edition with three bonus tracks ("Great Boleros of Fire (live intro)", "Bat Out of Hell (live)", and "Dead Ringer For Love") and the Hits Out of Hell DVD, and a "Bat Out of Hell: Revamped" release featuring the song "Dead Ringer for Love."
Personnel
- Meat Loaf — vocals, percussion
- Todd Rundgren — guitar, percussion
- Bruce Kulick — guitar
- Bob Kulick — guitar
- Davey Johnstone — guitar
- Jim Steinman — piano, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion, vocals
- Todd Rundgren — piano, keyboards, synthesizer, vocals
- Roy Bittan — piano, keyboards, synthesizer
- Cheryl Hardwick — piano, keyboards, synthesizer
- Steve Margoshes — piano, keyboards, synthesizer
- Roger Powell — piano, keyboards, synthesizer
- Paul Glanz — piano, keyboards, synthesizer
- Edgar Winter — saxophone, horns
- Alan Rubin — saxophone, horns
- Lou Marani — saxophone, horns
- Lou Delgatto — saxophone, horns
- Tom Malone — saxophone, horns
- Kasim Sulton — bass
- Steve Buslowe — bass
- Max Weinberg — drums, percussion
- Liberty DeVitto — drums, percussion
- John Wilcox — drums, percussion
- Joe Stefko — drums, percussion
- Jimmy Maelen — drums, percussion
- Cher — vocals
- Rory Dodd — vocals
- Karla DeVito — vocals
- Ellen Foley — vocals
- Phil Rizzuto — vocals
- Ted Neeley — vocals
- Allan Nicholls — vocals
- Eric Troyer — vocals
- Rhonda Coulet — vocals
- Kasim Sulton — vocals
- Marcia McClain — vocals
- Gene Orloff — concert master (New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra)
- Arrangements by Jim Steinman, Todd Rundgren, Ken Ascher, Roy Bittan, Tom Malone.cs:Bat Out Of Hell: Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra