Meat Loaf feat Marion Raven - It's All Coming Back To Me Now (Mercury)
UK release date: 16 October 2006
Meat Loaf? What does he sound like again? It's been a while. It's all coming back to me now: the strident piano, that huge voice, the choirs, the strings that build to the climax, the drum rolls like thunder. Three parts goth and two parts Grimm fairy tale. Bombastic? Oh lordy yes but that's what we came for isn't it?
Queen meets The Sisters of Mercy with a dash of Tim Burton. Meat Loaf put the power into the power ballad, he knows what works for him, and plays to his strengths. It's a formula that works - the original Bat Out of Hell has sold over 30 million copies.
So Bat out of Hell is more franchise than a work of art. I don't care. Aren't all bands a brand anyway? On the third instalment the songs have been recycled from other acts that Jim Steinman has written for. It's All Coming Back to Me Now was a hit for Celine Dion but no-one can carry Steinman's songs like Meat Loaf. It's in his DNA; he breathes life and humour into the songs. This is fun, unpretentious rock n roll and it makes me smile.