If familiar with the work of Meat
Loaf you know that he does everything big, crazy and unexpectedly. Most of all
Meat puts his whole heart and soul into everything he does.
It’s hard to do something
unexpected when everyone is expecting it, but there were a few surprises on
Hell in a Handbasket.
The first song, “All of Me” sets
the tone for the album which Meat Loaf says is the first album he has made that
really expresses the way he feels personally. It’s the kind of power ballad you
would expect from a Meat Loaf album. “The Giving Tree” is a lesson in dynamics
for any aspiring musician. Starting with a single tambourine, it swells from
almost spoken lyrics to a feverish anthem with church choir like backup vocals.
Then everything drops out and you have hand claps and church choir vocals until
it ends with a single tambourine.
Pushing into the realm of the
unexpected we have, “Live or Die”. On the surface with its acoustic guitar,
fiddle and organ it sounds like a country song.
Peel all that away and you actually have a pretty heavy rock song. The
acoustic guitar solo in the middle works amazingly well too.
Meat crosses deep into the
unexpected with the medley “Blue Sky/Mad Mad World/The Good God Is A Woman And
She Don’t Like Ugly,” which includes
rapping by Chuck D. Then he follows that up with another cover, “Calfornia
Dreamin’”. No surprise that it’s a duet with Patti Russo. He makes it his own,
but I have listened to it half a dozen times and I am still not sure if I like
it or not.
Still unexpected is the song “Party
of One”. I would say it crosses into the realm of early punk or psychobilly.
It’s a song about the upside of being alone.
Finally the most unexpected oddity
on Hell in a Handbasket is “Stand in
the Storm”. Where else can you hear Meat singing with Trace Adkins, Mark McGrath
and Lil Jon? Only someone like Meat
Loaf could get such a diverse group of musicians together on an album. Let alone
one song.
Meat Loaf made the mistake of
writing Bat out of Hell at the
beginning of his career. How do you possibly ever top your swan song?
Hell in a Handbasket isn’t going to
stand up to Bat out of Hell, but it is
a good album. It is full of emotion, big vocals and great arrangements. Meat
Loaf continues to have no qualms with cross contaminating genres. No matter what
ingredients he mixes together it all ends up tasting like Meat Loaf. I am sure
Guy Fieri would say, “Mmm, that’s
money!”
4/5 Stars
Key Tracks: The Giving Tree, Live or Die, Party of One
Kirk Bullough
Tracks:
1. All Of Me
2. The Giving Tree
3. Live Or Die
4. Blue Sky / Mad Mad World / The Good God Is A Woman And She Don't Like Ugly
5. California Dreamin'
6. Party Of One
7. Another Day
8. 40 Days
9. Our Love And Our Souls
10. Stand In The Storm
11. Blue Sky
12. Fall From Grace
|
Artist:
Meat Loaf
Title: Hell In A Handbasket
Genre: Rock
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Label: Sony Legacy
Website: http://www.meatloaf.net
Title: Hell In A Handbasket
Genre: Rock
Release Date: March 13, 2012
Label: Sony Legacy
Website: http://www.meatloaf.net
