Meat Loaf ‎– Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell...

I love Meat Loaf. Definitely the first two Bat Out Of Hell albums. This album is one of the best old school hard rock albums I have got in my collection but also the one of the best I've heard. A step up in energy I feel from Bat Out Of Hell, as almost every track has beautiful guitar riffs, crazy piano playing (which has been sadly lost by todays rock standards) and of course Marvin Lee Aday's spinechilling, power-eating vocals that give the tracks that old-school American hard rock feel. Starting with the well known I'd Do Anything For Love, which is one hell of a great way to start the album as it packs energy, with the occasional slow down (which is good, any form of decent music needs to slow down at some point, definitely when the track is 10 minues plus!). And amazingly, the albums doesnt really slow down in the next track, Life Is a Lemon..., or the third, Rock N Roll Dreams...! The slowest track on here, is my personal favourite; Objects In The Rear View Mirror...

I am amazed this was recorded at around the same time i was born, as it sounds almost like a true Hard Rock gem from the late 70's to mid-80's. And this CD has been produced and mastered beautifully, and plays with such feeling (for a CD) through half decent hardware.

I cant really point out any tracks as being essential, because alot of the music here is essential...and as im sure Meat Loaf fans have noticed, on most of their Compilations most of the tracks are from Bat Out Of Hell 1 & 2. As typical of a Bat Out Of Hell album, we have a Spoken Word track being Wasted Youth, which is quite entertaining to listen to - and for those who've watched Tenacious D - The Pick Of Destiny, they, as like me, imagine Jack & Kyle in acting out the story their heads, which carries on into track 8. The only other track of any interest is Back Into Hell which is a short (two minute, thats short for Meat Loaf standards) instrumental track - which has great composition and such, provoking great mental images.

This is a must for any proper Rocker....also im sure this is one of the best driving albums ever too!

I own the LP (V2710) of this album. I love the CD version, and when I found the LP on a UK site, I had to buy it.

Unfortunately, it's not all I had hoped it would be. This is an absolutely awful pressing. The problem is that they fit 40 minutes on one side and 34 minutes on the the other side of an LP which is supposed to be a maximum of 22 minutes per side. They did this by drastically dropping the volume, which makes the grooves narrower.

The side effect is that you have to crank the volume WAY up if you like to listen to it loud. This is really bad because it raises the noise floor to the point where any surface noise will come through your speakers at MASSIVE volume, even though the record is playing at normal listening levels.

I usually listen to my amp at the 12-o'clock position for a nice loud listen. I have to crank it near to max volume, and I still can't quite get the same level as a regular LP.

In short, this should have been a 2 LP set, not a single LP.

It's listenable if it's perfectly mint with no flaws at all, but the CD actually sounds considerably better than this LP.