Meat Loaf - Renegade Angel (1981)

'Bat Out Of Hell' was a surprise hit for Meat Loaf in 1977, and the following year Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf began working on the follow-up, to be called 'Renegade Angel'. The sessions were plagued by bad luck, including the theft of Steinman's lyrics and Meat Loaf losing his voice. As Meat Loaf couldn't sing his songs, Steinman had no choice but to sing them himself, finally releasing the retitled 'Bad for Good' album in 1981. Although fans knew of Steinman's involvement in 'Bat Out Of Hell', they didn't buy his new record, and it failed to even make a dent in the charts. Over the next couple of decades Meat Loaf did record all but two of those songs for his albums, and so here they all are collected together, for a Meat Loaf version of 'Renegade Angel'. I've kept the same running order as the original Steinman album, and substituted Meat Loaf's versions for Steinman's wherever possible, with just Steinman's take of 'Stark Raving Love' remaining, as Meat Loaf never recorded this song. 'Bad for Good' included an additional 7" single of 'The Storm' and 'Rock and Roll Dreams Come True', intended to act as a prelude and epilogue, and so they are now used to bookend the album. 'Dance in My Pants' featured a duet with Karla DeVito, and as Meat Loaf never recorded this song, either as a duet or on his own, I've left it off this reimagining as it didn't really fit, and for 'Left in the Dark' I've grafted Jim Steinman's spoken word intro onto Meat Loaf's vocal. These edits have allowed me to keep the length of the album to a reasonable 52 minutes.

Track listing

01 The Storm 
02 Bad For Good
03 Lost Boys And Golden Girls
04 Love And Death And An American Guitar
05 Stark Raving Love
06 Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)
07 Surf's Up
08 Left In The Dark
09 Rock And Roll Dreams Come True