View Full Version : Bat 3 or Hang Cool Teddy Bear
Monstro
17 Oct 2010, 05:56
Ok, I was online tonight with the Ipod and a bottle of Teachers (now empty) and I got to thinking that with all the debates this is the question that's never been asked..................
Bat 3 or HCTB?
Let me know which one and why................
HCTB, simply because of my reasoning:
Bat 3
Strong Songs: (7 songs)
TMIL
BAAB
BFG
Pigs
Future
Monstro/Alive
Break It
Weak Songs (4 songs):
COM
IGCT
IACBTMN
CTH
HCTB:
Strong Songs (10 songs):
POE
LOTO
LA
IICJY
LAR
DYELS
California
If It Rains
Running Away
Elvis
Weak Songs (3 Songs):
Lesbian love
Stab me in the back
SOM
3 weak song compared to 4, so HCTB wins in my case.
Not to take anything away from Bat 3, but it has to be HCTB. I love Bat 3, but love HCTB just a little bit more. Love all the powerful songs, Meat's great vocals and everything about it.
Carole
HCTB because the overall atmosphere surrounding the album is better.
Bat III wasn't what I expected, Steinman wasn't directly involved and contributed only a handful of (old) songs, too much focusing on Desmond & Co., it didn't appear like a real Meat Loaf album to me and it's certainly not what a Bat album is supposed to be. I had an unpleasant feeling once I saw the IACBTM video, I disliked the promo, was disappointed by the second single and depressed by the way the tour went. That has somehow spoilt the album for me, in spite of some pretty good songs. With regard to HCTB it's only Patrick that gives me stomach ache.
HCTB because the overall atmosphere surrounding the album is better.
exactly the word i was looking for
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/Deadringerforlove/WarioSmiley.gif
This is a very ignorant poll. Just sayin' ...
Bat III was an album that is the completion of part of a corporate franchise.
HCTB was an album that is an independent vision of an artist making a change in his normal style.
I am dead sober and going to say this is about as good as starting a poll of which is better "apples" or "oranges" - it really is.
not really. its just a poll seeing which of meat's two most recent albums did we like better.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/Deadringerforlove/WarioSmiley.gif
daveake
17 Oct 2010, 06:56
This is a very ignorant poll. Just sayin' ...
Bat III was an album that is the completion of part of a corporate franchise.
Hmmm. Not sure I should touch this one as it's been done to death, but Bat III didn't complete the franchise so much as it shot the Bat legacy in the foot-acy.
See, I only replied so I could get that joke in :-)
Answering the poll, if I was forced to choose to play either album it would have to be Bat III, since it does at least contain some songs worth listening to (and no, I don't mean the Steinman ones 'cos DC murdered those). HCTB I can't listen to at all.
Dave
Evil One
17 Oct 2010, 07:20
if I was forced to choose to play either album it would have to be Bat III, since it does at least contain some songs worth listening to (and no, I don't mean the Steinman ones 'cos DC murdered those). HCTB I can't listen to at all.
This sums up my feelings pretty nicely. Bat 3 was nowhere near what it should have been, but I still think it's better than HCTB. Now if you could take the production quality and Meat's vocals from HCTB and apply it to three quarters of Bat 3, you'd have an amazing album, just as long as it wasn't called Bat 3! :roll:
Mr. Happy
17 Oct 2010, 09:00
Personally, HCTB. It's All Coming Back To Me Now, Seize the Night and In the Land of the Pig were all decent, but the rest definitely could have been a lot better (*cough* Future *cough*).
HCTB, on the other hand, has 13 amazing songs (not to mention 2 awesome B Sides), with Elvis in Vegas and Song of Madness being two of the best songs recorded since Bat 2.
So yeah, my vote goes to Hang Cool Teddy Bear :D
Elijah's way
17 Oct 2010, 11:21
Song Of Madness alone makes HCTB the better album.
no really, the reason HCTB is the better album is because the production is way better, song writing is better, the whole atmosphere is better, no negativity surrounding it like it was for Bat 3 and there's no Desmond Child.
Strong songs for HCTB: 11
Song Of Madness
Peace On Earth
Did You Ever Love Somebody
Let's Be In Love
Living On The Outside
California Isn't Big Enough
If I Can't Have You
Running Away From Me
If It Rains
Elvis In Vegas
Love Is Not Real
Weak songs: 2
I do like this song but it is one of the weak ones. Los Angeloser
Crap song -Like A Rose
First of all I really like Bat 3 but HCTB is better.
The reason Bat 3 is the worst of the 2 is because Desmond Child, rehash of old Stineman songs, no new Stineman songs, Bad For Good.
Strongest songs from Bat 3: 8
Blind As A Bat
The Monster Is Loose
In The Land Of The Pig
If God Could Talk
Cry Over Me
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
It's All Coming Back to Me Now
If It Ain't Broke, Break It
The weak songs: 5
Bad for Good
Seize the Night
Cry to Heaven
Monstro/Alive
What About Love?
Evil One
17 Oct 2010, 12:55
no really, the reason HCTB is the better album is because the production is way better, song writing is better, the whole atmosphere is better, no negativity surrounding it like it was for Bat 3 and there's no Desmond Child
I have to take issue with you saying the songwriting is better on HCTB. Five of the Steinman songs are awesome, it is just the production that lets them down. A few of the other songs aren't too shabby either. Whatever negativity there is surrounding Bat 3 shouldn't affect your view on the content. :twisted:
Elijah's way
17 Oct 2010, 13:30
I have to take issue with you saying the songwriting is better on HCTB. Five of the Steinman songs are awesome, it is just the production that lets them down. A few of the other songs aren't too shabby either. Whatever negativity there is surrounding Bat 3 shouldn't affect your view on the content. :twisted:
well I do like the majority of the songwriting on it but Steinman has only 4 good songs on there and he didn't write any of them for Bat 3. And I love BAAB it's one of my favorite songs that Meat has done. and you are right the negativity there is surrounding Bat 3 shouldn't affect me at all but it does a little. it just sucks that Meat hates it and wasn't into it.
Evil One
17 Oct 2010, 13:38
Steinman only wrote a couple of songs specifically for Bat 2, and the rest were recycled. That doesn't stop it being a brilliant album. :shrug:
Elijah's way
17 Oct 2010, 13:54
Steinman only wrote a couple of songs specifically for Bat 2, and the rest were recycled. That doesn't stop it being a brilliant album. :shrug:
that's not what meant!!
Cherry.Loaf
17 Oct 2010, 13:56
I'm going to say Hang Cool Teddy Bear it's a difficult choice for me but I prefer the story of Hang Cool and will never forget the amazing time I had on the release day and the excitment I had listening to sneak peaks of the song and reading extracts from the story
Evil One
17 Oct 2010, 14:51
that's not what meant!!
What did you mean then? If Jim did Bat 3 then it would most likely have been 2/3rds recycled material too.
duke knooby
17 Oct 2010, 14:54
What did you mean then? If Jim did Bat 3 then it would most likely have been 2/3rds recycled material too.
or 84% perhaps
It has to be Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Simply because, it's not trying to be something it so blatantly is not. A few quick thoughts if I may...
Hang Cool Teddy Bear, is exactly what it says on the tin. It's Meat Loaf working in a positive atmosphere with some extremely talented individuals making the album he has always wanted to make. No big franchise to live up to. No calculator money men interfering in the creative process. No big worries about keeping the Steinman purists happy. And crucially, little or no attempt on the part of the songwriters to do the impossible and replicate Steinman.
By contrast, Bat III is a cynical attempt on the part of the record companies to cash in on a sacred legacy. When profit comes before creativity, you're doomed to fail. The biggest problem with Bat III from the outset, was Bat II - Which is to my mind, the greatest 70+ minutes of music ever committed to disc. Nothing could top that.
With Steinman out of the picture and Desmond drafted in the whole thing became farcical - A hopeless pursuit of something that was never going to be achieved. The seven non-Steinman tracks on the album, aren't bad as such, just painfully out of place alongside the Steinman tracks. The whole lot lumped together and given Desmond's clumsy (at best) production treatment didn't create a Bat record. It created a dis-jointed mess.
So yes, Hang Cool Teddy Bear every day of the week for me. It unpretentious, it's not trying to be something it's not. It's loud, it's proud. It does exactly what it says on the tin.
...I really should post here more often.
daveake
17 Oct 2010, 15:27
or 84% perhaps
84% is the new 66.66666666666666667%
daveake
17 Oct 2010, 15:30
I have to take issue with you saying the songwriting is better on HCTB. Five of the Steinman songs are awesome, it is just the production that lets them down. A few of the other songs aren't too shabby either. Whatever negativity there is surrounding Bat 3 shouldn't affect your view on the content. :twisted:
Absolutely. All of the Bat3 Steinman songs have been done better elsewhere. And this is not a poke at Meat - I lay the blame firmly at DC's door.
Elijah's way
17 Oct 2010, 16:28
What did you mean then? If Jim did Bat 3 then it would most likely have been 2/3rds recycled material too.
why does it matter?!?:roll:
Bat 3 by a long way. I'm going to be blunt here but HCTB has only one awesome song, and that's "Song of Madness". The rest is very mediocre. Compared to Meat's albums of the past, it's very very poor.
Look at the individual songs on Bat 3; BAAB, Pigs, and Alive, they are all better songs than anything on HCTB. The only reason it's winning the poll is because it's the new album. It's certainly not better in my opinion.
Elijah's way
17 Oct 2010, 16:39
I doubt it's winning because it's the new album.:roll: Put it in a poll against Bat 1 and Bat 2 and it will lose. and it probably will against WTTNH.
AndrewG
17 Oct 2010, 16:41
Bat 3 by a long way. I'm going to be blunt here but HCTB has only one awesome song, and that's "Song of Madness". The rest is very mediocre. Compared to Meat's albums of the past, it's very very poor.
Look at the individual songs on Bat 3; BAAB, Pigs, and Alive, they are all better songs than anything on HCTB. The only reason it's winning the poll is because it's the new album. It's certainly not better in my opinion.
I must be losing my mind because I agree with you 100%.
Evil One
17 Oct 2010, 16:42
Me too. Steve is speaking sense! :yikes:
Elijah's way
17 Oct 2010, 16:50
I must be losing my mind because I agree with you 100%.
WOW!!!
The Flying Mouse
17 Oct 2010, 17:28
Me too. Steve is speaking sense! :yikes:
:twisted: Hope this padded cell is big enough for one more here, because I agree :shock:
The two songs i'm really into on HCTB are Love Is Not Real and Song Of Madness.
Living On The Outside is decent enough while California Isn't Big Enough has it's moments, but is spoilt by the "dick" (just ones fan opinion here).
Elvis In Vegas is something you can tap your foot to, but the rest of the album just isn't that memorable.
And when I say that, I mean I can't remember the rest of the songs on the album or what the hell they sound like because I just don't listen to them.
I need to get round to listening to them again with a fresh ear, but hearing the first time has not made that an exciting proposition so i'm not exactly rushing to do it.
Bat III on the other hand has Monster's Loose, BAAB, Alive, If God Could Talk, Sieze The Night, Bad For good, Land Of THe Pigs, Breal It, What About Love.
AMAZING SONGS. 8)
The Future Ain't What It Used to Be is also a pretty good song, with only All Coming Back, Cry Over Me, and Cry To Heaven failing to hit a very highly set bar.
Hmmm. Not sure I should touch this one as it's been done to death, but Bat III didn't complete the franchise so much as it shot the Bat legacy in the foot-acy.
Bat Out Of Hell was an artistic work of Steinman writing songs and Meat Loaf performing them. The corporate moguls saw the cash and put this formula back to work on Bat 2 with good results. They went for a cash cow trifecta with Bat 3, but it failed because it jumped the shark. Further, Steinman attempting a stage show is also jump the shark because it fails to work within the successful formula of the first to installments of the project - it may succeed, but will still be a display in jumping the shark. Whereas, Hang Cool Teddy Bear was a Meat Loaf project where he set out to create an artistic work - independent of anything of his past body of work, in the same way that Steinman breaking out to create Dance of the Vampires was setting forth a new body of work.
Comparing artist work against other artistic work is meritless, as art is entirely subjective and you can only quantify subjectivity against one's own opinion. Polls like are entirely pointless and serve to stir controversy.
Look at the individual songs on Bat 3; BAAB, Pigs, and Alive, they are all better songs than anything on HCTB.
Pigs and Cry To Heaven are embarrassments as far as Meat Loaf songs go. It is painful to listen to the absolute train wreck that is Pigs - in any incarnation. Yes, it may work well within the realms of a musical, but it is a bit far fetched as a rock song. The hook is good, it has potential, but Jim clearly ran out of lyrical fortitude with this one - again, the shark was jumped. Cry To Heaven - just plain bad. I would say the same thing for Did You Ever Love Somebody from HCTB - absolutely embarrassing to have this song attached to a Meat Loaf album, and Love Is Not Real would have been specular had they not attempted to throw in everything but the kitchen sink with the addition of Next Time You Stab Me In the Back in the middle of it. Really, the songs would have stood better on their own. Both albums have their clunkers.
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