Very best of Meat Loaf
 

1. Who prefers the original order of the VBO album from 1999?
2. Why isn't the whole thing available on iTunes?
3. Is it time for a new very best of? AND what tracks should be there?

1) I'd imagine just about everybody. The second edition was a cheapo effort. They didn't bother to sort out the spacing between the tracks after jumbling them up, hence some songs have no gap between them and others have a fair bit of silence.
2) iTunes is shit.
3) The problem with doing a Very Best Of from Bat 3 onwards is that the songs needing to be included are not necessarily the best songs. Either you stick to album tracks and some people will wonder where the singles are, or you stick to the singles and people will compare the new stuff unfavourably to the old stuff. Do Cry Over Me and Los Angeloser really belong on a Very Best Of album?

To answer the question I would go for:

Hot Patootie
Bat Out Of Hell
Took The Words
Two Out Of Three
Paradise
I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us
Read 'Em And Weep
Dead Ringer
Midnight
Modern Girl
Anything For Love
Rock And Roll Dreams
Objects
I'd Lie For You
Not A Dry Eye
Is Nothing Sacred? (duet version)
Couldn't Have Said It Better
Blind As A Bat
Land Of The Pig
All Of Me
Giving Tree
Going All The Way
Speaking In Tongues

All that would fit nicely on two CDs.

Bat out of hell
You took the words
Two out of three
Paradise dashboard light
Deadringer for love
Midnight at the lost and found
Modern girl
Rock n roll mercenaries
Anything for love
Rock n roll dreams
Objects mirror
I'd lie for you
Not a dry eye
Couldn't have better
It's all coming back
Los angeloser
New song - from musical
New song - from musical

I think a sufficient Very Best Of album would consist his very best songs, that includes songs from every album. Not just a select few.

1. What You See Is What You Get
2. Hot Patootie
3. Bat Out Of Hell
4. Paradise
5. Two Out Of Three
6. For Crying Out Loud
7. Took The Words
8. Heaven Can Waite
9. Dead Ringer
10. Read Em And Weep
11. Everything Is Permited
12. I'm Gonna Love Her For The Both Of Us
13. Midnight At The Lost And Found
14. Razors Edge
15. Falling Angel
16. Bad Attitude
17. Surfs Up
18. Modern Girl
19. Execution Day
20. Burning Down
21. Standing On The Outside
22. A Time For Heros
23. Anything For Love
24. Life Is A Lemon
25. Rock N Roll Dreams
26. Objects
27. It Just Won't Quit
28. Lost boys And Golden Girls
29. I'd Lie For You
30. Not A Dry Eye
31. Left In The Dark
32. Is Nothing Sacred (duet version)
33. Home By Now
34. A kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waiste
35. Lawyers Guns And Money (storytellers live)
36. Couldn't Have Said It Better
37. Did I Say That?
38. Man Of Steel
39. The Monster Is Loose
40. Blind As A Bat
41. Cry Over Me
42. It's All Coming Back To Me Now
43. Peace On Earth
44. Living On The Outside
45. Song Of Madness
46. Let's Be In Love
47. All Of Me
48. California Dreaming
49. Another Day
50. Going All The Way
51. Speaking In Tongues
52. More
53. Skull Of You're Country
54. Loving You's A Dirty Job
55. Total Eclipse Of The Heart (rercorded with Bonnie Tyler just for this album)

6 cd edition yeah? :lol:

They wouldn't necessarily have to release it on cd format. It could be a digital release only. But one can dream right? 😂

I like your selection of songs, but yes dream unfortunately:D

14 vinyls in gatefold sleeves??

Vol. 2 'coming soon'?

Great list but...
 

might as well just buy all of the albums if this is the list :-P

I think that any new very best of should be previously unreleased live versions of tracks. I'd be happy with pretty much anything then!

nothing at all was wrong with the selection on the very best of CD.

If anything they forgot Rock n Roll Mercenaries cause it was a hit.

On a 'fiddly' point, I happen to prefer the slightly shortened 'Objects In Rear View' on Very Best Of (over the track as is on Bat 2)... Even though I presume this was only done because of issues with total running time ...

I don't. But I do prefer how the Bat 1 and 2 songs sound on this album to any other album.

I agree with this. I'd rather they do a Very Best of Meat Loaf: Volume II that picks up where Volume I left off rather than do something that spans his entire career. The original VBO has already covered Bat-WTTN just fine.

Couldn't Have Said It Better
Did I Say That
Testify
The Monster Is Loose
Blind as a Bat
It's All Coming Back to Me Now
In the Land of the Pigs
Seize the Night
The Future Ain't What It Used to Be
Peace on Earth
Living on the Outside
Los Angeloser
Song of Madness
Elvis in Vegas
Prize Fight Lover
Going All the Way Is Just the Start
What Part of My Body Hurts the Most (from the BOOH Cast Album)
Still the Children (from the BOOH Cast Album)

That's a great collection of songs.

The original 'Hits Out Of Hell' was a near-perfect sequence of tracks - The only tweaks needed to make it totally perfect being no fade out on 'Modern Girl' and adding in spoken intro to 'Took The Words' ... All academic now, but my approach to further compilations would have been to take things from there (i.e., Similar to the Queen compilations) ,,,

1. Definitely, definitely, definitely prefer the original. I COUNT Very Best in the discography actually BECAUSE of the three new tracks. It was also the last time Jim and Meat worked in the studio together, I'm pretty sure.
2. Isn't there a rights problem with Bad Attitude? That one doesn't even show up on iTunes from memory?
3. I think it's the perfect time for a new Very Best of. But the problem is that as much as I liked the lineup I just saw for what would be the next one, I think it needs the famous Bat songs & Dead ringer to sell.

I really don't get why the record companies (and movie studios) are so dumb on rights issues. Get together and make a bundle or protect your own self interest and make nothing. An easy choice in my eyes but they rarely seem to do it.

Ok I'll do a realistic track list lol

The Very Best Of Meat Loaf Vol: 2

1. What You See Is What You Get
2. All Revved Up
3. For Crying Out Loud
4. I'm Going To Love Her For The Both Of Us
5. Razors Edge
6. Surf's Up
7. Getting Away With Murder
8. It Just Want Quit
9. Out Of The Frying Pan
10. Lost Boys And Golden Girls
11. Amnesty Is Granted
12. Left In The Dark
13. I Couldn't Have Said It Better
14. Did I Say That?
15. Man Of Steel
16. The Monster Is Loose
17. Blind As A Bat
18. It's All Coming Back
19. Cry Over Me
20. Peace On Earth
21. Living On The Outside
22. Song Of Madness
23. All Of Me
24. The Giving Tree
25. Going All The Way
26. Speaking In Tongues
27. More


I refuse to put Los Angeloser on there. Don't you dare release one of the only two shitty songs on a album full of masterpiece tracks as the only single lmao.

Wait a minute, you think 'Los Angeloser' was shitty ?! - For me it had that sense-of-fun that so was lacking from Bat 3 ,,,,,, Each to his own ......

Count me as a fan of Los Angeloser as well.

And you can't really do a hits package and ignore the singles.

I think this is for me where the distinction comes in. The Very Best of isn't necessarily a "Greatest Hits" compilation in my opinion whereas with Meat that's kind of what we got.

I would always put Where The Rubber Meets the road over Not a Dry Eye and More Than you Deserve or Gonna Love her for both of us over Dead Ringer. If I were introducing someone to Meat's music I would probably avoid playing Dead Ringer For Love completely. It's a fun song but I just don't regard it as anything close to his best. Most other songs on the Dead Ringer album are better I think.

Well now, there's a question which is ripe for a new thread all of its own - What one recording would you play/show to someone who had never heard any Loaf ??

There are so many of them ... but if I must:
- show: video clip for I'd Lie For You,
- play: audio Heaven Can Wait.

The video clip for AFL.

If they liked that, BAT II.

Hey, it worked for me (in that order, too!).

Shocking we still don't have HD versions of the Bat 2 and WTTN videos considering how much they would have cost to produced.

The Bat 2 videos are all far better than most of Michael Bay's movies, with exception of The Rock and Armageddon, they're still great in my opinion. Bad Boys 2, Pearl Harbour and Transformers 1 to episode 100 suck donkey balls. :roll:

Pearl Harbour is like a terrible long drawn out version of the Objects in the rear view mirror video. :shock:

I couldn't create a list since The Very Best Of, I find good only a few songs from the last 17 years.

- Couldn't Have Said It Better
- Did I Say That
- Blind As A Bat
- Land Of The Pigs
- Alive
- Song Of Madness
- California Isn't Big Enough For Me

I couldn't choice any song from HIAHB...

For me there's at least 25 songs over the last 17 years that are better than California isn't big enough excluding the others you mentioned. :lol:

Ok, California is not a FCOL, but I don't find it worse than Dead Ringer. It has a vibe. Not complicated at all, but enjoyable. Meat's voice is good, the arrangement also.

California Isn't Big Enough was like someone turned around and said "Jim Steinman does dick jokes, we need to give the album a dick joke." Only in a very crude obvious way as opposed to Jim's clever and subtle or funny ones. (Can't you see my faded Levi's bursting apart/You've got the spark I've got wood/erection of the heart to name a few).

"I can barely fit my dick in my pants" is, ironically, not big or clever. :D

It would have to be something very special I think if there is a new Very Best of...

http://media.mlxxfc.net/the_essentialml22.jpg

Disc 1)

1 Bat out of Hell
2 Two out of three ain't bad
3 Paradise by the dashboard light
4 For Crying Out Loud
5 I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us
6 More Than You Deserve
7 I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back
8 Dead Ringer For Love
9 Midnight at the Lost and Found
10 Keep Driving
11 Bad Attitude

Disc 2)
1 Modern Girl
2 Surf's Up
3 Execution Day
4 Blind Before I Stop
5 Rock 'n' Roll Hero
6 I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
7 Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through
8 Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire)
9 Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are
10 Where the Rubber Meets the Road
11 I'd Lie for You (and That's the Truth)

Disc 3)
1 Left in the Dark
2 Amnesty Is Granted
3 Home By Now (new single song version with band / piano intro)
4 Is Nothing Sacred?
5 Couldn't Have Said It Better
6 Did I Say That?
7 Testify
8 The Monster Is Loose
9 Blind as a Bat
10 It's All Coming Back to Me Now
11 What About Love?
12 Peace on Earth
13 Los Angeloser

Disc 4)
1 Song of Madness
2 Prize Fight Lover (HCTB version)
3 All Of Me
4 The Giving Tree
5 Going All The Way Is Just The Start
6 Loving You's A Dirty Job (but somebody's gotta do it)
7 Souvenirs
8 More
9 Graveyard Shift
10 Paradise Lost
11 What Part of My Body Hurts The Most?

Disc 5)
1 Couldn't Have Said it Better (MSO Live)
2 Two Out of Three Ain't Bad (MSO Live)
3 For Crying out Loud (MSO Live)
4 Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire) (MSO Live)
5 Anything For Love (MSO Live)
6 Bat out of Hell (MSO Live)
7 Souvenirs (Live @ Wembley Arena February 2017)
8 More (Live @ Wembley Arena February 2017)
9 Going All The Way is Just the Start (Live @ Wembley Arena February 2017)

5 CD / 8 Vinyl Set ;)

http://media.mlxxfc.net/jsgold.jpg

I would like to see a Jim Steinman release, with something like this.


1. Happy ending - Yvonne Elliman: Food of love (1973)
2. Bat out of Hell - Bat out of Hell (1977)
3. You took the words right out of my mouth (Hot summer night) - Bat out of Hell (1973)
4. Two out of three ain't bad - Bat out of Hell (1977)
5. Paradise by the dashboard light - Bat out of Hell (1977)
6. Rock and roll dreams come through - Bad for good (1981)
7. Dead ringer for love - Dead ringer (1981)
8. Making love out of nothing at all - Air Supply: Greatest Hits (1983)
9. Total eclipse of the heart - Bonnie Tyler: Faster than the speed of night (1983)
10. Holding out for a hero - Footloose (1984)
11. Nowhere fast - Streets of fire (1984)
12. Tonight is what it means to be young - Streets of fire (1984)
13. Loving you's a dirty job (But somebody's gotta do it) - Bonnie Tyler: Secret dreams and forbidden fire (1986)
14. Good girls go to Heaven (Bad girls go everywhere) - Pandora's Box: Original sin (1989)
15. It's all coming back to me now - Pandora's Box: Original Sin (1989)
16. I'd do anything for love (But I won't do that) - Bat out of Hell 2 Back into Hell (1993)
17. Rock and roll dreams come through - Bat out of Hell 2 Back into Hell (1993)
18. Objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are - Bat out of Hell 2 Back into Hell (1993)
19. Original sin - The Shadow (1994)
20. Making love out of nothing at all - Bonnie Tyler: Free Spirit (1995)
21. It's all coming back to me now - Celine Dion: Falling into you (1996)
22. No matter what - Songs from Whistle down the wind (1998)
23. Is nothing sacred - The Very Best of Meat Loaf (or duet version) (1998)
24. Going all the way is just the start - Braver than we are (2016)
25. Who needs the young? - Braver than we are (2016)
26. What part of my body hurts the most? - NEW
27. We're still the children we once were - NEW

I'd hang fire on this idea for a little while, as you'll have a LOT of new recordings to work from in the very near future (including but NOT limited to the BAT Cast albums).

Yeah, but I want the originals, except for the last two obviously.

I would go for a single cd if only to include only the very best and to make the choice much more challenging ...

How about :

Bat Out Of Hell
Took The Words
Two Out Of Three
Paradise
For Crying Out Loud
Dead Ringer
Anything For Love
Rock & Roll Dreams
Objects
No Matter What

Nothing since comes close ... but may be that will change with BTWA !

You are right it is a pretty decent selection of songs. (although the `98 version has a better track order)
Rock and roll mercenaries would be a good replacement for Nocturnal Pleasure, never understood why they put it on there.

The only let down i have with the album, is that each disk is less then 60 minutes, while at that time the minimum for CD recording was 75? (not sure 80min). So they could easily put more tracks on it. Below is my improved version

CD 1

1. Home by now
2. Life is a lemon
3. Piece of the action
4. You took the words
5. Two out of three
6. Modern girl
7 Rock and roll dreams
8. I'm gonna love her
9. Is nothing sacred
10. A Time for heroes
11. Paradise
12. Heaven can wait

CD 2

1. I do anything for love
2. A kiss is a...
3. If you really
4. I'd lied for you
5. not a dry eye
6. Rock and roll mercenaries
7. Deadringer for love
8. Midnight at the lost
9. Read'm and weep
10 Objects
11. Bat out of hell

Any 'best of' without FCOL is not a 'best of' at all.

I think you take (well most people in general) take the term "Best of" a little to strict.

What i believe it means is " an overview of an artist songs, that where in the charts, during a period of time"

8 of the 9 Best of's are (hit) singles overviews ( talking about artists in general).

No matter how much i adore For crying out loud, i don't think its suitable for a compilation like the VBO.