Hypothetical New Compilation
 

I think the time is right for a new best of compilation, one that supplants The Very Best Of album in completeness and sequencing. For my part, I envision a triple album, with all songs sequenced chronologically (except for adding For Crying Out Loud at the end of disc 3, as there is no better ending song anywhere). Tell me your thoughts on this collection I envision, and what, if anything, you'd do differently:

"The Last At Bat: The Ultimate Meat Loaf"

CD 1: 1978-1986

1. Bat Out Of Hell
2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth
3. Paradise By The Dashboard Light
4. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
5. I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us
6. More Than You Deserve
7. Dead Ringer For Love
8. Read 'Em And Weep
9. Everything Is Permitted
10. Midnight At The Lost And Found
11. Modern Girl
12. Surf's Up
13. Rock And Roll Mercenaries
14. Blind Before I Stop
15. Masculine


CD 2: 1993-2003

1. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
2. Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back (Original album version)
3. Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through
4. Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are
5. Everything Louder Than Everything Else (Wasted Youth spliced in)
6. Where The Rubber Meets The Road
7. I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)
8. Original Sin
9. Not A Dry Eye In The House
10. A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
11. Is Nothing Sacred (Full duet version on Welcome To The Neighborhood 2011 Deluxe Version)
12. Couldn't Have Said It Better
13. Did I Say That
14. Tear Me Down
15. Testify

CD 3: 2006-2016

1. Blind As A Bat
2. It's All Coming Back To Me Now
3. Cry Over Me
4. If It Ain't Broke, Break It (Only When I Feel from BTWA spliced in)
5. Peace On Earth
6. Los Angeloser
7. If I Can't Have You
8. All Of Me
9. The Giving Tree
10. Stand In The Storm
11. Who Needs The Young
12. More
13. Speaking In Tongues
14. Going All The Way Is Just The Start
15. Loving You's A Dirty Job (But Somebody's Gotta Do It)
16. For Crying Out Loud

First I'd add the times of the original songs together to make sure it all fits on CDs if you are going to have a physical CD release. The way you have it now I think you'd need at least 4 discs. And possibly 6-7 vinyls.

The track list is mostly good. Glad you included "More".
However I don't like the messing about with old songs like a George Lucas approach at all.
And one album with Who needs the young on it is more than enough in my opinion as was Cry over me.
I'd probably replace Everything Louder with Frying Pan, given how often Meat performed it. I'm sure people know it better.

I'd end on GATW and just put FCOL back in the Bat section. Other than that I'd probably sequence it the way the songs originally appeared on the album except for the GATW ending.

Apart from the changes I've mentioned, we did talk about this recently and I had a similar list of songs I believe.

Like the title, but my track list focuses on the singles (which would theoretically be most recognizable to a mass audience), rearranged in album order, as follows:

Meat Loaf
Last at Bat: The Final Flight

Disc One

1. Bat Out of Hell
2. You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
3. All Revved Up with No Place to Go
4. Two Out of Three Ain't Bad
5. Paradise by the Dashboard Light
6. Peel Out
7. I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us
8. Read 'Em and Weep
9. Dead Ringer for Love

Disc Two

1. Razor's Edge
2. Midnight at the Lost and Found
3. If You Really Want To
4. Modern Girl
5. Nowhere Fast
6. Surf's Up
7. Piece of the Action
8. Rock and Roll Mercenaries
9. Getting Away with Murder

Disc Three

1. Blind Before I Stop
2. Special Girl
3. I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
4. Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back
5. Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through
6. Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are
7. I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)
8. Runnin' for the Red Light (I Gotta Life)
9. Not a Dry Eye in the House

Disc Four

1. Amnesty is Granted
2. No Matter What (as edited for single without "Home by Now")
3. Is Nothing Sacred
4. A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste
5. Couldn't Have Said it Better
6. Did I Say That?
7. Man of Steel
8. Because of You
9. It's All Coming Back to Me Now

Disc Five

1. Blind as a Bat
2. Cry Over Me
3. Los Angeloser
4. If I Can't Have You
5. All of Me
6. The Giving Tree
7. Stand in the Storm
8. Going All the Way (A Song in 6 Movements)
9. Speaking in Tongues

For purposes of timing, I would go with the longest single edits (so long as they are indeed single edits, and not just the album's "long" version as a B-side) available for each track for the mass market release in physical format, and go with the album length of each track online.

if the songs can fit the discs then this is great :D usually there's space for about 80 minutes

I also thought of a "just Meat and Jim" compilation, which is a little less unwieldy (only two discs this time) and goes like this:

Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman
The Neverland Express: An Anthology

Disc One

1. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)
3. Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back
4. Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through
5. Is Nothing Sacred
6. Dead Ringer For Love
7. Surf's Up
8. All Revved Up With No Place To Go
9. Paradise By The Dashboard Light
10. Read 'Em And Weep
11. Peel Out

Disc Two

1. Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are
2. I'm Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us
3. Nowhere Fast
4. No Matter What
5. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
6. A Kiss Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
7. It's All Coming Back To Me Now
8. Going All The Way (A Song In Six Movements)
9. Speaking In Tongues
10. Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf: Dicks out for for Harambe

Disk 1:

1. Masculine
2. Masculine
3. Masculine
4. Masculine
5. Masculine
6. Masculine
7. Masculine
8. Masculine

Disk 2:

1. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
2. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
3. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
4. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
5. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
6. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
7. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)
8. California isn't Big Enough (For Me)

...wouldn't that work better as a charity single, Wario?

I think next year there should be a 2CD "Best Of Bat" compilation, marking the 40th anniversary of the first album.

The tracks taken from Bat III could be remixed by Paul Crook under Jim Steinman's guidance, and the compilation could include any new tracks taken from next year's BOOH musical as recorded by Meat, ie. "What Part Of My Body Hurts The Most". That would be pretty perfect IMO.

Late next year expect one, best ofs still sell decent numbers i guess.
I do think commercially Braver was a good time to pull the plug on new album releases. People are just not buying the new stuff the past 6-7 years

Good lists, but they need something new. Could Meat's version of "What Part Of My Body?" be that?

Apropos of nothing, has anyone commented on the similarity in spirit of 'Who Needs The Young' with David Bowie's 'Dirty Boys' ??

ROFL!!

It all depends on which label Meat is with and whether they want to pony up for the other songs. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a single CD containing a couple of new songs and all the classics redone a la the new Anything For Love.

^ It also depends on whether or not Meat is the driving force behind the compilation, and where it's released. Could just be a cash grab in one of his best-selling territories. For example, in the UK at least, Sony owns nearly all of the labels involved (Epic/Cleveland International for the first three, Arista for the two Eighties albums everyone prefers to forget, Mercury had CHSIB, Bat 3, and HCTB in the UK, Legacy for Handbasket); the only other people to negotiate with would be Universal (owns both MCA and Virgin, covering all the Bat II and Neighbo[u]rhood bases) and 429 for the Braver tracks. For a UK-only release, provided no one got piggish, it could be slapped together in the time it takes to snap one's fingers.

Well, I don't prefer to forget them haha. BA & BBIS fking rock!