Meat Loaf "Hang Cool, Teddy Bear"

What do you call an artist who tries to recapture the magic present on the album that defined his identity? Without forgetting to mention he added two chapters to the original arc. Delirious? Desperate? Dumb? No, mom’s home cooking. He is always dependable in trying to bring you music that is created with the best of his ability at each point in time. If your album went 14x Platinum in the U.S. alone why wouldn’t you want to try to recreate that success? But seriously, we know he can be pretentious and bombastic, and it gets redundant, but that is what makes him Meat Loaf. While this album has been called more of the same by some critics and some of his most relevant material by others, we have a toss up. I say he's reliable, and that I agree with the latter statement. While being compared to Springsteen, again, working with the Queen, it sounds decidedly modern; being compared to bands like The Darkness, The Hold Steady, and Andrew W K. So what do I think? Taken from the perspective of a soldier nicknamed “Teddy Bear,” who has seen and experienced years of war: “But I'm not so self-righteous to think that I/Would not take one hundred thousand lives/see my mother's eyes/And trace that southern smile"  That hits home, doesn’t it? Was I trying to avoid the question? I was saying that the first song is filled with such energy and passion that you forget you are listening to Meat Loaf. It doesn’t sound like corned beef re-hash, but some fresh mashed potatoes. You can compare the sound and tone to that of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra if you like when listening to this album. I may want “Peace on Earth,” but I’m not sure if I want to continue “Living on the Outside.” The energy continues and sounds like as song you might find on the stage production of American Idiot, with a backing choir. The next song is a poem a “LosAngeloser” writes to his sugar-girl who promises “As long as I am satisfied/Well, you will always be my man” even if all he has to give is love and not much else. My favorite verse would have to be the final one dedicated to those faithful female fans before the final choruses. “If I Can’t Have You” has to be one of the strongest duets in a while, featuring Kara DioGuardi on songwriting and vocals; props to Raine Maida for co-writing as well. Southeren-fried riffs that recall Skynyrd with some driving drums and Queen-esque theatricality; Justin Hawkins was one of the co-writers that prevented the Darkness from taking over  him once Teddy Bear realized that “Love Is Not Real/Next Time You Stab Me in the Back” I will be prepared to wear a face mask. The next song sticks out “Like A Rose.” It sounds like it would have the best chance being played on modern rock radio, and reminds me of Kid Rock or a number of different post-grunge bands of this era. This is a “Song of Madness” indeed, and while I cannot deny that the epicocity of this song can be in debt to Zeppelin. I also proclaim that It sounds like a song graciously performed by Shinedown, and not only because they had a song with a similar title, but the loaf sounds like Brent Smith. “Did You Ever Love Somebody” is a song that might not match the greatness of what came before it, but is just what the album needs. The next song sounds like a parody, or something Tenacious D would write; I would not be surprised if Jack Black was a co-writer: “Babe let me tell you/Tell you [x3]/I can barely fit my d*** in my pants” because “California Isn’t Big Enough (Hey Girl).”  That is not to say that the instrumentals are easily upstaged; it’s just a real fun song. There is something I want to say about this song, but it keeps “Running Away From Me.” I think it’s something about the instrumentals, oh, and that chorus may be one of his most adult alternative yet. I must give props to Jon Foreman because he is probably the reason the song sounds as distinctive as it does in this whole affair. “Let’s Be In Love” is more of what we can expect, but i have no hate for those that write it, even “If It Rains.” The final song off of the album is a night that holds a lot of great memories and determined the destiny of Meat Loaf; it was the night he saw “Elvis in Vegas.” This sounds like a song that would fit on a  210th decade Bon Jovi album, but that could be the fact that Jon was a co-writer. The Journey-esque solo was really nice too, and as a whole you must give credit where it is due.