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Everyone knows meatloaf tastes better the second time around.
And since Meat Loaf -- the portly rocker whose Bat out of Hell trilogy gave new meaning to the term "bombastic" -- has already enjoyed comeback success once, we'll assume the same holds true for third and fourth servings.
See, Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday) recently released the third instalment in the series, a somewhat problem-plagued effort titled Bat out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. And it's here that our leftovers metaphor really kicks into high gear.
Released 30 years after the first Bat out of Hell album, the third chapter features seven songs written by composer Jim Steinman, who leant his Wagner-esque vision to the original -- a guilty pleasure comprised of hits like Paradise by the Dashboard Light, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad and You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth -- as well as to the sequel (Back Into Hell) released in 1993.
But the seven "new" tracks were all written for other projects, and Meat Loaf and Steinman actually became embroiled in a lawsuit prior to the new album's release. According to reports, the Meat Loaf camp sued Steinman to prevent him from using the phrase "Bat out of Hell" (which Steinman had registered as his trademark in 1995), prompting Steinman's camp to countersue in an effort to stop the disc from being released.
During a conference call with reporters, Meat Loaf -- whose latest tour stops at MTS Centre on Sunday night -- presents a slightly different version of events, noting the lawsuit was dropped almost as soon as it was filed.
"Jim Steinman ... started sending me songs for the project, so he was definitely in on (it)," the 59-year-old explains. "But then Jim Steinman had a stroke, and when he had a stroke I became very nervous about his health and his abilities. When you start a project like this, it's physically demanding, and I said, 'Man, I don't know if he can do this.'"
It took between six to nine months of therapy before Steinman was even able to play the piano again. Then lawyers for both parties got involved and the aforementioned lawsuits were filed, but by July of last year, Steinman was once again involved with the project, providing feedback as tracks went to the mixing stage. Now, Meat Loaf says Steinman will always be a part of the Bat out of Hell legacy.
"The music is extreme, and it deals with extreme situations in people's lives," he says. "It's the emotional peaks and valleys in people's lives when they're at their most vulnerable. Jim Steinman is very clever about dealing with those emotional peaks and valleys."
Though it didn't exactly rocket up the charts, the reviews for the third Bat out of Hell album were actually better than the first two, says Meat Loaf, who was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in 2003. In the years since, he admits he's found it difficult to maintain the level of intensity he was once known for.
"We were doing vocals on the record, and it was very demanding, and I was getting frustrated because there were things I couldn't do," he says. "I didn't want to cheat it ... I hate that, that's a terrible route to take, so I went to a vocal coach."
That same coach has helped Meat Loaf reach a point where he's "almost" over his fear of singing on TV, a strange admission from a guy who got his start in an off-Broadway version of Hair, before going on to memorable roles in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fight Club, and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.
But despite his theatrical background, Meat Loaf insists there's a big difference between what he does and those who go over the top.
"I don't do theatrics," he says. "I don't do fire and KISS and motorcycles onstage and I never have. If you deal with the theatre with me, it's emotional theatre ... I deal with the emotions of a song and the characters of a song, and I deal with that honestly."