Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose

To paraphrase Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Meat Loaf is big — it's rock & roll that got smaller. Even with grandiosity back in fashion (the Killers, My Chemical Romance), you can bet that this Texas-bred,Broadway-on-steroids rock Pavarotti's voice and sensibility will still be too ginormous for the cool part of the room. But there are moments on Bat Out of Hell III to convince even die-hard minimalists that behemoth is better. ''Blind as a Bat,'' for one, single-handedly redeems the powerballad, with Meat Loaf delivering his most impassioned vocals since the original Bat in 1977, skillfully crescendoing from feminine quiver to full Opera Boy blast. Armed with a great forgiveness-begging chorus(''Your love is blind, blind as a bat/Your heart is kind, mine's painted black''), Meat Loaf doesn't just aim at the back row; he goes for — and hits — back rows three states away.

Tina Turner - All The Best

review: Every once in awhile the opportunity arises to take a closer look at an artist whose music has stood the test of time, someone who is still going strong and has struggled through gutters of hardships and soared on the wings of success. At the same time you may not be completely qualified to objectively look at this person's body of work. When that happens you bring in reinforcements.
The artist in question is Tina Turner who has recently released a two disk career retrospective entitled "All the Best." I didn't want to pass up the chance to actually listen to the collection, but at the same time, I know next to nothing about her music and it is not an area of music to which I listen to very often. I can say that I will always enjoy her portrayal of Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. But her music is another story. Enter my parents, you know, the reinforcements I mentioned earlier. They are not critics, nor music historians, but they know what they like and they like Tina, and have graciously agreed to help me take a look at this collection. So without further adieu, let us take a family view of "All the Best" of Tina Turner. First I would be remiss if I didn't give the disks a spin to offer my words in regards to the collection.