Original Album Classics

... unfortunately that's here.After the heights of Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf's health and comrade in arms (Jim Steinman) left him to his own devices [for a while] and that's what we have here. Meat's years in the wilderness gathered together and packaged at a bargain price.Meat Loaf without Steinman is like meatloaf without gravy, its only so-so, it's not the real deal, the quality control is gone and these are all a bit Bat-Out-of-Hell-by-numbers with some real clunkers thrown in for good measure.So, album by album:... "Dead Ringer", may have been a hit in its day but it never reaches the heights of Bat Out of Hell, even the big tracks are small by comparison and the mix sounds a bit muddy; 3 stars.... "Midnight at the Lost & Found", not exciting and contains what is possibly the worst ever cover of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land "that succeeds in making Meat Loaf sound like the Brotherhood of Man; 2 stars... "Bad Attitude", not bad, by comparison with the other discs in this set, 3 stars... "Blind Before I Stop", the point at which this set reaches it's nadir, BBIS is just sooo eighties, its stuffed with electronica and makes Meat Loaf sound like Hall and Oates, 1 star... "Live at Wembley", Okish, 3 starsDon't let the bargain price tempt you, it's not worth the disappointment. You have been warned …

Great value CDs, if you like Meat Loaf just buy it. Wou won't be disappointed.

Meatloaf gives it his best but let down by the songwriting. Not to the standard of bat out of he'll.

Excellent collection of albums and great value

I love these albums. Several for the price of one! Brilliant Meatloaf! One live one. Great value. Arrived quickly. In mint condition! Bargain!

Firstly, none of the albums contained within the box-set have been digitally re-mastered, I’m guessing because Epic are releasing all of Meat Loaf’s 80’s studio albums re-mastered, they are off loading the old CDs in this boxset.As for the music, the strongest album of the set is “Dead Ringer”, full of swiping epic tracks with both feet firmly set in the 1970’s. I wonder if the reason it wasn’t a hit is because there are no anthems on the record such as “I’d do anything for…” or “Bat out of Hell”, but still a near perfect listening experience.There is a great diversity with the other three studio albums, mixing 80’s rock, pop, gospel & hair metal (perhaps because his records were not selling particularly well, the record company kept on trying to constantly re-invent meat loaf’s sound).The set is finished off with the excellent “Live at Wembley”, Meat was still playing small clubs in America at the time, so I think he really relishes playing to a large crowds, experimenting with the arrangements of the songs instead of just going through the motions.I would usually at this point say you’re save yourself a bit of money by purchasing this boxset, but because of the sound quality (the sounds not bad, but it should be a lot better) I would advise getting the albums individually.

Fantastic value for the price 5 cds for the price you would pay for 1 cd

To listen to the meatloaf cd