|
Bat Out of Hell, Dead
Ringer, Bad Attitude, and Bat Out of Hell II were all
punctuated by wonderful fantasy cover art (BOOH2 had other fantasy pics in
the booklet, too). With the record label reportedly pushing Meat Loaf for
a Bat Out of Hell III, I suspect Meat was more interested in not
falling into a cheap marketing ploy, and thus the theme to Welcome to
the Neighborhood is anything but fantasy.
That isn't to say that fantasy art and a BOOH3
title would have changed Meat's style; but I think he didn't want to be
seen as stooping to marketing tactics just to sell CDs. The theme of WTTN
is 1950s adventure, reflected in the busty, scantily-clad woman on the
cover and the hard-jawed, steely-eyed "private eye" type seen within, the
faux "detective dime novels" appearing with each song's lyrics, and
of course the photos of Meat dressed for the theme and behind the wheel of
a car to match.
Jim Steinman's pen makes only two
appearances here, with "Original Sin" (first appearing on his own album of
the same name) and "Left in the Dark Again." A songwriter named Diane
Warren contributed much here. As a rock and roll bonus, the
guitar-whipping tune "Amnesty is Granted" was written by the one and only
Sammy Hagar--who also sings with Meat, co-produced the song, and lends his
instrumental skills in the top-notch way one would expect from such a rock
icon. |
