Meat Loaf - Cry Over Me (Mercury)
By: Alex Lee Thomson
The mother of all guilty pleasures has and always will be the power ballad. They're indulgently over the top, massively fun and always have an epic catch that hooks you in; and the daddy of the power ballad is, of course, Meat Loaf.
His 'Bat Out Of Hell' album practically invented the genre, and has since been a staple part of rock 101 with the title track becoming the greatest karaoke romp known to man. What's more, he followed up songs like 'Dead Ringer' and 'Two Out Of Three' with equally as well received material from his 'Bat II' LP, a record that featured among other 90s rock operatic stampedes the humungous 'I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Wont Do That)'...
Cut to several years later and his third instalment of the Bat trilogy, the ingeniously titled 'Bat Out Of Hell III', winds its way into record stores complete with new single 'Cry Over Me'. It's a rather plastic donation of rock and his over use of the word 'baby' is certainly not lost, but as the track falls through some four odd minutes of extravagant semi-power-ballad-like action, you descend back into the enchantment that Meat Loaf has. It's not about the lyrics, or even the music, it never has been... it's about the vocals.
Meat Loaf has one of the most amazing rock voices in the world and although you have to faintly cringe at the fundamental composition of this song, it's the hulking and often heart wrenching vocals that make it worth every second. Meat's (HAH! What a name...) voice is still glowing and although the song and album wont cull the cynics, it's a courteous mid life piece from one dynamo of a rock legend who has made himself into the cool granddad of rock n roll. Whether it's his bitch tits in Fight Club or the fact we still love to this very day every bar of 'Bat Out Of Hell', there's something about the Loaf that we just cant shake out of our heads. Give this video a watch and bask in the immortal rollercoaster vocal genius of Hells best-loved performer. Rev those motorbikes...