News & Updates

On September 29th, 2011 Meat Loaf's latest album Hell in a Handbasket was released in Australia and New Zealand. The European release is planned for next monday, which means it's for sale today. (If you're in the US, you'll have to wait until March 13th.)

Since there are some differences with the Australian edition, I got myself a copy, just like a good fan boy would. And just like a good web master I pretend to be, I got busy, and now all the Hell in a Handbasket page is updated.

Oh, and yes, there will be a review of the album in due time.

Remember those musicals that got dug up some months ago? Well, I finally got round to adding pages for the The Dream Engine and More Than You Deserve audition tapes.

Most of the songs on the The Dream Engine audition tape are known from the live recording. The only 'new' track is "You've Got to Love Me with the Sun in Your Eyes Until the Day That You Go Blind".

The More Than You Deserve tape contains more previously unheard material, including songs from Jim's score for The Good Woman of Szechuan . "Song of the Golden Egg" and "Souvenirs" are pretty rad.

If you want to hear these tapes, see my previous post. Meanwhile, recordings of the two final performances of More Than You Deserve came to light. You can find links to those on The Rockman Record

Finally, I went to Seinäjoki, Finland to see Tanz der Vampire. I posted a review on my weblog. There's a post on the the novel Whistle Down the Wind there as well.

On September 29th, Meat Loaf's latest album Hell in a Handbasket has been released in Australia and New Zealand. (Which is quite a quick turnover, just 18 months behind Hang Cool Teddy Bear.)

Like a good boy, I pre-ordered a copy, and it arrived yesterday. Like a good web master, I got busy, and now all the Hell in a Handbasket lyrics are up.

I'll review the album in due time.

Over the last few months I've acquired some missing singles and additional versions. Highlights include:

• Two Ellen Foley singles: Young Lust (which seems to be undocumented in the most comprehensive Ellen Foley discography on the web) and Johnny and Mary, which completes the trilogy of singles from the Another Breath album.
• An acetate for Pandora's Box It's All Coming Back To Me Now single, which includes an edit I hadn't heard before and A Teenager in Love. In addition to another IACBTMN promo, a promo for "Safe Sex", a cassette promo for the Original Sin album and a spiffy poster which I'm trying to work into the Pandora's Box page, I think I'm nearly done with that part of the collection. I don't know if there's much more out there to search for.
• Three promo singles were issued for Whistle Down the Wind, and I got two of 'em. The third is a one-track promo for Tina Arena's version of the title track, and I can live without that.
• Until recently, I didn't know there were 12″ maxi-singles of "I'd Do Anything for Love" and "I'd Lie for You". I managed to track down copies of both, and the first has arrived.

Meat Loaf's upcoming album Hell in a Handbasket will be released in Australia and New Zealand on September 29th. The first single, All of Me is out now. But only if you can access the Australian iTunes store. Which is still as stupid as a couple of months ago, when I posted this little rant on selling music on the internet.

Also, I've added pages for the Everything Louder Tour and Monsters of Rock 1983 programmes to the tour programmes section.

This is a quick update, not the one I promised last time. I've added a few tour programs, and updated the rest a bit. Eventually, when they're all done, I'll start up the scanner for some images. (By the way, if someone has got a spare copy of the Hang Cool Tour Program… I'm looking for one.)

Update: all done. For now.

Earlier this year, a very fine gentleman nicknamed bellminer—who is incidentally also behind the excellent Dream Pollution YouTube channel—liberated several demo and audition tapes from the archives of the New York Public Library. For this update, I tackled the demos.

• The Dream Machine contains outtakes from The Dream Engine, including two versions of a 'new' song, "Train of Love" and the Bette Midler demo of "Heaven Can Wait";
• Kid Champion from 1975, includes a lengthy instrumental with familiar bits, an completly different arrangement of "For Crying Out Loud" and the previously unheared song "Yogi";
• Phantom of the Paradise is a 1989 compilation of previously released material, demos and outtakes.

In case you wonder where you can get all this, check out these links while they still work: Dream Machine, Kid Champion, Phantom of the Paradise, More Than You Deserve and The Dream Engine auditions. Higher quality FLAC files are also available.

Up next: The Dream Engine and More Than You Deserve audition tapes.

Good grief. This is one long overdue update, and it isn't quite complete either. This is just an update of the Meat Loaf section. Apart from restructuring the index page, I've added pages for the Collectors Edition of Welcome to the Neighbourhood and Team Backbone's Stand in the Storm, Meat's benefit single for Painted Turtle with John Rich, Lil Jon and Mark McGrath. There's also a couple of new promos listed for "I'd Lie for You", "Not a Dry Eye in the House", "A Kiss is a Terrible Thing to Waste" and "Blind as a Bat."

In the next update, which I really should start working on again, there'll be some really old school Jim Steinman musicals.

I've just finished another batch of tour programs.

More tour programs: I've added those of the '82 Euro tour, the 2001 Night of the Proms tour and the Three Bats Tour. I've also updated the other two. It remains funny how in one MatL&F is the best thing since sliced bread, and a couple years later it's nothing more than a 'joke'.

Another addition is a 1981 press release whose transcript was on my hard disc for ages. Coincidentally, it doubles at the opening essay in the '82 program. Spot the differences!

Let me start by wishing you all the best in the new year. Last year has been a very good one for this website, and I'll offer up some statistics later on.

I've added some details on the 'tour edition' of Hang Cool Teddy Bear, which was given out at mr. Loaf's recent concerts in the UK. Also, I'm starting to add the articles from the various tour programs I've collected.

Also, it should be noted that there will be dancing vampires in Finland.