Speaking of Karla, I added two pages for those two songs I ‘found’ some mp3s of: first there’s We Are Not Alone from the "The Breakfast Club" soundtrack, and secondly, there’s this song called Gimme the Word, a duet with Paul Anka from his 1983 album ‘Walk a Fine Line’. The only regular single I found is Money Can’t Buy Love, the only single released from her second album. Finally, I obtained three promos from the "Is This a Cool World or What" era. The first is Just Like You, the second Midnight Confession and finally I got the Karla DeVito sampler.
On the Still The Children page, I made a Elaine Caswell section. After I obtained a copy of the Happy Ending single, I had some sort of dilemma, as I couldn’t put that on Ellen’s page, as she isn’t featured on that track.
And then there’s Patti. She performed her song Bring Me a Bible and a Beer on Meat Loaf’s ‘Casa de Carne tour’ (of which I will speak no more). Rumours had it that she’d release an album in October, but it looks like it might take a while longer. So, in the mean time, the only way to legally obtain some of her songs are either through iTunes or some (US-only) store called SnoCap which seems to be tied to MySpace. I don’t do iTunes, but after some poking around, I was able to get through that SnoCap business. So now I have a Legal Downloads page.
On a final note, I’ve also tweaked the website a fair bit.
posted 2008-10-28
Other Children
One you get a pretty complete collection, things tend to slow down. You might have noticed.
Now, this update. It’s a minor one. Both Ellen Foley and Elaine Caswell can be heard on Joe Jackson’s 1984 album Body and Soul. While Ellen only does background vocals on three tracks, Elaine can also be heard as featured vocalist on the song "Happy Ending". But as I don’t have a section for Elaine, I stuck the album in Ellen’s.
Also, as you might have heard, Meat Loaf is on tour again, and Patti Russo is back in the band. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to pimp her section. (And no, I don’t know how I got all that stuff either. Don’t ask.)
posted 2008-07-02
Anthem. Eight.
While, once again, a shipment mysteriously disappeared in mid air, another two items found their way here:
In 1989, a ‘all star’ girl group called Desolation Angels released one album called Anthem. Karla was one of the Angels, and sung two covers on the album.
In 1993, Bat II was released as a double LP in Zimbabwe. I got a copy (my eighth), and it sounds much, much better than the UK vinyl.
Also, I’m testing out some changes for IE. If anyone experiences any weirdness, drop me a line.
posted 2008-05-05
No Promises, No Debts
Back in 2003, Meat Loaf promised that he would play "For Crying Out Loud" during his next concert in The Netherlands. Two concerts later, he still hasn’t. Time for action.
posted 2008-04-24
Latest mini-haul
The companion release to Meat Loaf’s latest DVD, a one disc live album imaginatively dubbed 3 Bats Live is out now. Also, on a record fair I came across two singles I didn’t have yet: the unremixed version of Razor’s Edge and The Sisters of Mercy’s Dominion, which is co-produced by Jim.
posted 2008-04-16
Finally
My collection is complete again: 3 Bats Live. If one of those other two copies that "got lost" above the North Sea eventually turn up – not that I’m holding my breath – I’ll be overcomplete.
Rumor has it that a (single) CD version will be released late March.
posted 2008-02-25
Tanzing in Hungary
Today, a package from London did find my mailbox. So, I have now updated my Vámpírok Bálja page with the details of the CD. If someone who does know Hungarian traces any errors in my translation, drop me a line.
In other news, I have on good authority that the hole in my Meat Loaf collection due to some shipment that went AWOL somewhere over the North Sea should be filled soon.
posted 2008-01-22
Wake Up.
Karla’s second album, Wake ‘Em Up In Tokyo, still hasn’t been re-issued on CD. It’s a shame.
posted 2008-01-12
Is Karla coming to your house?
Today I received a copy of Karla DeVito’s 1982 Christmas single, Santa Claus is Coming to my House. If all goes well, I should have some info on her second album soonish.
In other news, my copy of the new Loaf DVD still has not arrived, and I am considering an international conspiracy. Also, the download page now has a news-feed.
Small update
In the quest to make this website even better, I’m trying out something new with the updates feed. Instead of maintaining a separate rss-feed, I am now marking up the news page with the hAtom-microformat. If all goes well, you should notice little or no change.
And after receiving Westlife’s Home singe – which did not include the promised Jim Steinman remix of "Total Eclipse" and will be returned to sender shortly – I have now enough information to create a page for the mp3.
I still haven’t received my copy of Meat Loaf’s Three Bats – Live from London… Ontario DVD, but I did add another version of the Anything for Love single to my collection, as well as a 1995 album sampler and the last missing version of Pandora’s Box All Coming Back single.
And what might warrant a repeat notice: I do have some downloads every now and then. Keep an eye on my weblogor the download page. I’m working on implementing something of a rss-feed for the downloads, but if people don’t even seem to use the rss-feed for this page, well, their loss. I won’t keep mentioning downloads forever.
posted 2007-11-02
Last update until the next one
A couple of weeks ago, I obtained a copy of Ellen Foley’s Spirit of St. Louis album. It looks like that both this album and Another Breath will be reissued on Wounded Bird Records late this month or early next month.
On the Meat Loaf front I got what I believe to be the final missing major piece: the Live at El Mocambo promo LP. Also I found the SACD version of Couldn’t Have Said It Better for a bargain, as well as the regular 12″ version of the Modern Girl single. The upcoming Three Bats – Live from London… Ontario DVD should be out mid October.
Some slight changes in the Steinman section. Moved some things around, and I added a page for the new and fantastic 10 Jahre Tanz der Vampire – Das Jubiläumskonzert album. Great stuff. What’s even better is that was in the audience on one of the days it was recorded.
On a final note, every now and then I might have some downloads up. Keep an eye on my weblogor the download page.
posted 2007-09-17
Holding out for an Update
Yes, I have moved, and yes, I have a working internet connection. So here’s the notification of the long overdue update. I haven’t kept a list of changes, so you’ll have to find them yourself. Mostly minor stuff.
posted 2007-08-06
A new beginning
I am about to move to a new apartment and with that, I am leaving my old ISP behind. Since my website used to be on one of their servers, I had to move that too. A move like this was going to happen anyway, so I just set the whole thing up, and moved it. A redesign and all that will follow eventually.
So forget the old website, ignore the bugs, and bookmark mljs.evilnickname.org. For those three people watching the RSS-feed, it should be redirecting to the new site.
As inaugural update, there are two new Meat Loaf additions: a one-track promo single of Blind as a Bat and the whole Cry Over Me collection.
In the Meat Loaf section, there are some new promos: one of "that" song and one of It’s all Coming Back To Me Now. I don’t think that that watermarked "Bat III" promo I picked up warrants a mention, but the advance promo of the album that turned out to be CHSIB does. Then I got some more 7- and 12-inch singles that were missing (including some I didn’t even know existed), and that’s about it.
posted 2007.04.30
Rejuvenation
That item I mententioned in the previous update has arrived. So have several others.
First, there is yet another version of Meat’s Rock and Roll Dreams single, this one including the unplugged version of Anything for Love. Then there’s this Life Is A Lemon promo I snatched from eBay at the last moment. With those two items, I think I’m (almost) done with collecting Bat II-related items. I might be missing some obscure promos, but I guess I’ll be focussing on other areas first.
Another addition is the Meat Loaf related John Parr single Magical. Meat co-wrote the song. I’ve had the mp3 for ages, and stumbled across this one eBay.
In 2002, Jim produced the song "Vittoria! (Aida 2002)" for the OperaBabes. That’s the easy part. The hard part is knowing where to find it. It was included on some versions of their debut album "Beyond Imagination", on some versions of the World Cup 2002 album (as it was supposedly England’s official theme–but it didn’t appear on the UK version) and as B-side to the "One Fine Day" single (and that song did appear on the UK version of the World Cup album). And that single is what I found.
Then there’s the afformentioned item: a couple of months ago, I won a retail copy of Jim Steinman’s Fire Inc.’s Nowhere Fast single. That probably got lost somewhere over the North Sea. But now I got another one. As far as I know there is no 12″ version, so that would mean that–as far as I’m concerned–my Fire Inc. collection is complete.
What I also added to the Jim Steinman page, are the details for both Nothing But a Merciless Night albums. In case you didn’t know, they’re tribute albums by the fans, for the Maestro.
Lastly, I’m still not done with the Meat Loaf bootleg section. And I’d probably need a Jim Steinman bootleg section to keep track of the various recordings of indeterminate origin of various projects. Stay tuned.
posted 2007.02.21
Resumption
Instead of waiting for the last item to arrive, I had a "what the hell" moment earlier tonight, and decided to go ahead and push out the update.
The other musical that got some updates is Whistle Down The Wind. After picking up a copy of Tina Arena’s Whistle single, I figured I might just as well add Boyzone’s No Matter What too. After all, that one has been lying around since ‘98.
In the Loaf department I recieved an additional version of the Nowhere Fast single, this time with a popup sleeve. Remind me to take a picture of that one. Also, I finally received my copy of Bat out of Hell III on red vinyl. And three days later, the copy I ordered at my local record store–and was subsequently cancelled–arrived too. (And no, you can’t have it, it’s already spoken for.)
On the Meat Loaf page, I changed some things around. The most structural is moving the Stoney and Meatloaf stuff to a separate subsection. There, I added the related Edwin Starr single, Who Is The Leader of the People. The song was first recorded in 1971 by Stoney and Meatloaf. When it didn’t make the final cut on album, they scrapped the lead vocals and put Starr’s in. Stoney and Meatloaf can be heard in the background, or so I’m told. A Meatloaf solo version can be heard on the album’s 1979 reissue.
From the bare essentials to the point where I’d call my Bonnie Tyler collection complete in little more than three months. After buying the Lovers Again single, all I’m missing are the less essential alternate formats. Like the 12″s of Band of Gold and the No Way To Treat A Lady. The 7″ picture disc of the Faster … single is nice too.
posted 2007.01.17
Reissue
The most notable updates this time are the just issued new "Collectors Edition" of Bat II and the "Special Edition" of Original Sin. Both include a DVD with the videos and some additional footage, Bat II includes a(nother) live version of Bat I (this time compiled from the Bat II singles), and the albums are remastered. The jury is still out on the quality of the remaster, but it looks like both albums have become victims of the loudness race.
Other updates include the 12″ versions of the "Good Girls Go To Heaven" and "Safe Sex (When It Comes 2 Loving U)" singles, Meat Loaf promo’s (another CHSIB and the Objects one) and the 7″ jukebox single of "Not A Dry Eye In The House", Taylor Dayne’s "Original Sin" single and 7″, and another promo of Mrs. Dion’s "It’s All Coming Back To Me Now".
posted 2006.12.27
Revision
There aren’t a lot of exciting updates this time. I’ve received a couple missing versions of stuff I already have (most notably the DVD single of Meat Loaf’s It’s All Coming Back To Me Now and the US version of Bad Attitude) and a upgrade: now I do have a copy of the Delta House promo single.
In a few weeks time Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is coming out, and it’s the first movie featuring Meat Loaf in a long time I’m willing to check out. The first six minutes, probably including all of mr. Loaf you’ll be seeing in the movie, is up at Youtube. Of course, there’s a transcription of the lyrics which will most likely be updated once the soundtrack is released.
Also, I’ve been tinkering with the layout a little, so the infoboxes should be looking a little better in IE. But please, do yourself a favor, and get a real browser.
posted 2006.11.07
Review
Nothing much is added to the website, apart from yet another version of the "Paradise…" single, one more version of mr. Loaf’s "It’s All Coming Back…" and, more importantly, the lowdown on the Bat III promo that was given out the the album launch parties.
Today Bat III was released in The Netherlands, and I got my copy of the CD/DVD combo. Hell, I even got a free litho (which is a very fancy way of saying they gave me a fancy poster). Still waiting for the LP version though. What I’m also still waiting for, are some of the other formats of the lead single. I do got the 7″ Picture Disc, and it looks sweet. Still not sure about the song. What I will be adding in the coming days, is an overview of the differences between my transcription of the lyrics, and the official ones. Those are up now, by the way.
Apart from that, I also got some additional singles by Bonny Tyler, and a single with dance-remixes of It’s All Coming Back To Me Now by Céline Dion. Which means that I now do have a copy of that song I’d rate below mr. Loaf’s take.
The release of Meat Loaf’s new album and single are coming closer. So no one should be surprised that both the album and the single leaked out. Meat decided to play the entire album on some radio station, and someone was kind enough to capture it. I immediately dug in to transcribe the lyrics. You can expect a review once the album is released.
Also, Patti Russo announced that she has left Meat’s band. I want to wish her much luck and success on her own.
A while ago, I wondered if Jim had anything to do with the B-sides of the singles he produced for Bonnie Tyler. As it turns out, he didn’t, except for "Under Suspicion", which is included on the cassette version of the "Secret Dreams…" album. Although they did only two albums together (and two songs on a third), all those songs got released on a single, one way or the other. Thank Zeus that I’m not that interested in the stuff she did without Jim! Some singles are still coming in, and the end is in sight.
Finally, I did (yet another) overhauled of the organization of the site. I moved the Bonnie stuff to its own page, moved some of the related artists to Jim’s page, leaving only the artists without a direct connection–like the solo things Ellen, Karla and Patti have done–in the "Still the Children" section.
Another thing I’ve added on (almost) every page are the details of the version(s) I have of each album or single. If you don’t see an infobar, it would probably mean that I don’t have a hard copy. Except in the case of the "Hits Out of Hell" video, which I loaned out to a friend three years ago, and he still hasn’t returned. Dappie, I say ‘crapdammit’! I’d also say that it does look better in Firefox then in IE, so get Firefox, crapdammit!
Browse around and check out the new stuff. To much is changed to list it here.
posted 2006.10.04
Some more singles
I just came back from Antwerp, where I found some more singles from Bonnie and Meat. On top of that, "Blind As a Bat", another song from Meat Loaf’s upcoming album "The Monster is Loose" (Bat III) got out of it’s cage early. Pudding has the file. I have the lyrics, or at least, I did make a quick stab at them. These pages are new:
With still a month and a half left until the release of Meat Loaf’s new single, It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, I can now tell you it will be released as both a CD- and DVD-single, as well as a limited edition 7″ picture disc. I’ve pre-ordered the 7″ (as well as the LP version of the album) and I’ll probably pick up the other formats on October 16th.
Two new songs from Batman: The Musical have been released via Jim’s blog. The Dream Engine now has a MySpace profile, where you can check out some songs and samples from their upcoming album.
I thought I got lucky with winning a (retail) copy of Fire Inc’s Nowhere Fast on eBay, but it seems to got lost somewhere over the North Sea. Total bummer.
As for what I did receive, you’ll have to track down several minor additions yourself, but these pages are totally fresh:
Imagine the bliss of having your Meat Loaf collection as complete as you want it to be. What would you do? Apparently, I go on hunting down stuff Jim Steinman was involved in. So a lot of updates in that area. More to come, with some new items coming in.
One of which has directly to do with Jim Steinman blogging and uploading songs from the shelved Batman musical. Welcome to the web Jimmy.
Meanwhile on the Meat Loaf related issues, due to a settlement with Jim, he’s able to call his next album Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. However, I’m sticking with The Monster is Loose since Some songs by Jim Steinman ≠ Bat Out Of Hell III (you can quote me on that). The most important update is most likely the mp3 of ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’ (radio edit) which, while it’s better than I expected, made me pick up a second hand copy of Mrs. Dion’s Falling Into You. The video isn’t bad either, but still.
Apart from moving the Fire Inc. stuff back to the Steinman page, the following pages have been added, updated and/or messed around with:
Another month, another update: The Monster is still Loose and new updates about the album keep coming in.
Also, the arrival of a copy of Stoney & Meatloaf’s "It Takes All Kinds Of People" means that I can cross the song "The Way You Do The Things You Do" from the list of songs I don’t have a hard-copy of from that list. Which leaves it empty ;-). Whooptido!
On the Steinman front, I’ve also just received a promotional copy of Fire Inc.’s "Nowhere Fast" single. So I’ve added a page for that single, and moved all of the Fire Inc. stuff to Related Artists.
posted 2006.06.04
The Monster Is Loose
Some days ago, Meat Loaf mentioned that one of the songs from his upcoming album has been leaked for real. That song is called "The Monster Is Loose" and can be found over on some filesharing-site.
At the same time, he also announced the title for his new album: "The Monster Is Loose: Bat Out Of Hell III". The tentative release date is October 31, 2006. In the wake of this announcement, more facts about this album showed up. I’ve collected the most relevant ones on a newly created page.
There is just one thing that I need to get off my chest: an album with Some songs by Jim Steinman ain’t no Bat.
posted 2006.05.19
Reboot
Maybe I’m a bit early with the CSS Reboot Spring 2006, but what the heck. Here it is, enjoy.
Instead of just do a visual make-over, I’ve also done some more structural work to the site architecture. Most of the ‘ego wanking’ pages have been merged, moved or removed. Personally, I’m quite happy with the result, and I hope you, my theoretical visitor, are too.
Most of the content should be in place, updated, re-aligned, spiffied up, and the like. The latest additions are Jim Steinman’s Lost Boys and Golden Girls single, Meat Loaf’s Surf’s Up 12″ white label promo, Bat Out Of Hell Live 7″ single, Getting Away With Murder 7″ single, and the promo issue of the 1973 More Than You Deserve single.
Happy new year to one and all. 2006 has all the potential of being a great Stein-year, with Tanz going to Tokyo and possibly Budapest, Bat Out Of Hell III and the new Steinman project The Dream Engine in the pipeline. We’ll have to wait and see.
Updates: Minor tweaks, and more significantly, Rude Awakening, with some comments by co-composer Rick Rose.
Added some pages, did some fixes, tweaked the style some more. Added a preliminary Bat Out Of Hell III; Last At Bat page to hold the lyrics to (It Hurts) Only When I Feel.
posted 2005.06.10
And one more
I’ve added some new pages here and there, streamlined some other parts, and refreshed the look on the whole site.
A (crappy sounding) bootleg of the "Over the Top: Songs By Jim Steinman" tribute showcase at Joe’s Pub in New York on January 30th or 31st 2005 made it’s way to the Internet. Two new songs were performed, and my attempt at transcribing the lyrics are up on Jimmy’s page.