Search - Meat Loaf :: Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell (Deluxe Edition)

Patti D. from OLD FORGE, NY
Reviewed on 11/2/2011...

This is the third time I have gotten this CD. I play it so much I wear it out. Love the CD, love his music. Definitely a must have for my collection, it goes on every road trip I take!

Deluxe? You call this "Deluxe"?

S. Hansen | Boston Burbs, MA | 06/25/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Regardless of your opinion of the album "Bat Out Of Hell 2: Back Into Hell",(I happened to enjoy it a lot!) this "Deluxe Edition" is ridiculous. Most, if not all, of the tracks on the second CD have long been available on promotional singles. These promo singles were produced in such large quantities that they found their way into used CD stores everywhere, never becoming rarities. Most of these tracks aren't even remixes, but rather edits. So, on this bonus CD, you don't get more, you get less of each track. This is one of the most padded and useless "Deluxe" reissues that I've seen in some time. There were rumours that this reissue was going to be cancelled, which would have made sense, but evidently they're going ahead with it. If you have the original CD, save yourself the added expense of acquiring this little extra bit of fluff. 4 stars for the original album itself, 0 stars for the second CD, for an overall 2 stars."

Worth getting just for the remastered sound.

Kevin H. Dudley | Roanoke, VA (USA) | 05/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While I realize that the 1st Bat out of Hell album is regarded more highly than the 2nd album, Bat out of Hell 2: Back into Hell will always be my personal favorite of the 2 as well as my favorite Meat Loaf album of all time.



Origianlly released in 1993, this release put Meat Loaf back on top of the music world after a massive slump (especially here in the states) during the 80's in which most people had forgotten about him and written him off as a has been or a one album wonder.



Composer Jim Steinman (who also arranged everything) took over production duties on this album and it is just pure unadulterated Steinman. This is what Steinman's 1980 solo album Bad to be Good (which was supposed to be the true followup to Bat out of Hell) might have been like in terms of quality if Meat Loaf hadn't gotten strung out on drugs and lost his singing voice for a short time.



I can't really say much more positive about this album that people haven't already done on the multitude of reviews for the regular CD. Truly great music and it never fails to get me in a good mood when listening to it as well, which I can't say that about a lot of music. While the songs are very long at times, they never outstay their welcome.



Anyway, the main purpose of my review is to review the 2002 reissue (or deluxe edition) of the 1993 album.



While I had had the original 1993 CD since it came out, I was always a bit let down by the mastering job on the CD. The overall volume could have been done a bit higher and the album just lacked a certain punch in terms of the overall audio at times. This is especially surprising since by 1993 pretty much CD had completely taken over by that point and people had figured out how to properly master stuff for CD audio as well. The CD didn't sound bad per se, but it could've been done better at the same time.



This 2002 deluxe edition fixes all of the mastering issues I had by doing a 24 bit digital remastering of the album. All I can say is that my jaw was on the floor as to how much better the album sounds now. In fact, it finally sounds perfect!



the overall volume level now maxes out without having any digital clipping issues and the overall sound just sounds more vibrant with more clarity between all of the instruments/vocal parts. There is more punch to the low end as well without the mix being altered. Basically, this album now sounds absolutely perfect and this is the way the CD should have been mastered in the first place.



The 2nd CD is pretty much pointless and redundant as it just feautres edited single versions of album tracks along with some remixes. No live cuts are present which should have been included as well. I guess this is cool from a historical/completist viewpoint, but no one will ever listen to Disc 2 for the most part.



But I bought this mainly due to the remastered sound and in that respect I wasn't disappoitned. If you are an audiophile and like to have the absolute best sounding version of your favorite albums (or classic releases like this), then you owe it to yourself to upgrade to this deluxe edition if you are as big of a fan of Bat out of Hell 2 as I am.



Highly recommended!"