Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose [2006]
Truth be told, once Meat Loaf had a blockbuster with Bat Out of Hell in 1977, he never really left the bombastic sound of that Todd Rundgren-produced, Jim Steinman-written classic behind. He went through a long stretch where he didn’t have any hits — it’s popularly known as the ’80s — but he kept reworking the album, never quite getting it right until he reteamed with Steinman for 1993’s Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, which became a surprise international hit, re-establishing Meat Loaf as a major star. After that record, he never went away, continuing to record, tour, and act, but nothing quite matched the success of either Bat Out of Hell, so it made perfect sense for Meat to go back to the Bat well a third time in the mid-2000s — over 12 years since the second Bat and nearly 30 years on from the first. But there was a hitch in his well-laid plan: Steinman didn’t want to participate. This was a problem, Read more
Jennifer Lopez - Brave [2007]
Brave follows Como Ama una Mujer, Jennifer Lopez’s first Spanish-language album, by a matter of seven months — a quick follow-up by any measure, but perhaps one that reflects the lack of buzz Como created. On paper, Brave should be the polar opposite of its immediate predecessor — it’s in English where the other was in Spanish, that album was moody and dramatic, this is light and peppy — but despite these superficial differences, the two albums have a number of similarities, chief among them that they are the work of a woman settled and happy in her marriage. Jennifer kicks off the album with “Stay Together,” an anthem of monogamy where she declares that heartbreak and dating are so passé, that toughing it out is the new trend, and the rest of the record kind of plays off that theme, as nights out on the town are traded for cozy nights Read more
Sixx: A.M. - The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack [SOUNDTRACK] [2007]
Now, this is an interesting album! Designed as a companion piece to Mötley Crüe bassist/songwriter Nikki Sixx’s autobiography, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack — based on journals he kept during the peak of his drug abuse in the ’80s, now supplemented by commentary by his friends and the man himself — is a genuinely odd and oddly moving record, a weird pileup of pained spoken word diary entries, operatic metal, L.A. sleaze, grimy electro-industrial beats, the stray power ballad, and circus music, all delivered by Sixx’s new band, Sixx: A.M., which is fronted by vocalist James Michael, who also produced and wrote the album with Sixx. Musically, this album exists out of time — it certainly doesn’t sound like a throwback to the Crüe and, despite the echoes of She Wants Revenge on “Pray for Me,” it doesn’t sound modern, either. In that sense, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack is the product of a true, distinctive artistic vision Read more
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