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Meat Loaf - Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose

'Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loos'e is an album by Meat Loaf; the third in the 'Bat out of Hell' series.

It was released nearly thirty years after the first album (1977), and thirteen after 'Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell' (1993). The album was released in Europe on 20 October (in the UK on 23 October), and was released in the US on Halloween (October 31).

It is produced by Desmond Child, and contains songs written by Diane Warren, James Michael, Desmond Child, Nikki Sixx, John 5, Marti Frederiksen, Elena Casals, Jim Steinman, and several other songwriters. The following people have done vocal and/or instrumental work on the album: Todd Rundgren, Marion Raven, Jennifer Hudson, Patti Russo, Brian May, John Shanks, Steve Vai, and others.

A tour will follow the release featuring songs from this album and previous Meat Loaf albums.

The title song, 'The Monster is Loose' leaked over the internet several months ago; a long time before its release. It is available for download on Meat Loaf's MySpace, and his official site.

Meat Loaf provides lead vocals on all tracks. Some tracks feature guest performances, vocal or instrumental, from various artists who are not members of the core band.

All of the Steinman songs were written for other projects. Like Bat II, the album contains two songs that originally appeared on Original Sin, Steinman's 1989 concept album with Pandora's Box. Other Steinman songs were written for the unrealised Batman: The Musical project.

Amazon.co.uk had listed the UK release as including an extra track named 'Echo/Heaven Can Wait'. However, this was not included on the final release.

A 'limited edition' was released with an accompanying DVD, containing a short 'making of' featurette, the animated trailer, and "The Monster is Loose" career montage video. The US version also includes a photo gallery and the 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' video.

Best Buy's version of the album came with an exclusive bonus track: a live version of 'Testify' (the original version is on Couldn't Have Said It Better). This track was originally announced to be on the CD itself, but Best Buy opted to include an insert in the packaging giving customers a code to download the song. Circuit City's version came with an exclusive downloadable track: a live version of 'Life is a Lemon (and I Want My Money Back).' Target released a 'Limited Tour Edition' with a concert ticket pre-sale offer. Wal Mart released the album as part of an exclusive 2-pack with the "Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell Classic Albums DVD".

The version of the album available from Apple's iTunes store includes two bonus tracks; a live version of "I Would Do Anything for Love", recorded at a concert in Australia, and 'Heads Will Roll', sung by Marion Raven.

During the concerts in his last tour, Hair Of The Dog Tour, he made a point to mention that he and Jim Steinman were putting out a new album, due in September 2006. Work had begun and, as of November 2005, Desmond Child has been producing. Meat Loaf had originally announced that Michael Beinhorn was producing the record, but this was later changed.

At a 2005 concert in Jones Beach, NY, Meat Loaf sang a song called 'Only When I Feel', which he credited to Steinman, to appear on an album matching this title. Also, in a concert in Durham, NH, he attributed this number to 'Jim' and stated he would be working with 'Jim' on the new album. Meat Loaf is not recording that song, whose full title is '(It Hurts) Only When I Feel'. The song will be released by The Dream Engine. However, part of the song '(It Hurts) Only When I Feel' was previously released as a song called 'If It Ain't Broke (Break It)'. That song, performed by Mike Vogel, was released on the soundtrack CD for the MTV movie Wuthering Heights in 2003.

The announcement that Steinman will not be working on the album more has caused an uproar among fans who have come to expect from the previous albums in the series that Steinman would be the sole composer, as well as producer and arranger.

In another BBC Radio 2 interview, Meat Loaf confirmed that legal conflict with Steinman had ended. The website for Steinman's group 'The Dream Engine' says, that "Jim IS NOT involved in the recording of Bat Out of Hell 3, other than the fact that Meat Loaf is covering and recording some of his songs." Despite the fact that Steinman has not worked on the recording or production at all, the album does include seven songs that are written by Jim Steinman, five of which are covers of previously released songs.

The UK CD release was stickered with the additional text 'Featuring Words and Music by Jim Steinman' even though the album cover states 'Songs by Jim Steinman and Desmond Child'. The CD liner contains a dedication "For thirty years of friendship and inspiration, Bat Out Of Hell III is dedicated to Jim Steinman".