Not many albums can open with an eight minute opus and still keep the average listener's interest. Most albums that begin with an epic don't crank out a handful of smash hits that are still played today. The only thing Bat Out of Hell has going against it is the fact that, at times, it becomes a little bit too huge for its own good. The only thing that keeps the album from collapsing in on itself is the work of vocalist Michael "Meat Loaf" Adday and the arrangements of Todd Rundgren.
From the motorcycle gurgles on the title track to the rollicking and rocking riffage that covers "All Dressed Up With No Place To Go," Todd Rundgren is Bat Out of Hell's unsung hero. His playing saves Bat Out of Hell from being too dramatic and overblown. Rundgren manages to evoke a quirkiness in his playing which also gives this album something that other Meat Loaf albums desperately need: a sense of humor. This humor translates to the vocal department as well. "Loaf" spits, mumbles and sneers his way through several lyrics. He sounds like he's aware of how ridiculous it is for him to sing "And now my faded levis are bursting apart," on the closing ballad "For Crying Out Loud" and yet he doesn't care because he still believes in what he's singing. In his other work, Meat Loaf stares you dead in the eye and begs you to love him, here he is daring you not to.
Though Adday was a classically-trained singer who, by the time Bat Out of Hell was released, had performed on Broadway... he is not the star of this album. Though his name adorns the cover, it is Jim Steinman's gift for bombastic melodicism that made Bat Out of Hell one of the few albums to stay on the top 100 for more than 85 weeks.
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