Streets of Fire (1984) Review

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(More customer reviews)This film bombed with reviewers and at the box office when it came out -- but I loved it! And its soundtrack remains one of my favorite lps/CDs.
It's a weird tale of a biker gang leader (William DaFoe) who kidnaps a rock singer (Diane Lane). Her nebbish manager (Rick Moranis) hires her ex-soldier/ex-boyfired (Michael Pare) to rescue her. He hires a sidekick, ex-soldier Amy Madigan.
What makes this film so weird is -- you wonder WHEN it's taking place. It's full of anachronisms. The art direction looks 1950s (the malt shop, some of the costumes, the old police squad cars, the teletype). Yet you have female soldiers, and an integrated police force. And the biker gang leader looks like he's dressed for an S&M leather party, in a black leather farmer's overall bid. Very strange.
The dialog is also strange. Very stylized -- to the point of parody. Women are "skirts." Everyone's sarcastic, snarling zingers at each other. Even the bit players. The film feels like everyone in town, from street punks to cops to young girls, is a badass with a bad attitude. And half the zingers seem to end in fights. Very very strange.
The subtitle is: A Rock & Roll Fable -- whatever that means. Don't try to understand this film. Just let it wash over you. You're in a strange netherworld. Accept it, and you'll enjoy the ride. Especially if you like the music...
Some of the music written by Jim Steinman -- if you thrill to the bombastic sounds of Bonnie Tyler and Meat Love, you'll love this soundtrack. There's also a song written by Stevie Nicks, sung by Marylin Martin -- who sounds exactly like Stevie Nicks.
The sort of bizarre film where many will gawk and wonder: What were they thinking? Others will emrace it with the love that cult films attract. I did.

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STREETS OF FIRE - DVD Movie

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Bat Out of Hell The Original Tour UK/US (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)From June of 1978 comes this German television special that captures one of the original Bat Out of Hell tour concerts. The album was just exploding into its cult status at the time and everyone's very young and energetic.
THE GOOD: Well, it's a good view of a period of live Meat Loaf that hasn't been widely seen before. This is the tour where he started to destroy his voice, but he hasn't done it quite yet (though he does struggle with the high notes due to his reckless vocals). The result is a young, powerful voice that hits a lot of good notes. During his performance of "Heaven Can Wait," Meat pulls a Patti Labelle and finishes the song without a microphone emphasizing the size of his voice. Karla DeVito is gloriously fun as Meat's first rock chick. Rory Dodd doesn't really stand out, but it's great to see and hear him performing live. And of course, seeing Jim Steinman live and on stage is a tickle. The German TV interview offers an interesting look at Jim and Meat's early relationship (especially in contrast to what it later became).
THE BAD: The video isn't atrocious, but it sure isn't great. It's about as good as it can be considering its 1-inch videotape roots I suppose, but that isn't saying much. The audio mixing is a complete mess. The drums are trebled, forward, and really quite grinding. Everything else just mushes together into a poorly defined single-layer mess that's entirely too thin for the type of music. The camerawork and lighting are uniformly horrid. This band cannot hold a candle to the Neverland Express that Meat constructed years later. The German interviewer doesn't speak much English and seems absolutely clueless as to what he's doing.
THE CONFUSING: Amazon seems to be fixing how this product is advertised compared to what you actually get, but it was (at least originally) posted as including "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Johnny B. Goode" which are certainly not on the North American disc. Amazon listed this as containing a DTS audio track which is not true; there is only a Dolby Stereo track. And Amazon listed the run-time as 105 minutes, but it is actually only 74 minutes of concert. Amazon's mistakes don't affect my rating but are here just as an FYI.
THE VERDICT: This one's very middle-of-the-road for me. As a historical record, it's interesting. As an opportunity to hear Meat's voice pre-destruction, it's a valuable point of interest for die-hard fans. As a concert video, there's no way you'd reach for this audio mess when you could pop in Meat's "3 Bats" DVD. For the fan, the DVD is dirt cheap and probably a decent buy. For the curious onlooker, I'd advise looking at the more sonically and visually stunning Meat concerts. Ultimately, 2½ stars out of 5 for me.

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MEATLOAF HITS OUT OF HELL DVD BRAND NEW (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)This DVD rocks. I received it as a birthday. It gives you 3 music videos and some live videos, but the audio is studio recorded. Meat Loaf's passion is amazing! Really observe each line when he sings into the camera. The songs you hear from BAT OUT OF HELL (4 of them) were recorded on a 30x30 feet platform approx, and it all fits. Each musician is so passionate. Thats what the music and artist is about, passion and theatrics.
The song from DEAD RINGER, an underrated Meat Loaf album, capture a very similar idea... different place, and more theatric again.
The music videos are different... More Than You Deserve is really Soap Opera-ish. Taking place in a trucker restraunt, little bit of sweet acting through out and near the end we hear Meat speak to the little lady behind the counter... pretty good, even if not a hardcore rock song. more of a ballad, and a killer one.
Razor's Edge, one of the first songs Meat sing not written by Steinman. A really good song, especially live. The video is really weird, but good weird. Its like government goes into your mind or something. I can't really put my finger on it, its like a mini mini movie. the other video IF YOU REALLY WANT TOO, a nicely written track, about this girl whose seducing all these young men in the town. kind of like a dark 80's video... not too dark, almost like a classic vampyric story ;o)
*hint hint*
**If You Really Want Too** and ** Razor's Edge** come from a very lesser known and really good Meat Loaf album "Midnight at the Lost and Found"
-only problem, is the vocals... but its good.
i gave this a four cause its amazing, but it misses some really rare music videos, and the sound quality is great, but i'd like to hear some booming stuff. afterall this came from a 1992 VHS tape released just before Meat Loaf's (to the record company) come back record "BAT OUT OF HELL 2" i hope to see a dvd in future with all the music videos and other stuff, but for now, there's this hit. i urge any music fan to buy this and\or the new dvd! Live with melbourne symphony orchestra

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