Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, I give this 3 1/2 stars. They don't have a half-star option.
This is a documentary about the rehearsal stages and first several shows of a Meat Loaf tour through Canada to promote Bat Out Of Hell 3. The case is VERY misleading, as it lets you think you are going to see a full concert and even lists songs in the setlist of the concert as if you're going to see them. YOU WILL NOT SEE A WHOLE SONG. YOU WILL SEE SNIPPETS OF SONGS. The majority of the footage is Meat dealing with the various details of tour. There's quite a bit of attention paid to the Paradise On The Dashboard light controversy: the alleged indecency of him performing the number with Aspen Miller due to her perceived age. (She was 28 at the time of filming/touring.) Maybe even too much time is devoted to this. It honestly felt like this was the theme of the entire documentary.
We also see pieces of Meat's rituals before a show, and it shows the extreme level of perfection he demands from his crew, but mostly from himself. He is hardest on himself and never seems satisfied. This isn't the usual Rock Star ego trip, he continues to push himself to be better, louder, faster, and the best. He does so at a toll on his health, and we repeatedly see him pass out after shows.
I would recommend this to hardcore Meat Loaf fans, but casual fans or someone expecting to see a full or at least partial concert could easily come away disappointed.

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Actor, performer, and multi-platinum rock icon Meat Loaf reveals surprising shades of himself - and a fertile creative mind in constant flux - in this intimate and highly entertaining theatrical feature documentary that was celebrated as an official selection of the 2007 Montreal World Film Festival. The time is early 2007, one of the most stressful in Meat Loaf's career, when he is about to launch his most ambitious tour ever: an 18 month long marathon to support Bat Out Of Hell III, the final album of the legendary Bat Out Of Hell trilogy. His exhausting, and often poignant, journey takes him from rehearsals in Burbank, California through the first leg of his tour through Canada. Along the way, an unexpected media controversy erupts over the staging of one of his songs - a controversy that raises questions about his art and its ability to mature and transcend as it traverses multiple generations - bringing into focus the drive (and demons) that have fueled his over-the-top stage persona for almost 40 years.

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Meat Loaf - Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Review

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(More customer reviews)A high energy performance in 2004 in Australia. Overall, this is a must see for Meat Loaf fans and recommended for those who have never heard of him. This is Meat Loaf's best dvd by far. This one is a keeper. The encore performance of "Bat Out of Hell" is spectacular.....

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LIVE WITH THE MELBOURNE SYMPHONY ORCH - 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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BAT OUT OF HELL:ORIGINAL TOUR - DVD Movie

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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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