The 51st State (5 Stars)

I've interrupted my series of true stories because of sad news that I heard today. The singer Meat Loaf, real name Marvin Lee Aday, died yesterday at the age of 74. The cause of death hasn't yet been disclosed. He's best known as a singer, but he's also appeared in 45 films, so I decided to watch one of his films to remember him. I have two of his films in my collection, but I'll only be watching "The 51st State", because it's one of my favourite films. No, it isn't in my top 100 film list, but it ought to be.

I used one of his early photos to head this post, not a screenshot from the film, because he plays a character with a scarred face.

This is what he looks like in the film. Not a very typical look for him.

Meat Loaf's first album was "Bat out of Hell", released in 1977. I bought it after hearing the title track played on the radio. I loved it immediately, but I admit that it wasn't Meat Loaf's singing that attracted me. It was the searing guitar played by Todd Rundgren. Todd produced his first album, and as I've mentioned before, Todd Rundgren wasn't a normal record producer. He effectively took over the albums he produced, giving them his own sound. If you look at the credits of "Bat out of Hell" you'll see that the other musicians are Roger Powell (synthesizers), John Wilcox (drums) and Kasim Sulton (bass guitar). This was the complete line up of Todd's band Utopia. "Bat out of Hell" could be considered a Utopia album with a guest singer.

I wasn't as enthusiastic over Meat Loaf's second album, "Dead Ringer". It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't a Utopia album. Added to that, Meat Loaf's voice was less powerful. His third album, "Midnight at the Lost and Found", was a disappointment to me. After that I stopped following his music and didn't buy his following albums.

It wasn't until the early 2000's that I rediscovered his music. I heard some very good songs, and I found out they were taken from "Bat out of Hell 2", released in 1993. It was a very good album, despite not being produced by Todd Rundgren. It contained several moving ballads. I checked out his other albums, and it's my personal opinion that his second to fifth albums should be forgotten. They were below par, but his sixth album, "Bat out of Hell 2", was a masterpiece, almost up to the quality of "Bat out of Hell". After that all his albums were good. They seemed to be getting heavier from album to album, and his voice had regained its old power.

Summing up his albums, "Eight out of twelve ain't bad".

I don't want to write anything about "The 51st State" today, except to say that it's a brilliant British gangster film. It has similarities with Guy Ritchie's films "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels".

This afternoon I listened to "Bat out of Hell 2". It's late now, but I'll listen to "Bat out of Hell" before I go to bed. I'll listen to some of his other albums over the weekend.

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