This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
If you’ve had one meat loaf, you’ve pretty much had them all. Likewise, if you’ve heard one Meat Loaf album, you’ve pretty much heard them all — including Couldn’t Have Said It Better.
On his first studio effort in eight years, the increasingly reluctant performer comes off as a real dead ringer for … well, himself 20 years ago. Sticking to his original recipe, Meat dishes up another heaping helping of melodramatic rock epics loaded with grand-piano grander, sassy female vocals and Broadway-show arrangements. Amazingly, his old collaborator Jim Steinman had no hand in these 11 tunes. Even more amazingly, Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx did — Mr. Shout At The Devil co-wrote a trio of these tunes, including the seven-minute title opus. No matter whose name is in the credits, though, there’s only one name for Meat Loaf’s brand of rich, stick-to-your-ribs rock: Musical comfort food.
