Welcome to the Neighbourhood

This article is about the Meat Loaf album. For the never-aired TV series, see Welcome to the Neighborhood (TV series).

Welcome to the Neighbourhood
Studio album by Meat Loaf
Released	November 14, 1995
Recorded	1995 (?)
Genre	Rock, hard rock
Length	58:56
Label	Virgin, MCA (US)
Producer	Ron Nevison, Sammy Hagar, Steven Van Zandt, Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf chronology
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) Welcome to the Neighbourhood (1995) Live Around the World (1996)

Welcome to the Neighbourhood is Meat Loaf's seventh studio album, released in 1995 as follow-up to the popular album Bat out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. It went platinum in the US and UK.

The album is thought of as a concept album, as all of the songs are ordered in the track listing as to tell a story about a relationship throughout the years. Three singles were released: "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" (a duet with Patti Russo), "Not a Dry Eye in the House" and "Runnin' for the Red Light (I Gotta Life)". The first two reached #2 and #7 in the UK charts, while the latter reached #21. In some markets, radio stations were also playing "Amnesty Is Granted", even though it was not released as an official single. Despite the chart success of the album and its singles, only "Amnesty is Granted" has appeared on an official live album, Casa De Carne (Live 2008) as a bonus CD with Hang Cool Teddy Bear. "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" was recorded as a sound check with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, but only included as a bonus download track.

Of the twelve songs on the album, two are written by Jim Steinman. Both are covers, the "Original Sin" from Pandora's Box's Original Sin album (it was also heard in the movie The Shadow, where it was performed by Taylor Dayne) and "Left in the Dark" first appeared on Steinman's own Bad for Good album. The first two singles are written by Diane Warren, who later also wrote songs for Meat Loaf's Couldn't Have Said It Better and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose albums.

Cover art

The theme on the cover art and inside booklet is that of detective novels of the '50s. The booklet, aside from having the lyrics for every song, features a "Detective Novel" per song with modified titles to accommodate the titles of the songs. This style was also used for the three singles released off the album, with the cover art for each of them being its correspondent novel from the booklet.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Where the Rubber Meets the Road"	Sarah Durkee/Paul Jacobs	4:57
2.	"I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" (Duet with Patti Russo)	Diane Warren	6:41
3.	"Original Sin"	Jim Steinman	5:56
4.	"45 Seconds of Ecstasy" (Performed by Susan Wood)	Martha Minter Bailey	1:06
5.	"Runnin' for the Red Light (I Gotta Life)"	Durkee/Meat Loaf/Russo/Harry Vanda/George Young	3:59
6.	"Fiesta de las Almas Perdidas"	Jeff Bova	1:27
7.	"Left in the Dark"	Steinman	7:13
8.	"Not a Dry Eye in the House"	Warren	5:54
9.	"Amnesty is Granted" (Duet with Sammy Hagar)	Hagar	6:09
10.	"If This Is the Last Kiss (Let's Make It Last All Night)" (Duet with Russo)	Warren	4:34
11.	"Martha"	Tom Waits	4:40
12.	"Where Angels Sing"	Stephen Allen Davis	6:09

Collector's edition

In 2011, a three disc collector's edition was released. The first disc included the songs on the original release with four additional tracks.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	From single	Length
13.	"Come Together"	Lennon–McCartney	Not a Dry Eye in the House	3:20
14.	"Let It Be"	Lennon–McCartney	Not a Dry Eye in the House	4:33
15.	"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'"	Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II	I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)	3:05
16.	"Is Nothing Sacred" (Duet with Patti Russo)	Jim Steinman, Don Black	Is Nothing Sacred	5:37

The second disk was recorded live at the Beacon Theatre 23-October-1995 except tracks 10 and 11 (recorded in 1989).

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back"	Steinman	7:59
2.	"Where the Rubber Meets the Road"	Sarah Durkee/Paul Jacobs	5:42
3.	"I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)"	Diane Warren	7:26
4.	"Amnesty is Granted"	Sammy Hagar	5:54
5.	"You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth"	Steinman	9:13
6.	"All Revved Up with No Place to Go"	Steinman	6:48
7.	"Dead Ringer for Love"	Steinman	4:29
8.	"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)"	Steinman	5:28
9.	"Runnin' for the Red Light (I Gotta Life)"	Harry Vanda, George Young, Patti Russo, Sarah Durkee, Meat Loaf	4:01
10.	"Midnight at the Lost and Found"	Steve Buslowe/Paul Christie/Meat Loaf/Danny Peyronel	5:07
11.	"Whatever Happened To Saturday Night" (Recorded in Tallahassee, Florida)	Richard O'Brien	3:19
12.	"Bat Out of Hell"	Steinman	11:58

The third disk is a five track DVD.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" (Promo video)
2.	"Not a Dry Eye in the House" (Promo video)
3.	"I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)" (BBC TV Top of the Pops Appearance 12-Oct-1995)
4.	"Not a Dry Eye in the House" (BBC Top of the Pops 1-Feb-1996)
5.	"Interview" (Meat Loaf discusses the making of Welcome to the Neighbourhood)
Total length:		47:02

Personnel

Vocal arrangements by Kasim Sulton and Rory Dodd

• Meat Loaf - lead vocals

The Neverland Express

• Pat Thrall - guitars (track 2-5, 7, 8, 10, 12)
• Kasim Sulton - acoustic guitars (track 8), backing vocals
• Steve Buslowe - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Mark Alexander - piano (track 2-5, 7-12)
• John Miceli - drums (track 12)
• Patti Russo - female lead vocals (tracks 2, 10)
• Pearl Aday - backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5)

Regular Meat Loaf Studio Sidemen

• Tim Pierce - guitars (track 1-3, 5, 7-10, 12)
• Eddie Martinez - guitars (track 9)
• Paul Jacobs - piano (track 1)
• Jeff Bova - keyboards, Hammond B3 (tracks 2, 4), programming (track 6)
• Kenny Aronoff - drums
• Rory Dodd, Curtis King (tracks 1, 2, 7-10, 12) - backing vocals

Special Appearances

• Sammy Hagar - additional vocals and guitars (track 9)
• Steven Van Zandt - guitars (track 9)
• Susan Wood - female lead vocals (track 4)
• Elaine Caswell - backing vocals (tracks 3, 5)