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. The album 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.
[edit] 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.
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[edit] Track listing
[edit] Personnel
Vocal arrangements by Kasim Sulton and Rory Dodd
[edit] The Neverland Express
- Pat Thrall — guitars (track 2-5, 7, 8, 10, 12)
- Kasim Sulton — acoustic guitars (track 8), backing vocals
- Steve Buslowe — bass, backing vocals
- Mark Alexander — piano (track 2-5, 7-9, 11, 12)
- John Miceli — drums (track 12)
- Patti Russo — female lead vocals (tracks 2, 10)
- Pearl Aday — backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 5)
[edit] 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, 10)
- 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
[edit] Special Appearances
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