Welcome to the Neighbourhood (Meat Loaf album)
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
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 United States and United Kingdom.
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 album Bad for Good. The first two singles are written by Diane Warren, who later also wrote songs for Meat Loaf's albums Couldn't Have Said It Better and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.
Cover art
The theme on the cover art and inside booklet is that of detective novels of the 1950s. 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. At least one image, the one associated with "Where Angels Sing" (the final track on the album), is easily recognizable: it is the same image, only with slightly altered colors, as in the movie poster for Lolita, Stanley Kubrick's film adaption of the controversial same-titled novel by Vladimir Nabokov; the typeface used to write "Where Angels Sing" is also the same one as in the poster. 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.
| 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, Patti 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 Patti 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
- Track numbers indicate that a musician only plays the instrument so noted on that specific track.
Arrangements
- Rory Dodd, Kasim Sulton – background vocal arrangers
Band
The Neverland Express
- Pat Thrall – guitars (2-5, 7, 8, 10, 12)
- Kasim Sulton – acoustic guitars (8), backing vocals
- Steve Buslowe – bass guitar
- Mark Alexander – piano (2-5, 7-12)
- John Miceli – drums (12)
- Patti Russo – female lead vocals (2, 10)
- Pearl Aday – backing vocals (1, 2, 5)
Regular Meat Loaf Studio Sidemen
- Tim Pierce – guitars (1-3, 5, 7-10, 12)
- Eddie Martinez – guitars (9)
- Paul Jacobs – piano (1)
- Jeff Bova – keyboards, Hammond B3 (2, 4), programming (6)
- Kenny Aronoff – drums
- Rory Dodd – backing vocals
- Curtis King – backing vocals (1, 2, 7-10, 12)
Special Appearances
- Sammy Hagar – additional vocals and guitars (9)
- Steven Van Zandt – guitars (9)
- Susan Wood – female lead vocals (4)
- Elaine Caswell – backing vocals (3, 5)