Meat Loaf

On Halloween 2006, Meat Loaf released Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, the third in his trilogy of albums dating back to 1977's Bat out of Hell and 1993's Bat out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, both multi-million sellers. In early 2007, he launched his Seize the Night tour, a worldwide outing set to last 18 months, in Canada. The eighth show on the tour, performed in London, Ontario, was filmed for a concert video that has been released as 3 Bats Live. Director Bruce David Klein's documentary film Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise might serve as a complement to that video, since it provides a backstage look at the rehearsals and preparations for it. But this is not simply a "making of" add-on to the concert and thus meant to stand alone as a separate document. For one thing, it is clear that Meat Loaf himself, although credited as an executive producer on the film, had an ambivalent attitude toward it while it was being made. For another, while he comes off in a generally positive light, it is not a strictly promotional document. For those who have seen 3 Bats Live, however, it will answer one obvious question: why did Meat Loaf, now short-haired and 59 years old, perform his signature song "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" wearing a long-hair wig to make him look like he did in the '70s?

It is clear at the outset that Klein had one idea for the film and Meat Loaf another. On the opening day of rehearsals, it is revealed that the singer has canceled a series of background interviews with friends and associates that had been scheduled. Klein may have intended more of a bio-pic, but Meat Loaf insists that the film be only about his career right now. Later, Klein does bring in some childhood photos and some vintage footage from the '70s, as well as interviewing music journalist David Dalton (who collaborated on Meat Loaf's autobiography), but the film never becomes a full-blown biography. Nor does Klein get unfettered access to his subject, sometimes having hotel and dressing room doors shut in his face. Meat Loaf comes off as a bright but driven and self-critical perfectionist rarely, if ever, satisfied with his performances. He tells Klein that he does not pay attention to critics, but as the early dates of the tour produce newspaper reviews, it turns out he is reading them and is disturbed. Although generally favorable, the notices keep criticizing the staging of "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," Meat Loaf's first number in the show. The lengthy song (actually a multi-part musical suite) recounts a time "long ago and...far away" when two "barely 17" high school students had a sexual encounter in a car. Critics squirm watching Meat Loaf groping scantily clad duet partner Aspen Miller who, although 28 years old, looks believably teenaged when he clearly does not; even Miller admits the performances can be "creepy." Meat Loaf reacts by restaging the number to emphasize its over-the-top theatricality, decking out the band in '70s clothing and donning the wig. Whether or not that really solves the problem (the result actually seems puzzling, but, as Miller says, maybe a little less creepy), it demonstrates Meat Loaf's commitment to pleasing his audiences and even his critics, which is really the theme of Klein's film.

Meat Loaf fans and music fans interested in what a big-time rock & roll concert tour looks like from the inside will enjoy Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise, as long as they do not come to it expecting a concert film (no song is performed in anything like its entirety) or a Behind the Music-like biography. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide