One Track Mind: Jim Steinman - Left In the Dark (1981)

Jim Steinman first came to fame as Meat Loaf's songwriting collaborator on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album in 1977.  After a rigorous touring schedule Meat Loaf literally lost his voice.  Frustrated and growing impatient, Steinman soldiered on without Meat Loaf recording and releasing Bad For Good in 1981. 

While Left In the Dark was later covered by Barbra Streisand and Meat Loaf, I still prefer Steinman's version over either Streisand's or Meat Loaf's.  Much of this is due to Steinman's spoken word intro which was missing to the later covers.  Steinman's delivery which comes across as menacingly painful.  The sound of a man so hurt and wronged he doesn't know whether to lash out at his lover or curl into a ball and block out the world:

Where did you touch him?
And how did it feel?
How did you let it begin?
What did he whisper?
When did you cry?
And where do you think it will end?
How long did you do it?
Why did you stop?
Did you get to try anything new?
How good was he honest?
And where did you go?
And who made the very first move?

Steinman's version also excels in his vocal delivery.  There's no arguing that he lacks the range of both Meat Loaf and Streisand, often struggling to hit the same notes they both hit with ease.  But his struggles to hit some of the notes come across as emotional pain that add to the song's effectiveness, as if he's struggling to fight back the tears of the cuckolded and jilted lover.

The strings and piano add to the heart-wrenching pain of the lyrics which are some of Steinman's best:

There are no lies on your body
So take off your dress
I just wanna get at the truth

You can hear the struggle between love, pain, and hate expertly conveyed not just by Steinman's brilliant flair for lyrics but in that anthemic over the top delivery that are a trademark of so many of Steinman's songs.

All in all, Left In the Dark, is one of the most emotive and heart-wrenchingly beautifully written and performed songs I have ever heard.  But don't take my word for it, let the song speak for itself.

Song Download from Amazon (note, the song is mislabeled as "Medley" on Amazon.com)

Jim Steinman - Bad For Good (1981)

Some albums are borne out of unbridled creativity, some are borne out of contractual obligations, and then there are some that are borne out of sheer impatience.

In the midst of a rigorous and exhausting tour schedule in the late seventies Meat Loaf literally lost his singing voice...  for several years.  Meanwhile his collaborator/songwriter, Jim Steinman, was getting anxious and chomping at the bit to record a follow-up to the wildly successful Bat Out of Hell album. 

Finally Steinman decided to record the album himself.  This ended up being the Meat Loaf album that never was.  Over the years bits and pieces of this album have appeared on various other Meat Loaf albums (Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through, Lost Boys & Golden Girls, Out of the Frying Pan (and Into the Fire) all appeared on Bat Out of Hell II; Left in the Dark appeared on Welcome to the Neighbourhood; and Bad For Good appeared on Bat Out of Hell III). 

For the most part, Steinman opted to do the vocals himself.  On Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through he enlisted the assistance of studio vocalist Rory Dodd (best unknown for being the voice Michael J. Fox lip-synced to on Johnny B. Goode in Back to the Future).  Steinman wasn't and isn't a great vocalist he is passable but his voice lacks the range of Meat Loaf so on some notes that Meat Loaf would have hit with ease, Steinman struggles with.  On Left in the Dark this actually works to Steinman's advantage.  His struggles to hit the notes come across as emotional pain and it fits the part of the cuckolded husband being portrayed in the song perfectly.  In contrast, Meat Loaf hits the notes with relative ease but his vocal delivery lacks the depth of pain that Steinman's delivery has.

Considering there are only 3 songs on here that (at least to my knowledge) that are yet to appear on albums by Meat Loaf  (Stark Raving Love and Dance In My Pants and the instrumental The Storm) one can get at least a glimpse of how this album may have sounded had it been released as Steinman originally intended-- as a Meat Loaf album.  Having heard the Meat Loaf arrangements of many of the songs on here though, I'd have to counter that as much as I might prefer Meat Loaf's vocals on songs like Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through and Out of the Frying Pan (And Into the Fire) I'm not necessarily as keen on his arrangements on Bad For Good (although I do dig the Brian May guest guitar bit on Meat's version) or his vocals on Left in the Dark. 

All in all though it is an enjoyable album.  It IS trademark Jim Steinman and even if one finds his vocals lacking at times, the strength of the material tends to outweigh his vocal shortcomings (especially, as already mentioned on Left In the Dark, where his vocal limitations actually give the song more emotional credibility).  Some may shy away from the over the top anthemic bombast of Steinman's work.  But there's something to be said for over the top musical theatrics--"If you don't go over the top, you'll never see what's on the other side." (said by Steinman himself)

Related Links
Dream Pollution
The Dream Engine
Jim Steinman's blog
Jim Steinman (wikipedia)

Jim Steinman

Jim Steinman-- the mighty Meat Loaf's long-time collaborator. His music conjures bombast and over-the-top theatrics. His critics see him as being grandiose and overblown. But he isn't one to ever go "halfway" in any endeavour. Every song is performed with such intense passion and fervor as if he's emptying his creative tank for every nuance, every lyric. Each song has a "live for the moment" intensity that lights a fire in the soul and crescendoes into a bonfire of pure passion- for love, for life.

Jim Steinman doesn't just live he lives out loud-- he doesn't write songs he writes anthems that most of us find ourselves relating to whether we want to admit it or not.

He is the horomone-addled teenage boy (Paradise By the Dashboard Light, Surf's Up, Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young), the melancholy lover on the bitter end of unrequited love (Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Total Eclipse of the Heart), or the wistful friend waxing nostalgic of times passed and friends long since disappeared from life (Objects In the Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are). And even when we can't relate-- we empathize.

The songs are vignettes from a life lived poetically. His yearning ballad, Surf's Up captures the excitement and nervousness of a first awkward sexual experience. Left In the Dark tells the tale of a man whose wife has been unfaithful-- grasping for that hope that she still feels something for him-- it carries the bitter ache of a man who wishes he didn't know asking her for one last time to turn out the lights when they make love because he'd rather be "left in the dark." There's the anger, the melancholy, the yearning-- the whole overwhelming sea of emotions is sealed in every lyric. After all, when leaving a relationship has ended haven't we all wanted, on some level, to have been "left in the dark."

In short, Jim Steinman is the composer of the soundtrack of the extremes of human emotion.