Meat Loaf - Hits Out Of Hell (LP)

By 1984, it appeared as though Meat Loaf's career was over in the U.S. Though he'd had a mammoth hit album just a few years prior (1978's BAT OUT OF HELL), Meat Loaf cut ties with songwriter/lyricist Jim Steinman by 1984, and despite continuing popularity overseas, the larger-than-life singer was having a hard time cutting it back home. The same year, Epic issued the first Meat Loaf "best-of" set, HITS OUT OF HELL, hoping that it would rekindle interest. The 10-track overview is a fine one, including tracks from all three of Meat Loaf's albums on Epic released up to that point - the aforementioned BAT, as well as 1981's DEAD RINGER and 1983's MIDNIGHT AT THE LOST & FOUND. While future collections would cover more ground career-wise (namely 1998's THE VERY BEST OF), HITS OUT OF HELL contains many a Meat classic. The epic "Bat Out of Hell," melodic ballad "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," the Springsteen-ish "You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth," and the Cher duet "Dead Ringer for L