Although it took Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman another 12 years to come up with the marketing gimmick of positioning an album as a deliberate follow-up to the multi-platinum Bat Out of Hell, Dead Ringer was the real "Bat Out of Hell II." Once again, Steinman wrote extended, operatic songs with hyperbolic lyrics ("I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back" was one title) and organized a backup band anchored by E Street Band members Max Weinberg (drums) and Roy Bittan (keyboards), while Meat Loaf sang with a passion all the more compelling for its hint of the ridiculous.
In the U.S., with four years separating Bat and Dead Ringer, nobody cared much.
But in the U.K., where Bat was still going strong, Dead Ringer topped the charts, and the title track, featuring a perfectly cast Cher as duet singer, went Top Ten.
In retrospect, the missing ingredient in the album is Todd Rundgren's pop sensibility as producer; he was the one who knew how long the compositions could go for maximum dramatic impact without becoming exhausting.
It was Rundgren who made Bat Out of Hell a fiery listening experience -- producing himself, Meat Loaf often sounded only warmed over.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peel OutJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 06:32 | 14 MB | 44 MB |
| 2 | I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of UsJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 07:08 | 16 MB | 46 MB |
| 3 | More Than You DeserveJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 06:57 | 15 MB | 41 MB |
| 4 | I'll Kill You If You Don't Come BackJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 06:23 | 14 MB | 38 MB |
| 5 | Read 'Em and WeepJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 05:27 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 6 | Nocturnal PleasureJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 00:37 | 1 MB | 2 MB |
| 7 | Dead Ringer for LoveJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:22 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 8 | Everything Is PermittedJim Steinman | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:39 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 42 mins | 96 MB | |||||
| 42 mins | 260 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Angello | Assistant Engineer |
| 2 | Roy Bittan | Arranger, Keyboards, Piano |
| 3 | Tony Bongiovi | Engineer |
| 4 | Cindy Brown | Design |
| 5 | Steve Buslowe | Bass |
| 6 | Cher | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 7 | Bob Clearmountain | Mixing |
| 8 | Bobby Scott Cohen | Assistant Engineer |
| 9 | Charlie Conrad | Engineer |
| 10 | Rhonda Coullet | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 11 | Joseph DeAngelis | Assistant Engineer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic) |
| 12 | Lew Del Gatto | Horn |
| 13 | Liberty DeVitto | Drums |
| 14 | Rory Dodd | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 15 | Tom Edmonds | Engineer |
| 16 | Larry Fast | Assistant Engineer, Synthesizer |
| 17 | Stephan Galfas | Mixing, Producer |
| 18 | Brad Gilderman | Assistant Engineer |
| 19 | Jeff Hendrickson | Assistant Engineer |
| 20 | Nicky Hopkins | Guest Artist, Keyboards, Piano |
| 21 | Jimmy Iovine | Producer |
| 22 | Davey Johnstone | Guitar |
| 23 | Leslie Loaf | Vocals |
| 24 | Bob Ludwig | Mastering |
| 25 | Jimmy Maelen | Percussion |
| 26 | Tom "Bones" Malone | Horn, Horn Arrangements |
| 27 | Lou Marini | Horn |
| 28 | Jon Mathias | Engineer |
| 29 | Meat Loaf | Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 30 | Ted Neeley | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 31 | Allan Nicholls | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 32 | Garry Rindfuss | Assistant Engineer |
| 33 | Julian Robertson | Assistant Engineer |
| 34 | Mick Ronson | Guest Artist, Guitar |
| 35 | Peter J. Roulinavage III | Assistant Engineer |
| 36 | Alan Rubin | Horn |
| 37 | Alden Shuman | String Arrangements |
| 38 | Jim Steinman | Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Writer |
| 39 | Eric Troyer | Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 40 | Max Weinberg | Drums |
| 41 | Raymond Willhard | Assistant Engineer |
| 42 | Bernie Wrightson | Cover Illustration |
| 43 | Shelly Yakus | Engineer |
| 44 | Neleam Ymmij | Logs |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |