Rock 'N' Roll Hero is a compilation drawn from Meat Loaf's 1984-1987 stint at Arista Records, during which he recorded two studio albums, Bad Attitude (1984) and Blind Before I Stop (1986), as well as the concert album Live at Wembley (aka Live, 1987).
The 77-minute disc mixes up seven of the nine tracks from Bad Attitude (including the British hits "Modern Girl" and "Piece of the Action") with six of the 11 tracks from Blind Before I Stop (including the British hit "Rock 'N' Roll Mercenaries"), then concludes with two songs from Live at Wembley, versions of the Bat Out of Hell numbers "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" and "Bat Out of Hell." This period in Meat Loaf's recording career stands as a valley in between the massive success of Bat Out of Hell (1977) and the massive comeback of Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993), and it finds him working without his songwriting partner Jim Steinman.
(Actually, he did record two Steinman songs on Bad Attitude, but they are the two songs from that album not included here.) On his own, sometimes contributing to the songwriting himself, he makes conventional hard rock with synth pop and Euro-disco elements, still singing in his passionate tenor.
This is not the best of Meat Loaf, but it is worth hearing for fans.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bad AttitudeSarah Durkee, Paul Jacobs | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:54 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 2 | Sailor to a SirenSarah Durkee, Paul Jacobs | Meat Loaf | Play | 05:05 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 3 | One More Kiss (Night of the Soft Parade)John Golden, Meat Loaf | Meat Loaf | Play | 05:34 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 4 | Jumpin' the GunSarah Durkee, Paul Jacobs | Meat Loaf | Play | 03:13 | 7 MB | 21 MB |
| 5 | Special GirlEddie Schwartz, David Tyson | Meat Loaf | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | Modern GirlSarah Durkee, Paul Jacobs | Meat Loaf | Play | 05:43 | 13 MB | 37 MB |
| 7 | MasculineRick Derringer | Meat Loaf | Play | 06:50 | 15 MB | 47 MB |
| 8 | Don't Leave Your Mark on MeJulia Downes, John Parr | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:06 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 9 | Rock 'N' Roll MercenariesMichael Dan Ehmig, Alan Hodge | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:56 | 11 MB | 33 MB |
| 10 | Cheatin' in Your DreamsJohn Parr | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 11 | Blind Before I StopMeat Loaf | Meat Loaf | Play | 03:54 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 12 | Piece of the ActionSarah Durkee, Paul Jacobs | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:18 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 13 | Rock 'N' Roll HeroJohn Wilcox | Meat Loaf | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 61 mins | 140 MB | |||||
| 61 mins | 394 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rick Derringer | Composer |
| 2 | Julia Downes | Composer |
| 3 | Sarah Durkee | Composer |
| 4 | Michael Dan Ehmig | Composer |
| 5 | John Golden | Composer |
| 6 | Alan Hodge | Composer |
| 7 | Paul Jacobs | Composer |
| 8 | Meat Loaf | Composer, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 9 | John Parr | Composer |
| 10 | Eddie Schwartz | Composer |
| 11 | Jim Steinman | Composer |
| 12 | David Tyson | Composer |
| 13 | John Wilcox | Composer |
| 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). |