Hang Cool Teddy Bear (Super Deluxe Box Set)

This album is still awaiting release I know, but I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Album Playback for London's music media, so I feel able to wholeheartedly recommend it, and having attended many of Meat's last tour shows, I can certainly endorse the selection of live performances on the bonus CD.

At the Playback from the start we were taken on an amazing ride with Meat's imagination, any musical boundaries pushed away, as he takes you over the edge of what you could possibly have expected .. and just when you think you know where he's going, he spins you round and takes you off in a totally unexpected direction. Meat promises to rock your socks off in a way you have not heard him before.

HCTB is an astounding album .. and at the same time challlenging. You can be swept away with just the sheer force of the wild rock ride Meat takes you on, and if that's as far as you ever get it will still be outstanding. But I sense that in starting to understand the storyline as well, and more importantly, the feelings of the character in the story, there will be an incredible richness to be found in the many layers of this album which Meat says is his best work yet. He and Rob Cavallo have brought so much talent, skill and expertise together and allowed it to explode into a huge powerful sound, yet at the same time there is such a clean real feel to it. For a studio album it has this incredible sense of a live performance .. I wasn't left wondering how this track or that would sound live .. I felt like I'd experienced it.

Leave behind the words so often used to describe Meat as a performer. Operatic It's not .. no, it's the pure and unfettered rock Meat has in his vision .. It's not bombast either .. nothing of pretension here, this is raw, but never rough, honesty .. Bomb-blast perhaps .. because it pounds into your soul and threatens to shatter it :)

Treasure all your Meat albums .. but come prepared for a new adventure and a new thrill-ride! This is not only unfettered rock . it's unfettered Meat ... and the ride is amazing .. the adventure huge ..

All I can say is .. I'm a believer! And now .. I have no socks :)

Awesome, powerful from the opening bars of the first track complete with powerful orchestra (and an anvil!) this album will grab you by the throat, shake your soul and make you listen. It has the big powerful Meat Loaf sound you're used to, don't expect another Anything For Love though. The album contains the trademark Meat Loaf, the big sound, the over the top production, but it's all got a new twist. Meat's been left to run free with this album and with the help of friends like Jack Black, Steve Vai, Brian May, Hugh Laurie (yes, that Hugh Laurie) along with his stalwart companions from his own band (Paul Crook, Randy Flowers, Kasim Sulton, Patti Russo and John Micelli) he's taken his sound and really made it his own. There's humour, there's guitars, theres what sounds like a million drums and the aforementioned anvil! There's lyrics that'll make you laugh and think What the ... It's a barnstormer of an album. With stand out track after stand outtrack. I've heard it once, and can't wait to hear it again!

Meat Loaf is back, the music is brilliant, the songs are brilliant, the singing is even better, the man is a genius

Well he certainly never lets us down with his music. The Deluxe box set was interesting to say the least. Sheet music for Angelooser, a Meat loaf keyring, a tshirt with the album on and the cds. The box it comes in is sturdy and has meat loaf in silver on the front and sides and is shaped like a book. All in all a good buy and if you had to buy them seperate it would cost a little more than what Play.com are retailing them at.