Personnel: Meat Loaf (vocals, guitar); Patti Russo, Pearl Aday (vocals); Kasim Sulton (acoustic guitar, bass, background vocals); Ray Andersen (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Tom Brislin (piano, background vocals); Damon La Scott (guitar); John Miceli (drums).

Recorded live at Metropolis Studios, New York, New York in October 1998. Includes liner notes by Bill Flanagan.

Personnel: Meat Loaf (vocals, guitar); Ray Anderson (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Tom Brislin (vocals, piano); Patti Russo, Pearl Aday (vocals); Damon La Scot (guitar); Kasim Sulton (acoustic guitar, bass guitar); John Miceli (drums).

Recording information: Metropolis Studios, New York, New York (10/1998).

Given his flair for drama and audience communication, VH1 STORYTELLERS was a natural choice for Meat Loaf. This CD captures all the charisma and bombast that is Mr. Loaf, all within an intimate setting that works perfectly.

If there were ever songs that deserved the Storyteller treatment, those songs are Meat Loaf's. Audience members comment on and ask questions about tunes that they grew up with and feel were written for THEM. Meat Loaf explains that "More Than You Deserve" was the first Jim Steinman-penned composition he ever sang, and that it was in a downtown production of the same name. Meat also explains that the original length for Steinman's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" was 27 minutes, before proceeding into a wonderfully theatrical version of it. Patti Russo's powerful vocals complement Meat's wonderfully. Meat explains how "Bat Out of Hell" was inspired by PSYCHO and launches a rockin' rendition of the 11-minute opus. The beautiful bonus studio track "Is Nothing Sacred" rounds out the disc. VH1 STORYTELLERS works on many levels. In particular, Meat's songs, which have always been spectacular live, are given extra depth. Highly recommended.