Personnel: Meat Loaf, Patti Russo, Susan Wood (vocals); Sammy Hagar (vocals, guitar); Kasim Sulton (acoustic guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Tim Pierce, Pat Thrall, Eddie Martinez, Steven Van Zandt (guitar); Paul Jacobs (piano); Mark Alexander (piano, keyboards); Jeff Bova (Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, programming); Steve Buslowe (bass, background vocals); Kenny Aronoff (drums); John Miceli (drums, percussion); Curtis King, Rory Dodd, Pearl Aday, Elaine Kaswell (background vocals).

Producers: Ron Nevison, Meat Loaf, Sammy Hagar, Steven Van Zandt.

Engineers: Ron Nevison, Larry Alexander, Ben Fowler.

Recorded at Power Station, New York; Right Track, New York; A&M Studios, Los Angeles, California.

It's been a long, dramatic road for Meat Loaf. Since 1977's BAT OUT OF HELL he's been pouring the soul of a consummate romantic into his recordings, and bringing back the epic Casanova qualities of silent film heartthrobs to rock.

Appropriately, pop songsmith Dianne Warren is now contributing to Meat Loaf's repertoire, and the cinematic, unrestrained emotion of WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD bears witness to some of the most heartfelt pop released in 1995. The anthemic spectacles of true love--grand boy-meets-girl overtures like "45 Seconds Of Ecstasy," or lofty admissions such as "I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth)"--are what Meat Loaf is all about. He is the Hallmark card of rock and roll, the sentimental lover--he wants you to know that he cares.

Nearly twenty years after he rolled onto the scene, Meat Loaf is still the king of rockin' romance. WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD brings him right back to your door and straight to your heart.

Q (12/95, p.133) - 3 Stars - Good - "...None of this might have much to do with rock'n'roll, but viewed as pure entertainment it's still good enough to keep plenty of people perfectly happy. And that's what it's supposed to be about, isn't it?"