''Couldn't Have Said It Better'' is the eighth studio album by Meat Loaf, released in the UK on April 21, 2003. For only the third time in his career, he released an album without any songs written by

Jim Steinman James Richard Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, mus ...

(not counting the bonus tracks). Meat Loaf claimed that ''Couldn't Have Said It Better'' was "the most perfect album edid since ''

Bat Out of Hell ''Bat Out of Hell'' is the 1977 debut album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. It is one of the best-selling albums in history. The album was developed from a musical, ''Neverland'', a futuristic rock version of '' ...

''". Three singles were released: "Did I Say That?", " Couldn't Have Said It Better" and " Man of Steel", all with little chart impact. The album was recorded for Universal Music Germany's

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United State ...

division and was licensed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

for its UK release and

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...

for US release, while global distribution was handled by parent company Universal Music Group. Most of this was caused by lack of promotion on behalf of Sanctuary, the company that released the album in the US, and few actual singles being distributed, especially in the UK—his biggest market. The single "Couldn't Have Said It Better" featuring Patti Russo reached the AC Top 40 in the US, while the videos also had low budgets, in stark contrast to his 1990s videos. However, the album was a minor success worldwide and reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. There were many writers for the album including

Diane Warren Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Wa ...

and James Michael. Warren has written for Meat Loaf in the past and had some very big hits. Michael had never written for Meat Loaf before and it was only his songs that were released as singles from the album. Several versions of the album have been released, some with bonus-material. Also, the color of the album cover is different in the UK (blue) from the other territories (red).

Tour

The album was accompanied by a sold-out world tour which was used to promote the album and some of Meat Loaf's biggest hits. On November 17, 2003, during a performance at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500- ...

, he collapsed with what was later diagnosed as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. The following week, he underwent a surgical procedure intended to correct the problem. As a result, Meat Loaf's insurance agency did not allow him to perform for any longer than one hour and 45 minutes. Meat Loaf finished his tour and came back two years later for his ''Hair of the Dog That Bit You'' world tour, which was a sellout for over 160 concerts. As well as singing all the classics, he sang a cover version of the hit single "

Black Betty "Black Betty" ( Roud 11668) is a 20th-century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations ...

". During this tour, Meat Loaf also sang one of the songs from his upcoming album '' Bat Out of Hell III'' called "Only When I Feel". He mentioned that it was not one of the most critical songs on the album, and it has since been removed from that album's track listing. Meat Loaf said that this could be his last 'world' tour, and when he came to promote ''Bat Out of Hell III'', he would be doing less than a fifth of the concerts he did on this tour. "Only When I Feel" has instead been added to the 2016 album "Braver Than We Are".

Track listing

Australian edition bonus live disc

The Australian release of ''Couldn't Have Said It Better'' included a live bonus disc, compiled by Meat Loaf, including 6 live tracks from the American leg of the 2003 world tour. #"Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back" (Jim Steinman) – 6:47 #"Tear Me Down" (Trask) – 4:00 #"Love You Out Loud" (Michael/Sixx) – 4:34 #"

I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is a song written by Jim Steinman, and recorded by American rock singer Meat Loaf featuring Lorraine Crosby. The song was released in August 1993 as the first single from his sixth album, '' Bat ...

" (Steinman) – 10:32 #"Couldn't Have Said It Better" (Michael/Sixx) – 8:18 #"Bat Out of Hell" (Steinman) – 11:47

Special edition bonus CD

The special editions of the UK and international releases included a bonus disc containing two video clips and an MP3 file from Meat Loaf's 1999 ''VH1 Storytellers'' DVD and CD, and the promotional video for "Did I Say That?". #"I'd Do Anything for Love" (video from Meat Loaf Storytellers DVD) (Steinman) – 8:04 # "A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste" (video from Meat Loaf Storytellers DVD) (

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musical ...

/Steinman) – 5:24 #"Did I Say That?" (video) (Michael) – 4:46 #"

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" is a power ballad performed by the American musician Meat Loaf. It is a track off his 1977 album ''Bat Out of Hell'', written by Jim Steinman. It spent 23 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at #11, and earne ...

" ( Meat Loaf VH1 Storytellers DVD,

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

file) (Steinman) – 4:47

Personnel

:''Track numbers indicate that a musician only plays the instrument so noted on that specific track.''

Arrangements

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

– vocal arranger (1) *

Aaron Zigman Aaron Zigman (born January 6, 1963) is a classically-trained American composer, producer, arranger, songwriter, and musician who has scored music for films including ''The Notebook'', ''The Company Men'', '' Bridge to Terabithia'', ''John Q.'', ...

– orchestral arranger (1, 2, 5, 8, 11)

Band

* Meat Loaf –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

The Neverland Express

* Kasim Sulton –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Tom Brislin –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(2-8),

Hammond B3 Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in Sou ...

(2, 6, 7) *

John Miceli John Miceli (born May 29, 1961 in Long Island, New York) is the drummer for Meat Loaf's backing band, the Neverland Express. Meat Loaf Miceli began touring with Meat Loaf in 1991, and was a part of the Neverland Express when '' Bat Out of Hel ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(9, 11, 12) * Patti Russo – female lead vocals (1), backing vocals (11, 12) *

Pearl Aday Pearl Aday (born 1975) is an American singer. She is the adopted daughter of vocalist Michael Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf, and was a member of his touring band Neverland Express for nine years starting in the mid-1990s. She has appeared o ...

– female lead vocals (5), backing vocals (7)

Regular Meat Loaf studio sidemen

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

(1) * Mark Alexander – piano (9, 12), Hammond B3 (1) *

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ener ...

– drums *

– backing vocals (1) * Eric Troyer – backing vocals

Studio musicians

* Michael Thompson – guitar *

Peter Mokran Peter Mokran is an American mixer, producer, engineer and musician. Early life Mokran was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up, he studied classical guitar, while also learning engineering and programming as a teen.Paul Tingen“Secr ...

– guitar (12),

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, programming *

– piano (1, 11) * Dan Higgins –

penny whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteri ...

("Intermezzo") * Stephen Erdody –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

(12) *

Luis Conte Luis Conte (born 16 November 1954) is a Cuban percussionist best-known for his performances in the bands of artists including James Taylor, Madonna, Pat Metheny Group, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Shakira. He began ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(3) * Tanja Reichert – spoken intro (5) * Giselda Vatcky – spoken breakdown (7) * James Michael – backing vocals (1, 2, 5) * Maxi Anderson, Alexandra Brown, Lynn Davis, Rose Stone – backing vocals (3, 5, 6)

Australian edition bonus live disc

Musical director/producer: Kasim Sulton * Meat Loaf – vocals, guitar * Patti Russo – female lead and backing vocals * Paul Crook –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the fe ...

s * Randy Flowers – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals * Kasim Sulton – bass guitar, backing vocals * Mark Alexander – keyboards, backing vocals * John Miceli – drums * Renee Cologne – backing vocals

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Meat Loaf albums