''Couldn't Have Said It Better'' is the eighth studio album by
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...
, 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''".
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 Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a 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 ...
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. Mercury Records released ...
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 ...
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
Patricia Russo (May 20, 1964) is an American singer and songwriter. She acted as Meat Loaf's female lead vocalist, touring the world with his band Neverland Express between 1993 and 2013. Since then, she has embarked on a solo career.
Work wit ...
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 won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive ''Billboard'' Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 19 ...
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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
's
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...
, 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 say 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)" (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 theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...
/Steinman) – 5:24
#"Did I Say That?"
(video) (Michael) – 4:46
#"
Two Out of Three Ain't Bad"
( 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 under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
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 musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...
– 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
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally by his stage name Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. ...
–
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
The Neverland Express
*
Kasim Sulton –
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
,
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 us ...
*
Tom Brislin –
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
(2–8),
Hammond B3 (2, 6, 7)
*
John Miceli –
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(9, 11, 12)
*
Patti Russo
Patricia Russo (May 20, 1964) is an American singer and songwriter. She acted as Meat Loaf's female lead vocalist, touring the world with his band Neverland Express between 1993 and 2013. Since then, she has embarked on a solo career.
Work wit ...
–
female lead vocals (1), backing vocals (11, 12)
*
Pearl Aday – female lead vocals (5), backing vocals (7)
Regular Meat Loaf studio sidemen
*
Tim Pierce
Tim Pierce (born 1958 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 th ...
–
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
(1)
*
Mark Alexander – piano (9, 12), Hammond B3 (1)
*
Kenny Aronoff
Kenneth D. Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American drummer, best known for his work as a session and touring musician. He has toured and recorded with a wide range of artists throughout his career, including the Rolling Stones, the Smashing ...
– drums
*
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...
– 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“ ...
– guitar (12),
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) 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
*
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. ...
– piano (1, 11)
* Dan Higgins –
penny whistle ("Intermezzo")
* Stephen Erdody –
cello
The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
(12)
*
Luis Conte –
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
(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 featur ...
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