Meat has had his share of ups and down, from one of the best selling albums EVER, Bat Out Of Hell, to his "worst" album which marks the most underrated Meat effort EVER, Midnight At The Lost And Found (why no one like it, I'll never know). Then, after Meat knew about the UK loving him to death, he decided to cater more to them and released Bad Attitude, which was received VERY well there and exceptionally well here. Meat then needed a follow up to Bad Attitude. Enter Blind Before I Stop.

Blind continues where Bad Attitude leaves off, and this is probably what Attitude would've had if it was allowed to have 11 more tracks to it, as it continues with the 80's-style euro-pop sound. It didn't do well here, but one has to wonder why it didn't once listening to it, as it was the most forgotten Meat successes. Although this album didn't get received well here, the UK showed us that they have better tastes in music than us.

The album starts up with the excellent Execution Day, and with the rock ballad that Meat gives here, it's hard to not listen to it. Excellent lyrics and a great guitar riff does it justice.

Rock N' Roll Mercenaries is EASILY the best track on this CD, and one of the better Meat duets that he as done. British rocker John Parr helps Meat out on this one, and he sounds as good as ever here. There are lyrics that tell a lot about the music industry as of late, and they tell their case perfectly, and the quote "Money is power, and power is fame," is one of the best I've heard in a long time. If for nothing else, get this CD just for this track.

As well as for the highlight track, Getting Away With Murder. This is the only single that came off of Blind, and it's a wonder why neither Murder nor Mercenaries made it onto the Very Best Of CD. Murder tells of a guy who's juggling two lovers, trying to love them both. It's also one of Meat's better vocal attempts, and the lyrics tell the story very well.

One More Kiss is taking a bit from Paradise By The Dashboard Light, being cut into three separate parts. It goes into a soft rock ballad, to a hard rock one, then back again. It's a unique sound, and good display of creativity.

Blind Before I Stop is a very good hard rock song that got overlooked. Meat's basically saying how much he wants to dance (that would be interesting to see. Meat dancing). It's cool, and easy to get down to.

Burning Down is a bad song, but you may not care, since it's one of those bad songs that you sing along with anyway, because it still has a pretty good ring to it, and the riffs are perfect.

Standing On The Outside is an EXCELLENT soft rock song, and one of my favorites. Meat is at his best when he goes soft, and this is a highlight of that respect. I don't know why this one wasn't a hit, because it needed to be. It's one of Meat's better songs of his career.

Masculine is slightly humorous by it's chorus and some of it's other lyrics, and the riffs are decent to accommodate those lyrics, but what was with that answering machine message at the beginning of this one? Made no sense to have it in there, as it didn't have a place with the rest of the song.

A Man And A Woman is a good ballad, but failed to capture what Standing On The Outside did before. Still, even when compared with that excellent track, this one stands firm.

Special Girl is the only slightly redundant song on the CD. It doesn't really succeed in making you get into the song much, and it's a disappointment, because it could've been better.

Rock And Roll Hero is one of the best closers to a Meat CD I have EVER heard yet. Although just slightly edged by Rock N Roll Mercenaries as the best song on the CD and one of the best ones in his career, Hero is easily a track that should be responsible in you getting this CD. Meat rocks hard here, and really let's you know the reason for this CD.

It's hard to really see a bad Meat CD, since his worst is EASILY better than some best efforts of some artists these days. Meat's worst albums are still great, and this one is VERY overlooked (not as much as Midnight was, but it comes close). If you need more convincing in getting this CD, two of the songs from this one (the two I said should've been on Meat's Very Best Of CD) appeared on the import greatest hits album Prime Cuts.

I recommend this CD for anyone who likes to hear just Meat being Meat. This is proof that the UK knows a lot more about good music than the US could ever know.

Meat Loaf seems to have trouble following up his great albums. Such is the case with Blind Before I Stop, the album after the 'comeback' Bad Attitude which was suprisingly good, considering Steinman's absence from the studio. Blind Before I Stop departs from the pseudo-Steinman bombast Bad Attitude ventured into, and heads down the road of 80's metal. Not to knock 80's metal but this is not Meat Loaf's style. The album really shines in some points, though, Execution Day, the opener, is easily Meat's best non-Steinman penned song. The title track delivers great basic 80's rock at a tempo most bands didn't attempt, Rock and Roll Mercenaries was a moderate hit in the UK, and One More Kiss is an attempt to recreate Steinman's varying, unpredictable style, going from ballad to rocker to ballad again. The trouble is, those tracks are 4 of the first 5 on the album. After the title track (5) the only song worth hearing is the slightly humorus Masculine. The rest is a poor attempt by Meat and Frank Farian, later of Milli Vanilli fame, to be contemporary, with songs like 'Special Girl' making me want to wretch. This album isn't essential unless you like paying full price for an album that's half good, half crap. Thankfully, Meat would finally realize his mistake and reunite with Jim Steinman after this effort.

Being an avid Meat Loaf fan I was disappointed when listening to this CD. The songs didn't appear to be inspired and they were definitely not the memorable pieces that he has released before (and after). One possible reason for this is that this album was not produced (nor the songs written by) Jim Steinman.

I know a lot of people hate this album, but I can't seem to bring myself to do the same. I got it relatively recently (compared to much of my Meat Loaf collection) and there's certainly something about it that's infectious and enjoyable.

Though it was ill recieved in the US (and, surprisingly, the UK) this is still one of Meat's finer moments and includes some real classics. A surprising amount of singles were lifted, beginning with the pre-release "Rock and Roll Mercenaries". This stunning duet with British rocker John Parr is the standout of the album, and in fact settles itself as one of the best tracks of Meat's career.

Other top tracks include "Execution Day", which completely blew me away with it's dark undertones and incredible guitar riffs; "One More Kiss", a Meat Loaf/John Golden collaboration with some surprisingly beautiful lyrics, considering the song content; "Standing On The Outside", which surprised me somewhat by being a perfect mix of soft-rock music and lyrics; and of course, "Blind Before I Stop" itself, which is a fast-paced rocker.

I think that "Blind" is hugely underrated because of a few bad songs. Judging this LP on the basis of songs like "Burning Down", "Special Girl" and (in my opinion) "Rock n' Roll Hero" is being to harsh. Though the latter half of the album suffers, the majority is top class, and no Meat Loaf collection should be without it.

In short it's great. It is NOT bat out of hell at all but a VERY 1980s album where the bombast production and technology work. Most 80's albums don't have any "meat" to their sound (pun intended) but this one has the guitars up-front and they are very sharp and powerful. Great writing also. A different kind of album that I would reccommend after getting the two Bat out of hells. Listen to the sound samples for the "sound" but get the CD for the "songs"-they are in there...