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VH-1 Storytellers / Beyond
09/14/1999 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Rob O'Connor
My favorite Bruce Springsteen album has always been Bat Out Of Hell. "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad" and "Heaven Can Wait" are the ballads Born To Run never had. "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" always did "Rosalita" one better. Storytellers producer Bill Flanagan admits in the liner notes to this collection that the initial inspiration for the program had been rock's consistent failure to translate on television, so rather than "duplicate" the live performance, the show would play upon the intimate advantages of having the singer up close. Same "medium" problem exists for the CD of the show, however. What makes for riveting television--hearing the songs' inspiration explained at length--makes for a CD where you'd better know how to program out the talking bits because third time around you don't need to hear it. A cover of Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns And Money" is overblown (imagine that). But Meat smartly covers six of the seven songs from Bat Out Of Hell, the first one. Now where'd he put the Big Man?
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