I adore Meat Loaf's version of "Surf's Up." I heard it well before I heard the Jim/Rory version, and they both have their charms, but Meat's will always be the one that gets MY surf up, if you know what I mean.
In particular I love how a simple change of emphasis can really change the feel of the song. Jim's is romantic and plaintive, with the piano figure describing a gently lapping surf shimmering in the moonlight. Meat's version is much darker, more dramatic (more typically Steinman) with the piano line emphasizing the first beat to evoke a pounding, crashing surf... possibly somewhere on the rocky coast of California.
The original version always felt a bit anodyne to me after listening to Meat's version incessantly, but it's quite lovely on its own. Meat's vocals on "Bad Attitude" are the only time he's gotten close to his "Bat" peak, and "Surf's Up" shows this amazingly, especially on the ending "And so am I...!" lines. Also, the Goff sisters' background vocals sound amazing, and it's got a really good guitar solo outro.
By the way, anybody with the UK version of "Bad Attitude" should seek out the US version immediately. It's got a much more raw, muscular sound without the tinny pop sheen of the UK mix.
>I always find it interesting how "bare" the original Bat album is when
>compared to a lot of Jim's later work. I can't imagine 2 out of 3, for example,
>being recorded that simply if it had been written in the late 80s.
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