Description
Offered for sale is a U.S. picture disc edition of Meat Loaf’s album Bat Out of Hell, released in 1978 only as a promotional item.
Note: This is the original U.S. promotional release with the black cover that does not say “Limited edition of 1000,” and also not the more common commercial release with the burgundy cover with bats printed on it or the Canadian pressing that also had a black cover.
About this copy: This copy of Bat Out of Hell is a 1978 U.S. pressing on the Cleveland International label.
The cover is M- with trace corner wear. The picture disc is M- and may be unplayed. Clean disc!
There are several variations on this LP. this pressing has the sides marked as “Side I” and “Side II.”
A nice copy of a scarce, and great-looking picture disc. This is the nicest cover we’ve ever seen on a copy that wasn’t sealed.
Background: Meat Loaf’s second album, Bat Out of Hell, created quite a sensation when it was released in 1977. To promote the album, Epic Records pressed a picture disc edition of the album which was issued only as a promotional item.
These promo-only discs soon began changing hands for large sums of money among collectors, partly because of the interesting artwork and partly because the picture disc LP was then a fairly new format, and largely limited to promotional releases.
The promotional issue of Bat Out of Hell came in a plain black cover with red print on the back indicating the album title and song titles. A second printing had “Limited edition of 1000” printed on the back cover.
Shortly thereafter, Epic Records in Canada issued the picture disc as a limited edition commercial release. This pressing closely resembled the U.S. promotional issue, though it did mention that it was made in Canada on the back cover.
Still later, Epic Records in the U.S. opted to release the picture disc commercially, though the U.S. stock pressings have a burgundy cover with small bats printed on it.
The American promotional issues are fairly rare, and the black-cover Canadian issues are also fairly scarce, as the Canadian record market was fairly small at that time. The U.S. commercial issue with the “bats” cover are the most common variation of this picture disc.
Allmusic.com gave Bat Out of Hell a 4 1/2 star review:
There is no other album like Bat Out of Hell, unless you want to count the sequel. This is Grand Guignol pop — epic, gothic, operatic, and silly, and it’s appealing because of all of this. Jim Steinman was a composer without peer, simply because nobody else wanted to make mini-epics like this. …It may be easy to dismiss this as ridiculous, but there’s real style and craft here and its kitsch is intentional. It may elevate adolescent passion to operatic dimensions, and that’s certainly silly, but it’s hard not to marvel at the skill behind this grandly silly, irresistible album.
This item is eligible for PayPal Credit financing by PayPal. U.S. customers may choose to pay later at checkout, and may receive up to six months financing with no interest. Click the banner below for more information. (opens in a new window)
| Country of origin: | U.S. |
| Size: | 12″ |
| Record Label: | Cleveland International |
| Catalog Number: |
none |
| Year of Release: | 1978 |
| Format: | Stereo |
| Share: |       |
