Music legend MEAT LOAF recently sat down with Classic Rock Revisited's Jeb Wright to discuss his new album, Hell In A Handbasket. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Jeb: You say that Hell In A Handbasket is a very personal album for you. Define that, do you mean emotional?

Meat Loaf: "No, it is very personal. There was a reviewer in Seattle that didn’t like the record, but it really confused the hell out of him. Sometimes when I read these reviews, I just have to say they must be really dumb people. I really wish people would use their brains for a second. He said, 'How could this be personal if there are five different writers on the record?' Does he think they just send me a song and I record it?

How I work, when I’m not working with Jim (Steinman), is that I meet with writers and I tell them what direction I am going on my album. I tell them what type of songs that I need. They say for me to sit down with them and work with them for two days. I tell them that if we sit down together for two days then it will never get recorded by me, which has been the truth. Every time I have written with them for the first two days, other people end up recording the songs. I have had a # 1 and a few Top 20’s for other people, but I won’t touch them with a ten foot pole. Once they get used to working on my ideas without me being there, then, on the second day, they send me what they have and I start to rework it. I tell them, 'This is really good but I’m going to rewrite the first verse.' I did that with 'All Of Me'."

Jeb: Many artists would take songwriting credit for doing that.

Meat Loaf: "The difference between me and everybody else in this industry – we won’t name names – is that people will not record a song unless they can put their name on it. They stick their name on the song, as a writer, and then, they record the song just as it was given to them. My ego has always been that it doesn’t make any difference who gets the credit, as long as the song gets done. If I change five lines in a song, then I’m not going to go beat them up for a writer’s credit. In 'All Of Me', I probably changed eight lines, which is no big deal. The first verse was originally about a girl and I flipped it around to be about me.

A lot of times I will let them keep the credit, but if I did a lot of changes on the song, I will take the publishing on the song. When you work on everything the way that I work on it, then you really are making it personal.

I even changed a small lyric on 'California Dreaming'. I even changed 'Mad Mad World' by TOM COCHRANE. I used his words, but then I brought in CHICK D, who completely wrote a whole different thing. I mold these songs and they become personal. Anyone, like the guy in Seattle, that writes stuff like that is wrong. It would be like going up to Marlon Brando and saying, 'How can you possibly play Stanley in Street Car Named Desire? Tennessee Williams wrote that.' Brando found the truth and reality in that character.

I have read scripts that were written by seven people. I can find the character even though seven people wrote it. It was not very intelligent for that guy in Seattle to write that. He thought that just because I didn’t write the song that I couldn’t make it personal. It is very sophomoric thinking and they just don’t think it through. Stop and think about the fact that I am an actor, who has done five films and done stage work. They don’t think of the craft and how I do research and how I analyze things. All they think about is that I have a funny name. 'He calls himself Meat Loaf so he can’t be taken seriously."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Hell In A Handbasket was released in North America on March 13th, and in the UK and Europe on February 27th.

Performing with Meat Loaf on Hell In A Handbasket is THE NEVERLAND EXPRESS, his long-time backing ensemble, featuring John Miceli (drums, percussion), Patti Russo (lead and backing vocals), Paul Crook (electric and acoustic guitars), Randy Flowers (electric and acoustic guitars, vocals), David Luther (saxophone, vocals), Justin Avery (piano, organ, keyboard, vocals) and Danny Miranda (electric and upright bass).

Hell In A Handbasket tracklisting:

'All Of Me'

'The Giving Tree'

'Live Or Die'

'Blue Sky/Mad Mad World/The Good God Is A Woman And She Don't Like Ugly' (special appearance by Chuck D)

'California Dreamin'' (duet with Patti Russo)

'Party Of One'

'Another Day'

'40 Days'

'Our Love And Our Souls' (duet with Patti Russo)

'Stand In The Storm' (special guest appearances from Trace Adkins, Lil Jon and Mark McGrath)

'Blue Sky'

'Fall From Grace'

"Hell In A Handbasket is the most personal record I've ever made," said Meat Loaf. "It's really the first record I've ever put out about how I feel about life and how I feel about what's going on at the moment."

The album, produced by Paul Crook, is an expression of life’s metaphors, driven by excellent musicianship, and of course, the passionate vocals of Meat Loaf.

"Making this album was a great experience," said Meat Loaf, "and I hope my fans enjoy hearing it as much as I did making it."