Pandora's Box

The year was 1989. The band included E-street legend Roy Bittan on his unmistakeable piano.
The vocalists were  Ellen Foley,Elaine Caswell,Gina Taylor and Deliria Wilde. Vocal arranger was Todd Rundgren. And the mad scientist at the center of this over blown over cranked and over the top crazy experiment was Dr Demento himself,Jim Steinman, the maestro who made MeatLoaf the dish of the decade.After the success of Bat out of Hell Mr Loaf suffered vocal problems and Steinman released an album of his own called Bad for Good which makes the excesses of the Bat record seem subtle.And though  Meat Loaf did go on to cover these songs on his Dead Ringer record it had none of the wagnerian pop that Jim's own version had.
Here with Pandora's box he had an army of Valkyries to take the pomp and circumstance of his
musical vision to ridiculous new heights. It is a brilliant album from the opening of track one,
Original Sin `I've been looking for an original sin,one with a twist and a bit of a spin,and since I've done all the old ones till they've all been done in...' right to the last bombastic piece of sheer aural orgasm in The Future Ain't What It Used To Be `say a prayer for the falling angels,stem the tide of the rising waters,toll a bell for the broken hearted,burn a torch for your sons and daughters...' the arrangements are so rich,the lyrics so unashamed and the music represents the evolution of Spector's wall of sound.The puns are as groan inducing as anything Jim ever wrote (pray lewd?)
This album was and is still one of my most guilty pleasures. It's music that doesn't just wash over you
in little soft waves.It pounds you like a high calorie sonic tsunami.We don't need no stinking Meat Loaf. Everything you need is right here.