[2] During the concerts on his Hair of the Dog tour, Meat Loaf made a point to mention that he and Steinman were putting out a new album.
Meat Loaf said that "lawyers worked for over a year putting together a contract for Steinman to do Bat Out of Hell III.
Ultimately, according to the singer, Steinman was not well enough to work on such an intense project and made what he calls the "selfish" decision to go ahead without him.
[4] Meat Loaf sued Steinman and his manager, in a complaint filed May 28, 2006, in federal District Court in Los Angeles, California, for $50 million and to prevent further use by the writer/producer.
[4] Steinman and his representatives approached Meat Loaf's labels, Universal and Virgin, asserting trademark ownership and threatening litigation[4] to prevent the album's release.
According to Virgin, "the two came to an amicable agreement that ensured that Jim Steinman's music would be a continuing part of the 'Bat Out of Hell' legacy.
"[7] In promotional interviews, Meat Loaf has played down the dispute with Steinman, pointing out that it was over in three weeks and was purely for the sake of business.
So, we had to communicate through managers and he refused to sign some papers that would have allowed for the recording of Bat Out of Hell III without a hitch.
The agreement enabled Steinman to work on a musical theatre project based on all of the songs from Bat Out of Hell.
Whereas you really have to be flat for people to notice it in a live show, in a studio, every "nuance is under a microscope... and I'm a perfectionist who knows that there's no such thing as perfection but I try to get as close as I can.
The song is very heavy and continues Meat Loaf's association with Major League Baseball established with Phil Rizzuto's commentary on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light".
[12] According to Steinman, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" was inspired by Wuthering Heights, and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create.
[14] Norwegian artist Marion Raven, who had been working on her solo album with Child, was chosen because the timbre of her voice starkly contrasts to Meat Loaf's.
[15] "Bad for Good" was one of the many songs written by Steinman under the inspiration of Peter Pan and lost boys who never grow up.
The song was written to appear on the follow-up to Bat Out of Hell, but which Steinman recorded himself as the album Bad for Good.
"[3] The Guardian said "In the Land of the Pig (The Butcher Is King)" is "five Olympian minutes crying out for a full production at Glyndebourne.
[10] It is about the intense power over subordinates: "Monstro" is a bombastic orchestral piece layered with chorals that lead into the piano introduction to "Alive".
[15] "What About Love", a piano-based duet with Patti Russo, is a sexually charged song that echoes "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" from the 1977 album.
They were unimpressed with the title track, suggesting that "whoever decided it would be a good idea for Meat Loaf to tackle nu metal…should be tarred and feathered."
They criticized "The Monster Is Loose" as "disarming, a grindingly metallic riff-rocker that sits very uncomfortably next to Steinman's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", and Child as "a professional who is playing a game without bothering to learn the rules."
On the other hand, the review commended Meat Loaf's voice: he sings "his heart out as he valiantly tries to make this Bat a worthy successor to the originals.
[3] The animated music video for "The Monster Is Loose" is about a biker who rescues a girl from an enormous bat-like creature.
The videos for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", "Cry Over Me" and "The Monster Is Loose" are included as bonus features on the 3 Bats Live DVD, released in October 2007.
Steinman's demo of "In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King" was part of the preparations for the unrealized Batman: The Musical project.
"Seize the Night" first appeared as "Carpe Noctem" in the German language musical Tanz der Vampire.
A limited edition was released with an accompanying DVD, containing a short "making of" featurette, the animated trailer, and "The Monster Is Loose" career montage video.
This track was originally announced to be on the CD itself, but Best Buy opted to include an insert in the packaging giving customers a code to download the song.
Portions of the tour were captured on film in the Theatrical Documentary Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise, directed by Bruce David Klein, which was released in 2008.