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NEW YORK - Aging rocker Meat Loaf released his third Bat Out Of Hell album on Tuesday knowing that his previous rock operas were big hits but produced divisive reactions.
"With a Bat Out Of Hell record, you either love it, and you really love it, or you hate it, and you really hate it and you despise everything about it," he said.
"Those people that hate it need psychological help," he said.
The first single, It's All Coming Back To Me Now, has reached the top five in Britain, Germany and Switzerland, but the beefy Texan acknowledged success in Europe does not always cross the Atlantic.
"How do you explain Robbie Williams being number one all through Europe and not doing anything here? It never made any sense to me," he said, referring to the British singer's relative obscurity in America.
The album came out in the United States on Tuesday, timed to Halloween, and will be released in parts of Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan next year when Meat Loaf will perform 112 shows in a world tour.
The new album, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose, will be the last album in the series, Meat Loaf said.
It was delayed after a legal dispute with songwriter Jim Steinman, with Meat Loaf claiming Steinman wrongfully registered the Bat Out Of Hell phrase as his trademark.
Meat Loaf has since dropped the multimillion-dollar lawsuit, calling it a dispute "between lawyers."
"It wasn't between me and Jim," he said.
Steinman wrote seven songs on the new album after collaborating on tracks on the previous two albums, 1977's Bat Out of Hell and 1993's Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, which sold a more than 45 million copies combined and included the hits You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth and I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).
Meat Loaf, born Marvin Lee Aday, also has had a successful acting career, appearing in more than 40 films including the 1975 cult hit The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
He is vague about his age, with reports of his birth year ranging from 1947 to 1951.
"Women never give their age, it's not polite to ask," he said. "And I'm in touch with my feminine side, OK?"
- REUTERS
