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Original Sin | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 6, 1989 | |||
Studio | Power Station, New York City | |||
Genre | Pop, Wagnerian rock | |||
Length | 67:19 | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Producer | Jim Steinman; co-produced by Roy Bittan & Larry Alexander | |||
Jim Steinman chronology | ||||
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Singles from Original Sin | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Kerrang! | [3] |
New Musical Express | 5/10 [4] |
Original Sin is a concept album performed by Pandora's Box and produced by Jim Steinman. It was released on November 6, 1989. [5] Steinman wrote the majority of this album, although there are a couple of cover versions. It was the group's only album, and was a commercial flop.
Although the album was not a commercial success (except in South Africa), many of the songs have gone platinum with other artists. Steinman is said to have been very proud of the songs on this album, even though Original Sin sold very poorly in comparison with his highest selling albums and songs. The album charted at No. 43 in Sweden. [6]
The album was re-released in 2006 along with a DVD featuring the videos for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)", a featurette featuring interviews and performances by Steinman.
Music videos were produced for the songs "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "Good Girls Go to Heaven".
Ken Russell directed the video for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now". It was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Steinman wrote the script, based on Russell's segment in the compilation opera movie Aria . [7] Elements include leather, snakes, tombstones and cockrings with shrunken heads, and the video features singer Elaine Caswell as a girl near death—from a motorcycle crash—being ministered to by paramedics, fantasising and being 'sexually aroused by a large python and writhing on a bed that lit up in time with the music, while surrounded by a group of bemused, semi-naked dancers'. [8] When Steinman's manager saw it, he responded 'It's a porno movie!' [7] The two-day shoot ran over schedule and budget, costing £35,000 an hour. Russell and Steinman even designed a sequence where a motorcyclist would cycle up the steps of a local church-tower, jump out of the turrets at the top, and then explode; alas, the wardens of the church refused permission. [8]
The video for "Good Girls Go to Heaven", directed by Brian Grant, was set in a prison. It shows the arrival of a new inmate called Jenny (the name featured in the first chorus) and her induction. As the song begins, the other inmates dance around her. As the prison is signposted as "Pandora's House Of Detention", matching the phrasing in the song "City Night" from Jim Steinman's Neverland / Bat 2100, we can assume this video was intended to depict something within Steinman's "Obsidian" mythos (the 40+ year project which culminated with Bat Out of Hell: The Musical ). The only member of Pandora's Box to appear in the video is Ellen Foley (and only as part of the dance ensemble) - although vocals for this song were performed by Holly Sherwood.
All tracks are written by Jim Steinman, except where otherwise noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
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1. | "The Invocation" ( The Chill (1963)) | Ross Macdonald (uncredited) | Ellen Foley | 0:21 |
2. | "Original Sin (The Natives Are Restless Tonight)" |
| 6:27 | |
3. | "Twentieth Century Fox" |
|
| 5:32 |
4. | "Safe Sex" | Taylor | 6:24 | |
5. | "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" | Sherwood | 6:25 | |
6. | "Requiem Metal" (excerpt from Requiem , instrumental) | Giuseppe Verdi | Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kazimierz Kord | 0:52 |
7. | "I've Been Dreaming Up a Storm Lately" (monologue) | Steinman | 3:03 | |
8. | "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" | Caswell | 8:22 | |
9. | "The Opening of the Box" (excerpt from "The Storm", instrumental, produced by Andrew Kazdin [9] ) | New York Philharmonic, conducted by Steven Margoshes | 2:00 | |
10. | "The Want Ad" (monologue) | Foley | 2:44 | |
11. | "My Little Red Book" | Foley | 4:11 | |
12. | "It Just Won't Quit" | Caswell | 6:39 | |
13. | "Pray Lewd" (solo piano medley of "Original Sin", "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and "It Just Won't Quit", instrumental) | Margoshes | 3:38 | |
14. | "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be" | Taylor | 10:32 | |
Total length: | 67:10 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Pandora's House: Room By Room" (edit from promo single, medley of all tracks except "It's All Coming Back to Me Now") |
| Various artists | 12:18 |
2. | "A Teenager In Love" (interpolation of "I've Been Dreaming Up A Storm Lately" and "Nocturnal Pleasure", monologue) | Steinman | 0:57 | |
3. | "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (single edit) | Caswell | 6:35 | |
4. | "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" (single edit) | Sherwood | 4:36 | |
5. | "Safe Sex (When It Comes 2 Loving U)" | Taylor | 4:18 | |
Total length: | 28:44 |
Steinman regularly reworked previous material for a newer project, and much of Original Sin was recycled, as listed in the table below. Some demo versions of tracks recorded by others are listed. Some tracks were intended to be released on The Dream Engine's debut album.
Track no. | Title | Subsequent cover versions |
---|---|---|
1 | The Invocation | Featured in Jim Steinman's musical Neverland, and subsequently reused in Bat Out of Hell: The Musical . |
2 | Original Sin (The Natives Are Restless Tonight) | Taylor Dayne on the soundtrack to the 1994 movie version of The Shadow ; Meat Loaf on Welcome to the Neighborhood ; rewritten as "Gott ist tot" ("God is Dead") and "Einladung zum Ball" ("Invitation to the Ball") for Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires) |
3 | Twentieth Century Fox | Cover version: The Doors (1967), though the gender pronouns have been switched to indicate a male "fox". The song opens with the 20th Century Fox Fanfare before sampling Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix and includes a snippet of "Light My Fire" at the end. A new lyric during the bridge refers to "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett. |
4 | Safe Sex | A demo of "Safe Sex" performed by Canadian vocalist Karine Hannah has been leaked onto the internet from the period when she was working with Steinman on an ill-fated album; it was expected to appear on The Dream Engine's debut album [11] |
5 | Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere) | The first version of this song ever released was in Japanese, by Megumi Shiina under the name 悲しみは続かない ("Kanashimi wa tsuzukanai") in 1986, and used as opening theme for 1986-1987 Japanese drama このこ誰の子? (Kono ko dare no ko?) . Meat Loaf on Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell . Also performed in early Manchester previews of Bat Out of Hell: The Musical and included in the Official Cast Recording. |
6 | Requiem Metal | Re-used as backing track for "Wasted Youth" on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell |
7 | I've Been Dreaming up a Storm Lately | An earlier version of this piece featured in Steinman's 1969 musical The Dream Engine. Re-used in an early draft of Dance of the Vampires, and in Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical. |
8 | It's All Coming Back to Me Now | Céline Dion on Falling into You ; Meat Loaf and Marion Raven on Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose. Featured in all versions of Bat Out Of Hell: The Musical. |
9 | The Opening of the Box | The first incarnation of this melody was heard as the introduction to "Hymn to Fire" within Jim Steinman's play The Dream Engine in 1969. Re-used in Dance of the Vampires |
10 | The Want Ad | Featured in Jim Steinman's musicals The Dream Engine (1969) and Neverland (1977) |
11 | My Little Red Book | This is a cover version: written by Burt Bacharach; the arrangement closely follows the cover by Love on their first album. |
12 | It Just Won't Quit | Meat Loaf on Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. Featured in Bat Out of Hell: The Musical in the initial Manchester and London runs, and included in the Original Cast Recording. |
13 | Pray Lewd | Covered at some Dream Engine/Over the Top concerts |
14 | The Future Ain't What It Used to Be | Erika Christensen on Wuthering Heights OST (re-using the original Roy Bittan piano track); Meat Loaf and Jennifer Hudson on Bat Out of Hell III |
Note: When "Safe Sex" was released as a single, it was released under the title "Safe Sex (When It Comes 2 Loving U)".
In the slipstream of the release of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose , Virgin / EMI released a two disc special edition. The first disc contains the remastered original album, while the second disc is a DVD, containing the two promo videos, and some additional promotional footage.
DVD Produced by Abbey Road Interactive
Chart (1989–90) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [12] | 127 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [13] | 43 |
UK Heavy Metal Albums (Spotlight Research) [14] | 4 |
James Richard Steinman was an American composer, lyricist and record producer. He also worked as an arranger, pianist, and singer. His work included songs in the adult contemporary, rock, dance, pop, musical theater, and film score genres. He wrote songs for Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf, including Bat Out of Hell, and also wrote and produced Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night.
Bat Out of Hell is the 1977 debut album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. The album was developed from a musical, Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan, which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. It was recorded during 1975–1976 at various studios, including Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren, and released in October 1977 by Cleveland International/Epic Records. Bat Out of Hell spawned two Meat Loaf sequel albums: Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006).
Bad for Good is the only studio album by American songwriter Jim Steinman. Steinman wrote all of the songs and performed on most, although Rory Dodd contributed lead vocals on some tracks.
Ellen Foley is an American singer and actress who has appeared on Broadway and television, where she co-starred in the hit NBC sitcom Night Court during its second season. In music, she has released five solo albums, but she is best known for her collaborations with rock singer Meat Loaf, particularly the 14× Platinum selling 1977 album Bat Out of Hell.
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell is the sixth studio album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and the second one in the Bat Out of Hell trilogy, which was written and produced by Jim Steinman. It was released on September 14, 1993, sixteen years after Meat Loaf's first solo album Bat Out of Hell. The album reached number 1 in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Five tracks were released as singles, including "I'd Do Anything for Love ", which reached number 1 in 28 countries.
Holly Sherwood is an American rock vocalist, best known for her work with Jim Steinman, providing both lead and backing vocals.
Pandora's Box was a female pop group, assembled by Jim Steinman in the 1980s. Some of its members had previously worked with Steinman, in the ensemble Fire Inc., on the album Bat Out of Hell, on live shows and on other studio recordings. They produced one concept album, Original Sin, released in 1989.
"Nowhere Fast" is a song, performed by Fire Inc. in 1984 for the rock movie Streets of Fire. An alternate version of the song was recorded by Meat Loaf the same year. The song was written by Jim Steinman.
Faster Than the Speed of Night is the fifth studio album by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. It was released in Europe on 8 April 1983 and later that year in the US through Columbia Records.
Wuthering Heights is a modern-day adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic 1847 novel that aired on MTV in 2003 and was later released on DVD. It stars Erika Christensen, Mike Vogel, Christopher Masterson, Katherine Heigl, John Doe and Aimee Osbourne. The screenplay was by Max Enscoe and Annie deYoung, from an original screenplay by Jim Steinman and Patricia Knop. Although set in California, the filming location was Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.
Bat out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is a live album released by singer Meat Loaf in 2004 on the Mercury and Sanctuary labels.
Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose is the ninth studio album by Meat Loaf, and the third and final album in the Bat Out of Hell trilogy. It was released in Ireland on October 20, 2006, 29 years after Bat Out of Hell (1977), and 13 years after Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993). It was released in the UK on October 23, 2006, and in the US on October 31, 2006.
The Dream Engine is the name of a music performance group created by Jim Steinman and Steven Rinkoff, first publicly presented in 2006. They only performed songs written or co-written by Steinman. TDE did live performances, and worked on studio recordings.
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a power ballad written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman, the song was inspired by Wuthering Heights, and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create. The Sunday Times posits that "Steinman protects his songs as if they were his children". Meat Loaf, who had collaborated with Steinman on most of his hit songs, had wanted to record the song for years, but Steinman refused, saying he saw it as a "woman's song". Steinman won a court case, which prevented Meat Loaf from recording it. Girl group Pandora's Box went on to record it, and it was subsequently made famous through a cover by Celine Dion, which upset Meat Loaf because he was going to use it for a planned album with the working title Bat Out of Hell III.
VH1: Storytellers is a live album by Meat Loaf, released in 1999. Meat Loaf told humorous stories of his career as a singer and how he unfolded into rock stardom. The DVD version has two additional songs. Some songs on the CD are taken from Meat Loaf's Hard Rock Live performance. Others were taken from the pre-show soundcheck. The album peaked at No. 129 on the Billboard 200, making it his lowest charting album in the United States.
"Bat Out of Hell" is a song written by Jim Steinman for the 1977 album Bat Out of Hell and performed by Meat Loaf. In Australia, the song was picked as the second single from the album in May 1978, accompanied by a music video. In January 1979, the song was released as a single in the UK and other European countries, and re-released in 1993.
"Original Sin" is a song produced, written and arranged by Jim Steinman. Steinman originally wrote, composed, and produced the song for the album of the same name by the musical team called Pandora's Box. American singer Taylor Dayne covered the song, and it was released as a single on June 26, 1994, and included in the soundtrack to the film The Shadow. The photograph displayed on the cover of Dayne's single was shot by Alberto Tolot, taken on the set of its music video. This version of the song has slightly altered lyrics referring to the themes of the movie different from the ones sung by Meat Loaf on Welcome to the Neighborhood and Pandora's Box.
"Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" is a song written by American composer Jim Steinman. It was first featured on Steinman's 1981 solo album Bad for Good, with lead vocals by an uncredited Rory Dodd. It was later recorded by American singer Meat Loaf and released in 1994 as the third single from the album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell.
"Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" is a song written by Jim Steinman. It was first performed by Megumi Shiina as "Kanashimi Wa Tsudzukanai" (悲しみは続かない, lit. "sadness doesn't last") and used as the opening to the 1986 Japanese TV drama Kono Ko Dare no Ko? The song was first performed in English by Pandora's Box, on their 1989 album, Original Sin, with Holly Sherwood singing lead vocals.
"Safe Sex" is a song by American band Pandora's Box, released on June 11, 1990, as the third and final single from their only studio album, Original Sin (1989). The song was written and produced by Jim Steinman.