But He Won’t Do That

Some artists go soft in their old age, but at age 62, Marvin Lee Aday isn’t about to serve up the same old leftover Meat Loaf. After spinning a career out of the seven epic piano rockers and sweeping ballads on 1977’s Bat Out of Hell, the Dallas native turned his back on a promising future in Southern California Jimmy John’s franchises to unleash a whole new album earlier this year. Hang Cool, Teddy Bear is all hard-boiled attitude; Meat’s got no patience for namby-pamby ballads this time around; he’s older, he’s angier, and he’s got a problem. It’s in his pants, and in “California (Isn’t Big Enough)” he’ll tell you all about it. If you know Loaf’s preceding record, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, you might already have an idea. If nothing else, his latest bout of in-your-face lyricism proves you can’t cut a man down for jumping the shark in his later years, if his entire career has been one unending, operatic, shark-jumping, hog-back circus ride through a ring of hellfire–nearly, but not quite, broken by a dalliance with sandwiches. Meat Loaf’s daughter Pearl opens his show this Thursday at the House of Blues; doors are at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34 to $100. Call 214-978-2583 or visit houseofblues.com.

Thu., Aug. 26, 8 p.m., 2010