On the post-Thanksgiving menu: A healthy slice of Meat Loaf

A new generation continues to order Meat Loaf.

It has to do with the fact that he serves up an artistic plate of reality, theorizes the amiable singer and actor.

In that pursuit, he has sold more than 50 million albums, been in upward of 30 films and authored an autobiography.

And he wants people to know "I still exist."

"People forget about you. It's so disposable nowadays. If you haven't been in a city in a year, you are on the ‘Where Are They Now?' show. It's like completely insane: ‘The last time we saw him was 2001. Where is he now?' "

He doesn't plan on going anywhere soon — or later.

"I love what I do. I have passion for what I do. If I didn't, I couldn't do it. I love learning and creating," he explains. "It's like a guy who is a carpenter and loves being a carpenter. He will be out there hammering the nail and building whatever he builds until he can't build anymore. Anybody who has passion and love for what they do, that's what they do. People retire from factory auto lines." He laughs.

It's very simple, he emphasizes. If you love what you do, you don't want to stop. "There's no rhyme and reason to, as long as you continue to do the work."

This veteran artist assures it is no struggle to keep it all fresh.

"There is so much new and so much to learn and improvement to be made. As long as that's what it's about, you keep doing it. It's about making today better than yesterday."

He does not shirk from a formidable workload. It was not that long ago that he simultaneously was involved in promoting two films, a book, a record and a concert tour.

As he speaks, he is fresh from finishing another film, preparing to release a single ("Did I Say That") in Europe and readying a new studio CD, "I Could Have Said It Better," for the U.S. market.

Will the new album surprise people?

"I don't know. If you go watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play football, you are gonna go watch different players (through the years) in the same uniform. They will still run and throw a pass and kick the ball," Meat Loaf says.

"If you go see Pink or U2 or Bruce Springsteen, they will do what they do. They do have radical departures, but the minute it comes on, it sounds like Bono or Bruce singing a song. Even if he does it acoustic or whatever, it's Bruce doing basically what Bruce does. People do what they do. Monet painted impressionistic paintings. Yes, they were great and offered different themes, but it still was Monet."

The real question, he suggests, is "Is it good?"

"I can't be Eminem, and he can never be me. He will not attempt to sing ‘Bat Out Of Hell' or ‘Born To Run' or any of that. I won't go attempt to talk about beating up my girlfriend with a hammer, or whatever he sings about."

So, the question begs to be asked: Is Meat Loaf's new CD (the release date has not been set) good?

"The album is great," he says. "As far as the way it feels, you can never do apples and oranges, and I'm not comparing it to ‘Bat Out Of Hell' (his debut album which has sold 30 million copies and is among the best-selling albums in history). I was never pushed and rushed and had the time to make ‘Bat' as perfect as I could make it."

That's what his forthcoming album feels like to him, in the sense that he has not been rushed. "I've been working on this for four years. I've pulled songs in, taken songs off, and said, ‘This record is done' and ‘No, it's not.' The record was finished last year, then I said, ‘No, it's not.' "

He sat down with more writers, then went and played live and acted in a movie. "When you do this, you are surrounded by creativity. It inspires creative thoughts — or should. You act and hear things and go ‘Oh, wow, OK, we could keep this going for another eight years without a doubt.' At some point, I have to say, ‘I have this. This is what I was going for.' "

He believes his acting informs his music and vice versa.

The film he just wrapped (it has no title) is a black comedy that includes Michelle Williams of "Dawson's Creek."

It was a test for Meat Loaf.

"I play a bad guy, a really, really bad guy. He shoots his dog, his daughter and a 78-year-old man," he explains. "I like to make these bad guys have some redeeming quality. This is going to be tough to get any sympathy for this guy. When you kill a 78-year-old with a rock, it gets tough to get sympathy out of that." He laughs.

In "Fight Club," co-starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, he portrayed a one-time body-builder battling cancer.

"Everything I do resurrects something else, or brings something else around. Some (new) people discovered me from ‘Flight Club,' " he says.

Every day, he says, people approach him and say they need an autograph for their wife or husband, son or daughter. "They say, ‘My daughter loves you as much as my husband.' "

His dramatic "Bat Out Of Hell" CD seems to be a rite of passage for new generations.

It touches people, he says, because "It's about the real deal." Meat Loaf says he occasionally logs onto Amazon.com and reads the comments people make about the CD.

"They talk about it being real," he says. "The CD talks about real things and portrays real moments. Yes, it's done in a tongue-in-cheek and in a poetic manner, but it really deals with moment-to-moment reality."

He uses Tennessee Williams as an example.

"Why do people still go see his work• Why does it still register• Because it's about real, tangible feelings. When you sit and watch it you relate your life into that. It's so strongly written and deals with the reality of your life."

Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf's former lyricist, and author of the "Bat Out Of Hell" material, has the ability to do that with his writing, he says. "He's really good at that."

"I think there are songs on this new record, I know there are two or three songs that are exactly the same (in terms of conveying the reality of ‘Bat'). They touch that chord, and they are about real tangible things. Whether people like the poetry or not is a different thing. But they can't say it's not real."

Singer-songwriter James Michael, Nicky Sixx and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra are among the writing contributors to "I Could Have Said It Better."

Meat Loaf continues to hold to his philosophy that he never intends for people to see him inside a song. "I want them to see themselves. When you go see (Arthur Miller's play) ‘Death Of A Salesman,' you are watching one thing but the feeling is you are taking it into your own life. You may not be Willie and the salesman, but you have feelings from it that you relate to your own being and self."

That's what he wants audiences to do with his songs.

"People, the rock business and writers, go ‘He doesn't write. He can't possibly feel that.' That drives me completely insane when they say that. If I write about my life experience, yes, there is a certain element there. Eminem writes about his life experience. I listen to it and I can't relate to it. I don't know that. That limits the experience. Some people can relate to his experiences but it is limited."

Meat Loaf says he does not want to erect fences around what he does. He wants his material to be inclusive.

"What I do has no limits. It's just endless. It just goes on because it does have to do with what people feel. I disagree when someone says if you don't write your own songs about your life experience you can't possibly feel it."

More than 50 million fans stand ready to testify that Meat Loaf is all about "feeling it." And he stands ready to give new fans a taste of what it's all about.