Counting down: favorite Meat Loaf obscurity

Part two of my three part countdown to reaching my 1000th Meat Loaf track tracked on Last.fm. Today it’s time for Presence of the Lord, a B-side from 1973.

The very first thing Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman recorded together was a single for RSO Records. The A-side was “More Than You Deserve”, the title track of a musical Jim wrote, and on the flip side was “Presence of The Lord”, a song written by Eric Clapton for his band Blind Faith.

While a re-recorded version of “More Than You Deserve” eventually appeared on Dead Ringer, “Presence of the Lord” is only ever released on that one single. Promotional copies were send out to radio stations in Boston, but then the entire staff of RSO Records was supposedly fired on the day the single was supposed to be released, sending it into obscurity.

This single’s B-side is by far my favorite Meat Loaf rarity. I really dig the instrumental interlude with the organ, and Meat’s voice is stunning. Jim’s only known comment on the track accurately describes it’s appeal: One of the most bizarre things I’ve ever heard.
⇒ download Presence of The Lord [6.5MB, right click, save as…]