Back when I covered the original recording of “Bad for Good,” I mentioned that lots of articles about Steinman after his death had mentioned the song as a highlight from his non-Meat Loaf work. I didn’t mention it there because I knew I would cover this later, but part of why I found that odd is that it’s a song Meat Loaf did eventually cover, on the contentious album that led to the falling out between Meat Loaf and Steinman most felt compelled to mention.

The lyrics are almost identical to the original, with the only changes being some cuts. The chorus is shortened a bit by reducing some of the repetition of the title phrase and the “God speed/Speed us away” bridge is removed entirely. They’re small changes but they actually cut the song down significantly: Steinman’s was a minute and 12 seconds longer.

While Steinman is absent, Meat Loaf does seem to have put forth an effort to connect this album to the Bat releases, and that manifests in a few familiar names showing up on this track: backing vocalists Eric Troyer (Who did not appear on “Bad for Good” but made regular Steinman appearances.), Todd Rundgren (Who also sang backing vocals on the original but here gets an additional credit for arranging the background vocals.), and Kasim Sulton (Who also played bass on both versions of this song.). Kenny Aaronoff, while he did not appear on “Bad for Good,” also has plenty of Steinman history. However, whether due to the ravages of time or the other circumstances surrounding this album, the rest of the musicians are new. And, as had become (and would continue to be) de rigueur for a Meat Loaf album, there is a famous guest star in guitarist Brian May. Yes, the famous astrophysicist.

Like with the lyrics, the changes in the song’s music are seemingly small but are definitely noticeable. The first verse includes much more guitar than in the original, which gives the song less build. Matt Rollings’s piano, whether because of the piano itself, the player, or something else entirely, sounds completely unlike Roy Bittan’s in the original. The “For the good of . . .” bridge, missing the “Godspeed” section, has much more consistent guitar, which again limits the dynamics of the song. There is an organ present though much of the song, though it doesn’t draw a lot of attention. There is some part of the rhythm that’s more noticeable–it honestly sounds like something close to a xylophone–in a negative way, sounding rather like someone opened a child’s music box during recording. Altogether, it’s not all that different than the original, but it amounts to a sound that just has less build, less range, and less originality. And then there’s Brian May’s guitar solo, which just sounds really out of place to me–it sounds disappointingly like he beamed in never having heard the song and just made something up and went home. I also can’t put my finger on why, but all of the loudest moments of this song just seem way more sedate and controlled than the original. The differences are honestly pretty small but I feel like all of them are negative.

Of course, the biggest difference is replacing Steinman’s vocal with Meat Loaf. But there’s actually a surprising similarity there to the musical changes. Meat Loaf can consistently hit the notes and sound competent throughout, which Steinman couldn’t necessarily do. However, the really over-the-top attempts at emoting from Steinman were rather endearing and added to the sort of crazed creative atmosphere of both this song and indeed the entire Bad for Good album.

While the changes to the song are small in a technical sense, it seems like this version of “Bad for Good” is a sharper, more competently played, but less fun, less excited version of the song. Some of the differences are even difficult to explain, but they just combine to make it feel more sterile. Part of me wonders if I’m just trying to justify preferring the Steinman version because I want to prefer that one, but I would like to think that I’m basing my preference on real differences.