"His biggest indictment is being fired by Def Leopard (LOL)."
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](https://bassoutpost.com/Smileys/default/mrgreen.gif)
I actually regret that we don't have a Steinman-produced Hysteria. I really dug the predecessor, the likewise Mutt Lange-produced Pyromania which still had the edge and grit of youth, but Hysteria was produced to death by Lange. It sounded then and sounds today totally lifeless to me. IMHO, the Leps chickened out without their mastermind and had a knee jerk reaction dumping Steinman as a producer. I'm not saying that Steinman would have done an immaculate job, the result would have more likely been tragically flawed, but it would have been at least interesting. In an alternative universe, I would have imagined a Bob Ezrin'esque outcome.
Conventional wisdom has it that Steinman produced Bat Out Of Hell. He didn't, Todd Rundgren did (as Joe Elliott observed at the time). Steinman wasn't an engineer-producer, but a musical director (apart from being a songwriter), that approach didn't work for the Leps who wanted their best possible performances down on tape/hard disk with the best possible sound (Steinman wanted them to get something down, perfect or not, that "felt right" initially and work from there, layer for layer).
In contrast, Mutt Lange's code of conduct is perfection and sonic separation, he can be sparse (remember that this is also the man behind AC/DC's Highway to Hell and Back in Black albums) or he can be lavish, but he's never cluttered (Steinman can be, but then his musical taste is piano-driven, Lange produces chiefly drum and guitar sounds).
PS: I really like Diane's version, thanks!