May 9, 1999 11:51

TOTAL CHANGE OF THE HEART

[a]NME[/a] story causes [a]Meat Loaf[/a] collaborator to back down over ban on [B]Bonnie Tyler[/B] quote...

THE BETA BAND, who recorded a brand new track live on last night's Mary Anne Hobbs show, will release their debut album in its originally intended form, partially thanks to an NME news story.

A story in the May 15 issue reported that Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman had banned The Beta Band from using lyrics from his song 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' which became a hit in 1983 for Welsh songstress Bonnie Tyler.

The Betas had used the words, "Once upon a time I was falling in love/But now I'm only falling apart" on 'The Hard One' and were faced with rerecording it at the last minute. But a spokeswoman told NME that Steinman had a change of heart soon after the news came out.

She said: "When Jim Steinman saw the NME story, he went and listened to the track and thought it was great. He's told us we can use it now."

'The Beta Band' is due for release on Regal on June 21.