Judas Priest Discography Discussion (part 2 starting page 20)

I’m out of town until this weekend, looks like I’ll have some catching up to do!
I picked up Unleashed and British Steel on vinyl months ago and decided to wait for this thread to listen to them.
 
imo

Grinder > Living After Midnight
You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise > Living After Midnight
Steeler > Living After Midnight

Grinder* always, the rest after a while, at least. Just like Run to the Hills, Living after Midnight gets a bit meh at some point.

*These are not just riffs. These are a awesome, COOL riffs. Sort of mesmerizing music with the continuing bass and Halford playing around with his voice, I like the short lines with the pauses. The riffs have pauses to. Works very well. Great hacking metollllll riffs in the bridge later on with that heavy ride cymbal by Dave Holland.
 
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Grinder is way better live.

But I can’t be the only one who’s felt uncomfortable when Rob sings about looking for his meat & two veg?

Rapid Fire & Metal Gods destroys anything else here, esp those weary singles which should be retired.
 
I feel British Steel is lauded more due to containing the bands big hits and really being their mainstream breakthrough album. The first four songs are all classics, though I don’t really need to ever hear Breakin’ The Law again I do realise that it is a great song. After that though the album takes a real dive for me, United is atrocious, Living After Midnight rather dull and the rest is just filler in my book. Unfortunately the proportion of great songs to filler was further reduced on the next album.
 
It’s probably a product of my advanced age, but British Steel is one of the best sounding albums of all time.
 
Vantage Point said:
I feel British Steel is lauded more due to containing the bands big hits and really being their mainstream breakthrough album. The first four songs are all classics, though I don’t really need to ever hear Breakin’ The Law again I do realise that it is a great song. After that though the album takes a real dive for me, United is atrocious, Living After Midnight rather dull and the rest is just filler in my book. Unfortunately the proportion of great songs to filler was further reduced on the next album.
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I remember when I saw Priest, Rob couldn’t even be bothered to sing the lyrics to BTL, just stood there until the next song arrived.
 
Some of the live versions on Unleashed are really good. The Sad Wings material especially comes to life here. It's nice to have some "definitive" versions of these songs. The Sin After Sin and Stained Class material is good too. The guitars sound a lot fuller and, consequently, the songs sound heavier. The decision to leave off so much of the Killing Machine material is mind-boggling, especially considering Hell Bent For Leather, in particular, became a live staple. It'd be like if Maiden left Run To the Hills off Live After Death. That being said, I'm not sure what I'd take off the main album. It's a strong set of songs. I suppose this should've been a double.

I don't really consider Priest a live band in the same way as, say, Iron Maiden or Iced Earth. I enjoy seeing them live and listening to the live recordings, but it's very rare that I deviate from the studio albums. However, you could make the argument that the definitive Priest was born with Killing Machine. They found their sound during this time. So having live recordings of older songs to fit the new sound and image makes sense. Like I said earlier, these are the definitive versions of some of these songs.

If I were to give the album any criticism, it's that it doesn't really feel like a live album. Save for a few songs, the crowd seems nonexistent and there's no interaction with the audience. It just sounds like a raw performance in the studio (which it very well could be I suppose, at least we know the vocals were redone). The song list also doesn't really have that live concert flow. Exciter and Running Wild is a good 1 - 2 punch, but after that, it seems like a random slab of songs. Ending the concert with Tyrant also just seems really anticlimactic. You could make the argument that it's hard to replicate the flow of a live concert when confined to a single LP, but to that, I would submit Cheap Trick's At Budokan which was released a year earlier. That album excels where Unleashed falls short.
 
Mosh said:
Some of the live versions on Unleashed are really good. The Sad Wings material especially comes to life here. It's nice to have some "definitive" versions of these songs. The Sin After Sin and Stained Class material is good too. The guitars sound a lot fuller and, consequently, the songs sound heavier. The decision to leave off so much of the Killing Machine material is mind-boggling, especially considering Hell Bent For Leather, in particular, became a live staple. It'd be like if Maiden left Run To the Hills off Live After Death. That being said, I'm not sure what I'd take off the main album. It's a strong set of songs. I suppose this should've been a double.

I don't really consider Priest a live band in the same way as, say, Iron Maiden or Iced Earth. I enjoy seeing them live and listening to the live recordings, but it's very rare that I deviate from the studio albums. However, you could make the argument that the definitive Priest was born with Killing Machine. They found their sound during this time. So having live recordings of older songs to fit the new sound and image makes sense. Like I said earlier, these are the definitive versions of some of these songs.

If I were to give the album any criticism, it's that it doesn't really feel like a live album. Save for a few songs, the crowd seems nonexistent and there's no interaction with the audience. It just sounds like a raw performance in the studio (which it very well could be I suppose, at least we know the vocals were redone). The song list also doesn't really have that live concert flow. Exciter and Running Wild is a good 1 - 2 punch, but after that, it seems like a random slab of songs. Ending the concert with Tyrant also just seems really anticlimactic. You could make the argument that it's hard to replicate the flow of a live concert when confined to a single LP, but to that, I would submit Cheap Trick's At Budokan which was released a year earlier. That album excels where Unleashed falls short.
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Regarding overdubs, I remember reading a review years ago of the vinyl version of Unleashed in the East, where the reviewer called it "Unleashed in the Studio" and said despite the title there were only 2 overdubs ....... before adding "side one and side two" LOL

Still a cracking listen nevertheless ;)
 
Welsh Phantom said:
Regarding overdubs, I remember reading a review years ago of the vinyl version of Unleashed in the East, where the reviewer called it "Unleashed in the Studio" and said despite the title there were only 2 overdubs ....... before adding "side one and side two" LOL

Still a cracking listen nevertheless ;)
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I didn't know @Forostar had published his album reviews.
 
I wish !


I think some vocals were dubbed because Halford had a cold or something. The rest was real, I thought.
 
On the subject of Halford and questionable live vocals, is Live Insurrection... well, live? Incredible singing on there, but I can't help but feel it's too good to be genuine.

terrell39 said:
I read somewhere the live vocals were lost and had to be rerecorded in the studio
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I seem to recall reading that too.
 
Most that I hear sounds Studio Insurrection to me. Also (some of the) music and the audience. I had some discussions about this in the Priest topic.
 
Forostar said:
Most that I hear sounds Studio Insurrection to me. Also (some of the) music and the audience. I had some discussions about this in the Priest topic.
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Agreed. Rob has earned a reputation for this, with many live albums being not so live, with Unleashed in the Eastudio, Priest... Studio! and Studio Insurrection being probably the worst offenders.
 
It's easy to write off British Steel for being dumbed down or too poppy sounding, but this is a really strong album in a lot of ways. Priest really excels at writing straightforward material. There are so many memorable riffs, catchy choruses, and tight hooks here. It's not as dark as earlier albums, but it still sounds like Judas Priest. There is so much energy in these songs. I'm sure plenty of fans are tired of hearing Breaking the Law live, but it's hard to resist the power in the original studio version. Same goes for Metal Gods and Living After Midnight. There are also some great deeper cuts, like Grinder and The Rage. The only real misstep is United. Luckily they give up on trying to write songs like that after this.

Where guitar solos in earlier Priest songs mostly consisted of cacophonous blurs of notes and whammy abuse, the leads on British Steel have so much more melody and purpose. They better serve the songs here. The playing is also much tighter in general.

The production is also incredible. There was so much attention detail and creativity on display for this album. The way little guitar parts fade in and out, the creative recording techniques to create natural reverbs and ambiance, and, of course, the organic sound effects. The instruments also just sound so clear and crisp. Listening to the original master on vinyl has also been a revelation for me. My only experience with British Steel was the remastered CD which sounds so stale and lifeless in comparison. The instruments really breathe in the original version. A very organic sounding record.
 
Mosh said:
The only real misstep is United. Luckily they give up on trying to write songs like that after this.
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They did kind of try again with Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith, I think that's a lot stronger than United though.
 
Rob Halford is an amazingly versatile singer, but if there ever was a song in his wheelhouse it is The Rage.
The power and the phrasing are exquisite. It’s mostly crystal clear, but he adds just right touch of gruffness in select sections.

And an absolutely brilliant, utterly original composition to boot.

British Steel is a great example of how less can be more: crackling with energy, there are more hooks here than most artists create in a career.
 
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