Judas Priest Discography Discussion (part 2 starting page 20)
- Thread starter Mosh
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Ziggyplayedguitar
Educated Fool
Sorry but Love Bites is awesome.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Agreed on that first half! I'll have to wait and see how Love Bites sounds on some later live albums (presuming it's on them).
As for Eat Me Alive, I just can't do it. I think sexual innuendo songs are cringeworthy, but this is another level. Easily my least favorite thing about Priest is Rob's desire to have at least one S&M/dirty sex song per album. This band is better than that lame subject matter.
I don't think I'm being tremendously negative on anything except the last two "songs". I seriously don't understand how anyone could consider those songs to be A. anything more than bland filler and B. actually a good way to close out an album full of progressive, emotional, aggressive material.
I can hear a similar aggression and hunger in Defenders and Screaming (plus their close proximity in release dates), but otherwise I very much agree that Defenders has far more technical and progressive elements. I wish the back half of the album lived up to the first.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Just adding:
Some Heads! I said Some Heads! I said Some Heads...... Are Gonna Rooole !
Awesome song, I love it. There's some threatening anger and I think the laid back tempo does not play an unimportant role in this. I totally love that main riff. Infectious, hypnotic, I can't get enough of it. I also like that backing higher chord guitar during later verses and the vocals and solos are perfection throughout the whole song.
Check this version (perhaps best listen, don't be disturbed by the Glam Rock/Hair Band looks!).:
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Damn, you are powering through the roots of my Priest love at breakneck speed. I have some serious catching up to do.
But awesome take on side one of Defenders. That four-song run sits at the heart of my love for Priest; they could have produced nothing else but that and still ranked among my all-time bands.
Give Freewheel a 10, allow yourself a delighted chuckle at its rapid fire vocal on the bridge, and mention how Rock Hard’s lyrics manage to tackle some very cheesy subject matter with a degree of dignity and I’d agree with every word.
But awesome take on side one of Defenders. That four-song run sits at the heart of my love for Priest; they could have produced nothing else but that and still ranked among my all-time bands.
Give Freewheel a 10, allow yourself a delighted chuckle at its rapid fire vocal on the bridge, and mention how Rock Hard’s lyrics manage to tackle some very cheesy subject matter with a degree of dignity and I’d agree with every word.
Also agree entirely on Night Comes Down and Eat Me Alive.
The latter is as coarse and inappropriate as a wet fart during a tearful eulogy, lacking the slightest colouring of redeeming wit or sedition. And that’s almost as true musically as it is lyrically.
The former is a rare piece of anguished beauty featuring one of Rob’s most heart-wrenching vocal performances. It’s not often a song can be heavy without being aggressive, but they pull it off.
I think I like Heads Are Gonna Roll a bit more than you, but agree with the major points of your take.
And I’d like to emphasize this album overall features some of the most consistently good soloing of any record I own - well-composed, edgy and always adding to the songs.
The latter is as coarse and inappropriate as a wet fart during a tearful eulogy, lacking the slightest colouring of redeeming wit or sedition. And that’s almost as true musically as it is lyrically.
The former is a rare piece of anguished beauty featuring one of Rob’s most heart-wrenching vocal performances. It’s not often a song can be heavy without being aggressive, but they pull it off.
I think I like Heads Are Gonna Roll a bit more than you, but agree with the major points of your take.
And I’d like to emphasize this album overall features some of the most consistently good soloing of any record I own - well-composed, edgy and always adding to the songs.
I think I might finally get what Foro is talking about when he’s on about bias.
Because, while I understand your critique of the two tracks I have yet to comment on, I can’t separate my feelings for those songs from the circumstances that I first heard them.
I discovered Priest in ‘82 as a young teen, when a friend played me Metal Gods. I bought the album shortly after, followed by Hell Bent, Screaming, Unleashed, Point of Entry and the compilation Hero, Hero over the next year or so. By the time the spring of 1984 rolled around, I was primed and ready for my first new release from the band.
Defenders lived up to the wait and that May I made my first concert road trip with a group of friends - a five-hour jaunt to the Seattle suburb of Tacoma. The red laser eyes of the metallian cutting through the darkness and fog as the anticipation built, then those opening bass notes of Loves Bites echoing through the arena - unforgettable. The song was edgy, nasty and it utterly, completely rocked. That show set an attendance record for an audience gathered just to see Priest. Watching Rob shaking his head in amazement as 25,000 fans sang “we are defenders of the faith” back to him forgives any issues I might have with that track’s pandering simplicity. It was built for a packed arena. And in a packed arena it will forever remain in my mind.
Because, while I understand your critique of the two tracks I have yet to comment on, I can’t separate my feelings for those songs from the circumstances that I first heard them.
I discovered Priest in ‘82 as a young teen, when a friend played me Metal Gods. I bought the album shortly after, followed by Hell Bent, Screaming, Unleashed, Point of Entry and the compilation Hero, Hero over the next year or so. By the time the spring of 1984 rolled around, I was primed and ready for my first new release from the band.
Defenders lived up to the wait and that May I made my first concert road trip with a group of friends - a five-hour jaunt to the Seattle suburb of Tacoma. The red laser eyes of the metallian cutting through the darkness and fog as the anticipation built, then those opening bass notes of Loves Bites echoing through the arena - unforgettable. The song was edgy, nasty and it utterly, completely rocked. That show set an attendance record for an audience gathered just to see Priest. Watching Rob shaking his head in amazement as 25,000 fans sang “we are defenders of the faith” back to him forgives any issues I might have with that track’s pandering simplicity. It was built for a packed arena. And in a packed arena it will forever remain in my mind.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Absolutely! I was shocked at how well crafted most of the solos seemed to be, even KK's!
That all makes a ton of sense and I completely understand your point of view. Unfortunately, I'll never experience that exact perfect moment and simply based on the recording, 34 years later, I stand by my reaction.
Also, I just listened to Turbo for the first time...
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Also: WARNING. The album after Turbo also has a slow album closer. The slowest song of the catalog perhaps, at doom speed. And incredibly cheesy metal lyrics. Still it feels more as a song, has a solo and I think it is way better than a couple of others on the album.
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Defenders saw the summer turn fat and lazy, heading towards the inevitable fall, right in the middle of the record.
The Bites/Eat/Heads trio is competent enough, but a few minutes ago we were listening the mini metal symphonies and now we're confronted with pop music.
Night is nice, but no Fever. Heavy Duty is wasted space, although they do this stuff well. Still, we have the title track to come...oh.
Here's looking forward to the next one. It'll blow us away(or it'll just blow).
The Bites/Eat/Heads trio is competent enough, but a few minutes ago we were listening the mini metal symphonies and now we're confronted with pop music.
Night is nice, but no Fever. Heavy Duty is wasted space, although they do this stuff well. Still, we have the title track to come...oh.
Here's looking forward to the next one. It'll blow us away(or it'll just blow).
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
O nooo. I hope the catchiness of the music of some songs still gets a chance despite the lyrics.
Currently on spin two and just now noticing the bad lyrics...all of spin one was focused trying to figure out if I had mistakenly played a synth pop or glam metal record. The production is so pop it's sickening.
There's definitely some hooks, but so far the keyboards, boring arrangements, lack of guitars, and obnoxious gang vocals are really grinding my gears.
This is why the “cheesy” lyrics get a pass for me with Priest. Halford delivers them with so much power and conviction that it’s hard not to be persuaded. I can’t say there are many times I’ve cringed to a Priest song.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
What is your audio source @MrKnickerbocker The only full album I see on YouTube sounds like shit.
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Also not much choice for the title track. The video sounds best, I guess.
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Also not much choice for the title track. The video sounds best, I guess.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Boy, you weren't kidding.
Turbo (1986)
Turbo Lover – Immediately I hate what I’m hearing. This doesn’t sound like Judas Priest, it certainly doesn’t like heavy metal. Is this Priest’s Somewhere In Time? No, because SIT never pandered to a pop sound this much, even with the synthesizers. It’s drenched in synth and keyboards and there’s virtually no guitar in the mix. When the guitars come in the song actually gets decent but it’s mired by a boring mix of chords that follow the (rather mundane) verse melody. I really hate the boom-bap drums and I really hope this whole album won’t be another drum and bass mid-tempo slog like Point of Entry, but something tells me I’ll be disappointed. The chorus is catchy and Glenn’s lead is cool, though I wish the first bit was surrounded with less synth. The second half (with the atonal flourishes) is really great. The lyrics are actually decent for this kind of material, color me shocked. I do like Rob’s voice the most in this mid-range belt tone. It’s a pretty decent tune when all is said and done, but the production worries me. 8/10
Locked In – This one starts off like a true Priest song and that stupid buzzsaw synth kills the vibe. I think there are cool bass fills throughout this song, but the pop production buries it. Pretty neat riff in the pre-chorus, too. I just…I really don’t like the vibe. It’s like I’m driving a convertible in California in 1986 with a bad perm (oh wait, that’s exactly what it is). Glenn’s solos are cool, KK’s synth leads are stupid. I feel like I’m flying a fighter jet in an 8-bit video game after the solo. God, this is cheesy sounding. Rob sounds good again, but the lyrics are significantly stupider than the first song. I’ll give this one an extra point because if you speed it up 10bpm and get rid of the synths, it’s a pretty rocking Priest song. 7/10
Private Property – More annoying synths, more boom-bap drums, more sighing from this guy. This song starts out alright despite those shortcomings. I really like the catchy melody in the pre-chorus, but the chorus is just annoying. Everything about the chorus and post-chorus music is pure 80’s hair metal cheese. It’s overly poppy, overly produced, and annoying. I feel like I’m listening to Twisted Sister produced by The Cars. Lame. I’ll probably never actively listen to this again because of its sheer lame mediocrity. 4/10
Parental Guidance – Cool, well this sounds like Bryan Adams. What is this album? Why are they doing this? This sounds like every lame band from the 80s except Judas Priest. Gross. The chorus, again, is awful and it’s equal parts due to the lyrics and the garbage backing vocals. “You’re just Mister Dull,” Christ. Did I press play on a Poison song by accident? Even worse than the previous song. The pandering attempt at recalling You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ is just cringeworthy. We’re on a downward spiral, I think. 1/10
Rock You All Around the World – Holy shit, a cool (simple) riff! Is this a metal so…..NOPE. The music isn’t terrible, there’s some cool leads, but the lyrics and backing vocals are awful again. Nice singing from Rob, but he can’t save this song from my biggest pet peeve, “rock lyrics about rocking”. To make matters worse, we’ve got choreographed gang vocals singing about “the rock!” Shoot me. I prefer to just be rocked with great songs, not told I’m being rocked with bad songs. This gets an extra point just for some decent guitar work. 2/10
Out in the Cold – The intro is a tug-of-war of my opinion: at first I hate it, then the mood draws me in sounding a bit like late 80’s Dio, then that off-time drum mixing makes me hate everything all over again. I dig it once the band kicks in and so far it’s the most legitimately powerful track on the album. It’s still over-produced and could probably be sung by Pat Benatar, but for some reason this song draws me in. The lyrics are numbingly simplistic, but Rob’s performance is great and I love the melody pattern of the verse. The solo section is really nice and moody, even with the synths. The riff under KK’s solo has some great movement. Out in the Cold is one of only two songs on this album to which I’ll ever actively return. 8/10
Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days – More Poison? Maybe some Van Halen? More boom-bap? More Dire Straits synth guitars? AC/DC vocals? Horrible, garbage, pointless lyrics? Face palm. This makes me long for the likes of Take on All the World, United, or Heavy Duty. 1/10
Hot for Love – Bad synth, cool riff(!!!), oh wait, more boring riffs and boom-bap. More insipid lyrics. Once again, the pre-chorus is very catchy and lame pop metal chorus ruins it. The bridge and solos redeem this track a bit, but not enough to matter. That harmonized unison is truly great and deserves placement in a better composition. 4/10
Reckless – A very promising start with some great guitar work, but Rob’s vocals are a little stretched in the verses. The chorus actually flows nicely and doesn’t feature gang vocals! This is a good tune and definitely the only Priest-sounding track on the entire album. The guitars are great throughout and there’s another very nice, slightly manic Glenn solo. So far in the discography, I think this is Priest’s strongest closer and the only time where the closing track is also the strongest. 9/10
Album rating – 4.8/10
Turbo is hands down the weakest Priest album so far. I have no doubt that without synth, with some slight tempo changes, and a second pass on the lyrics this album would have been far superior. The guys clearly know what they’re doing in these songs – the stuff I hate is clearly intentional. I simply disagree with all of the production decisions.
I did listen to the 5 songs that missed the cut (and aren’t on Ram It Down), but none are great. Prisoner of Your Eyes is really cool and definitely better than most tracks on this album (if not all). It sounds like the kind of song that Dio would have sung the hell out of. All Fired Up is also solid. Turn On Your Light and Heart of a Lion are both alright but neither feel like fully realized tracks to me. Red, White & Blue is trash of the United variety.
I have acquired them all at 320kpbs and with original mixes through some friends
on the internet
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Also not on this album I'd say. My least two (or three!) fav Priest songs (at least from the classic Halford era) are on the next.
Turbo is an album that proves to me that (for me at least) music is more important than lyrics. I really dislike the lyrics on this album, but some tunes have such catchy guitar riffs and vocals melodies that I can't be bothered that much about it. Also the soft, commercial sounding production becomes an inferior aspect because form (a shell) is less powerful than the core, the soul: music, melody and passion. IMO there are 5 strong tracks on there.
Locked In is unbelievably catchy as is Hot For Love (especially the pre-chorus: nowhere to go.. etc.). Out in the Cold and Turbo Lover are atmospheric, especially the title track has a unique edge to it. Some weird grabbing tension. I care less about the other four songs because I find the music and vocal melodies less interesting.
Best for last: Reckless is hands down one of the coolest, best riffing and catchiest songs they ever made. Superb vocals. Great melody and expression. Supah dupah solo. 10!
It's not one of my favourite Priest albums (absolutely not) but I appreciate it on its own and still find it better than some of their other (non-)"experimental" works, and better than many releases from other bands, from both the eighties and other eras.
When I first heard I also thought "what the fuck" but now I definitely like it more than two other Priest albums from the eighties.
terrell39
Ancient Mariner
Very entertaining review! Turbo was the 1st tour I saw. They opened with Out in the Cold & went straight into Locked In. Played tracks 1-6 (except Parental Guidanc). The live versions of OITC & Turbo sound more like Priest than the over produced studio versions.
I saw them in Houston. Remember thinking it strange they did not play PG because at the time, the "live" video was in heavy rotation on MTV. They did play it in Dallas where the video version of Priest...Live! was filmed
I saw them in Houston. Remember thinking it strange they did not play PG because at the time, the "live" video was in heavy rotation on MTV. They did play it in Dallas where the video version of Priest...Live! was filmed