harleydude666
Invader
He does Painkiller. Why not
Judas Priest
- Thread starter Perun
- Start date
It’s no slur on Faulkner, he’s an excellent player whose writing and playing on the last three records have been exceptional. Live he’s the main focus besides Halford and works hard.
He maybe a more technically proficient player than KK. But it’s not about technical ability for me, it’s character, personality and authenticity. Falkner just isn’t KK. Or Glenn, and I’m sure he’s more aware of this than anyone.
That’s why I saw Sinner as a sort of tribute to KK, throwing the shapes and all. I believe it was done with respect. He has said he’d like the guys to talk and make up, so, if you close your eyes and wish really hard, we could see KK back alongside Faulkner, which would be fantastic(although I’d miss KK’s Priest).
harleydude666
Invader
Not gonna happen. Priest have one more album in them at best.
I wish I had a penny for every time I heard that.
Iron Lurker
Ancient Mariner
I'd love to see KK and the Falcon together. I wouldn't miss KK's Priest at all though.
I’m gonna sound blasphemous but I would rather hear Richie playing those solos. His guitar playing was insane on Sinner when I saw them a few years back. I never thought KK was that interesting of a soloist and a lot of Priest solos kinda remind me of Janick’s playing - lots of fast sloppy playing. It was always about the twin guitar harmonies more than anything else.
KidInTheDark666
What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine too
Yeah, Tipton was the one who had most of the killer solos.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
That may be true for some of KK's earlier stuff, which was comprised of Hendrix-esque improvisations, but his Defenders and onwards stuff certainly isn't Janick-sloppy. Jawbreaker certainly comes to mind as very well thought out and played, same as all of KK's stuff on Painkiller. That being said, Tipton said in his only public retort to KK, that he had edited together several of his solos in order to have an output that was worthwhile.
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harleydude666
Invader
PieceofMind89
Ancient Mariner
I think Glenn is the reason why Judas Priest started taking off when he joined in May 1974. For 4 years, the band was basically going nowhere, then he comes along and brings his skills and talent to make them successful. Although, they were still broke after the release of Rocka Rolla, but started making money after releasing Sad Wings of Destiny.
*edit: and of course Rob Halford replacing Al Atkins in 1973 changed things for the better too.
*edit: and of course Rob Halford replacing Al Atkins in 1973 changed things for the better too.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
K.K. shut up about Glenn after that, if I’m not mistaken, the RRHoF comments aside.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Richie is a top guitarist and does the old solos great, plus he puts his own sound into them, which is normal and needed. His style is more melodic (like Maiden), but I like them both. KK has some great solos (his style is more wild and he is the more rhythm guitar of the two), Glenn even more (with his important style) but he has more longer solos. Janick is different from them.
Twin guitar solos. Twin guitar harmonies are Maiden.
Painkiller was never a song that sounded good live vocal-wise. Even in 1990.
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harleydude666
Invader
I’ll argue that. When I saw them in 90 Rob sang it to perfection. It was probably earlier in the tour but it was spot on. But never really heard a good vocal rendition after that. So you do have a point. I was lucky to have witnessed it at least
Glenn is the reason why they became a heavy metal band.
Most of the revolutionary songs from their first albums are Tipton/Halford. Hell Bent for Leather, Exciter, Sinner... And some are Glenn's only - Running Wild, The Ripper, Heroes End. Both guitarists were important, but Tipton was always the superior artist. I respect Downing for what he did with the band, but the truth is, no one should be surprised that Glenn became the leader. Ken probably would have stuck to more Hendrix-based hard rock and Priest would have never achieved as much as they have with Tipton's ideas. I'm not sure if Glenn was telling the truth about KK's solos - perhaps he wasn't but after unnecessary comments about his supposed alcohol problems, I'm not surprised that he felt attacked. Especially since the quality of the 2008/09 gigs was most likely affected by his health problems... And we know what's the rest of this story.
The best performances of Painkiller probably took place during the Fight years. In 1990/91 Rob was tired after the exhausting Painkiller sessions, kinda burnt out, and a bit bored with the band. When he returned to Priest, he was past his prime, and I'd say that the 00s tours were his worst. In theory, now he's able to sing Painkiller better, but then again - he's too old to do that if he has to sing many other songs as well. Anyway, the song should have been dropped years ago.
Edington
Last Son of The Miracle
Agreed. It could be that he's fighting to prove that he's "still got it", but the notion that he wanted to "settle down and play golf" is kinda dispelled by his performances, and even before he left the band it was clear he had the most fire on stage.
I can't agree with that. Richie's full of life when he's performing, it's great to see.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
Well, he did put all of his financial resources into his estate and did so over the period of a couple of decades. It was his baby that he was as invested in as he was in Priest, so I'd wager there is a fair bit of truth in that his priorities shifted when he became increasingly dissatisfied with the Priest members and organization.
See I don’t really buy that. The thing that has made Richie work in Priest is that he truly gets the band and gets the respective styles of the guitar player. He’s not playing KK note for note but he’s doing his own thing while also staying reverent to the source material. If that’s not heart and passion I don’t know what is.
Yax
Ancient Mariner
Yup. What a beast of a player.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Here's a recent gig of KK playing Victim of Changes:
And here's Richie playing it recently:
KK's playing with a ton of heart and passion, as you said, but so is Richie. Where KK is mindlessly shredding, Richie is shredding with purpose (and melody). I'd also argue Richie is doing the original solo more justice.
I wouldn't pick KK's playing on anything over Richie's in a million years.