Bumpetee bump.
I know there are discography threads out there, but I don't feel up for such a mammoth task, so I felt like doing something different: a shotout to lesser famous and "unkown" songs from Priest's catalogue, album by album. Got the idea browsing quickly through their entire lyrics when I had some time to kill some days ago...
What qualifies as an "obscure song" may vary from fan to fan, maybe the songs I will list are all well known to everyone who's a dedicated Priest fan, but I wanted to find in each album something worthwhile without relying on the usual hits and famous songs.
So, let's start, album from album, a shotout to "forgotten" Priest songs:
ROCKA ROLLA - Run of the Mill
The first epic by the guys, moody and melanchonic with a nice (obviously) vintage sound. A sign of things to come for sure.
SAD WINGS OF DESTINY - Dreamer Deceiver
The album famous for the first two tracks (Victim of Changes and The Ripper) has this absolute masterpiece of a song, once again an epic-ish slow piece with insanely high vocals from Rob. Again, I'm not pretending nobody but me knows these songs I'll list, I think and hope Priest fans know this, but it's not the first song people think of when reminiscing about Sad Wings.
SIN AFTER SIN - Starbreaker
One of my favorite albums, even though it's not an undisputed classic. Starbreaker talks of the title character who "comes but once a lifetime" and ironically enough, they play the song live once in a lifetime, it finally came back only for the "farewell" tour. Again, I don't think it's an unknown song, but surely not among the most famous while it should well damn be.
STAINED CLASS - Stained Class
This is the album that is loved by many, but that I don't really appreciate fully. Of course Beyond the Realms of Death is the undisputed masterpiece but Rob Halford, when solo, resurrected the title track and it was a damn fine rocking tune.
HELL BENT FOR LEATHER - Before the Dawn
A lovely, haunting and delicate ballad. Priest had a handful of these back in the days and this song is an absolute highlight of the album.
BRITISH STEEL - The Rage
In an album full of easy listening classics, this song might be overlooked but it's a fine groovy song with a great buildup. The spotlight is on the other songs, but this is one of the strongest yet.
POINT OF ENTRY - Desert Plains
Eh, here I'll cheat a bit. Not the biggest fan of the album, so I nominate what I guess is one of the most known songs of the album - but not as the opening Heading Out to the Highway - , that has been rarely played live (I guess?) while it should have been the first go-to song when wanting to homage this album.
SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE - Fever
Once again a great ballad from Priest, captivating and with a great chorus. We all know which songs got historical with this one, but the ballad here once again is on point.
DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH - Night Comes Down
With an album chock full of classic songs, I feel that also on here it's the ballad that gets overlooked. Even better than Fever and a great breather in a kickass and magnificent album before the final celebration of Heavy Duty (that flows into the title track).
TURBO - Reckless
The highlight of the album. Great rocking and catchy song that on another album would have become a minor classic. Fun fact: it was intended for Top Gun, but Priest refused because the album would have been too short and they thought the movie would suck anyway. When Top Gun became a smash hit they regretted, learnt their lesson, and so on their following album they agreed to have a song starring in a movie, Johnny B. Good.... which was the crappy movie that got them nowhere
RAM IT DOWN - Ram it Down
While the album is mediocre at best, the title track was an absolute great way to start it, and should have been more famous and celebrated. It's not the best song of the album, Blood Red Skies is by a mile, but it comes in second. Too bad the album isn't nearly as strong as this one.
PAINKILLER - One Shot at Glory
It's difficult to pick an "obscure" song from this fan favorite where every song is famous, but I don't think the closing song is revered and celebrated as it should be. What a way to close an amazing album. Totally deserving to be played live more often.
JUGULATOR - Cathedral Spires
Once again a pretty safe bet, I assume most agree this is one of the highlights of the album, but still it was worth a shout out (looking at songs never played live from this record). They were able of brilliant stuff even without Rob.
DEMOLITION - Feed on Me
This album is kinda a mess and they didn't really know what they were doing but this song is catchy and is one of the things to be salvaged from this album.
ANGEL OF RETRIBUTION - Hellrider
Could have named Worth Fighting For or Eulogy, but I went for a fine heavy song, a mini-epic basically. It didn't survive its original tour, but it's top notch stuff from the reunion album.
NOSTRADAMUS - Pestilence and Plague
The whole album is basically a forgotten one, and I could name any other song, but I go with this one 'cause it's one of the best ones in the end, with a nice groove and chorus. Could have named also the title track (Why in the blue hell they didn't play it live?) or Lost Love, such a beautiful tender ballad.
REEDEMER OF SOULS - Battle Cry
I don't think it was played live, but just as Hellrider, is a great modern song, catchy and punching. Deserving of being played live.
FIREPOWER - No Surrender
Such a short and easy song, but so catchy and effective! I consider it an higlight of a great album, probably the best one of the reunion.