THE Judas Priest thread - v. new album and tour in 2024

[wolfking]

This is for El Barto if he's reading:  Did you see Priest on the Fuel For Life tour in '86?  I'm watching the "Priest... Live" DVD (the "Electric Eye" version, which has one or two more songs, but still skips "Victim Of Changes") which was filmed in Dallas (the album is I think taken from four different shows).    Halford sounds REALLY good, and I'm wondering how much post-production work was done, if you get my drift. 

Sorry if this is mean, but KK Downing looks ridiculous in that video.   He looks like a cross between Tawny Kitaen (RIP) and a parody of every metal guitar player ever.  It's interesting; I haven't seen Priest in person lately, but in the video, it seems as if Tipton is doing a LOT of the heavy lifting.

Nothing against KK Downing but I've always seen him as the rhythm guitar player and Tipton as the lead guitar player.  I know Downing plays solos too but for my money it's the Tipton solos that carry most of the best songs.

For a time there - I'm saying, Defenders through maybe Turbo or so - they put all the lead breaks into the liner notes, and without paying too much attention to it (I thought it was kind of stupid) it seemed to suggest that the breakdown was fairly even, but I think you're right, the Tipton solos are the ones that I find I'm paying attention to.

When it comes to the solos that matter, it's Tipton.  If anyone wants to know who plays what on anything just ask me.  KK does some cool shit but Glenn is light years ahead of KK in that department.

I'd have to go through but the only solos I can think of where KK might beat Glenn in a duel are Rock Hard Ride Free and One Shot At Glory.

[KevShmev]

I can never keep track of which guy plays which solo, but their dual solo on Ram It Down is one of the most bad ass moments in the band's history. 

[El Barto]

This is for El Barto if he's reading:  Did you see Priest on the Fuel For Life tour in '86?  I'm watching the "Priest... Live" DVD (the "Electric Eye" version, which has one or two more songs, but still skips "Victim Of Changes") which was filmed in Dallas (the album is I think taken from four different shows).    Halford sounds REALLY good, and I'm wondering how much post-production work was done, if you get my drift. 

Sorry if this is mean, but KK Downing looks ridiculous in that video.   He looks like a cross between Tawny Kitaen (RIP) and a parody of every metal guitar player ever.  It's interesting; I haven't seen Priest in person lately, but in the video, it seems as if Tipton is doing a LOT of the heavy lifting.

Wasn't reading, but saw somebody quote it on the last page. I was there, 7th row. I honestly couldn't tell you how much of it's real, I wasn't hugely into their older stuff by that point and I thought Turbo sucked balls, but my guess would be very little. Priest is no stranger to doctoring up their live recordings, and Live! was absurdly polished. The only thing I really remember was that Sentinel was fantastic, which is certainly what the video shows.

Interesting trivia: All of it was filmed here at the late Reunion Arena, except for a handful shots. Dallas prohibited indoor pyrotechnics, so any scenes with explosions or flames were fills taken at the Houston show (in what is now a megachurch).   

[TAC]

I wasn't hugely into their older stuff by that point and I thought Turbo sucked balls,

I saw the Turbo tour and this would also describe me.

I was too young to see the Screaming show and I didn't see the Defenders show because we got tickets to the Van Halen show a month earlier. VH was my 3rd concert and I couldn't pull off the Priest show with my parents.

Turbo was my first time seeing them. I thought Out In The Cold was a strange opener.

I skipped the Ram It Down show.

[TAC]

Last week, I said I'd have to relisten to both British Steel, which I am pretty familiar with, and Point Of Entry, which I haven't heard in its entirety in literally 35 years.

First..

British Steel

I have to say that I really like British Steel.

Breaking The Law is a GREAT song. Such great verses. I love the second half of each verse "Feel as though nobody cares..." as it really raises the bar. The chorus is a bit simple, but it doesn't wear out its welcome.

The musical bridge, even without a guitar solo, is powerful.
Classic heavy metal hit.

I'm not really sure how I feel about Rapid Fire. I feel like I should like it more, but it almost feels like a distraction. It's just not really fulfilling, if you catch my drift.
I find the part at 1:38 ..where have I heard that before... oh yeah.. 1:46 of Prowler.

Metal Gods has a great verse. I love the groove of it. The chorus is what it is. I mean..it's Metal Gods. But that's a great solo, Yes!

Grinder is fucking awesome. My eyes were opened to it when I saw them on the Painkiller tour. It unleashed the track for me. Has a great Phil Rudd/AC-DC feel to it. Not sure the chorus lives up to the verse but it never hinders the track. Songs like this are why I love Saxon so much.

United...skip
Actually, I really like the rhythm of the verse.

Living After Midnight-a classic metal anthem. It's stood the test of time and remains a signature track. And I don't even mind.

There's something about You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise that I've always liked. Both solos are nice and controlled. I just think it's a cool song.

For a song called The Rage, it starts off curiously quietly. That's a great opening though. I also like this song a lot. The verse is really cool. And Halford ends each verse incredibly.

Steeler is pretty decent, but like Rapid Fire, it feels a bit unfulfilling. It's strength is that middle part that starts at 1:37. The part at 2:45 to the end is almost Aerosmith-y.

[Stadler]

It was produced by Rodger Bain,

Lemme guess..engineered by Jimmy Glover?

 

[Stadler]

This is for El Barto if he's reading:  Did you see Priest on the Fuel For Life tour in '86?  I'm watching the "Priest... Live" DVD (the "Electric Eye" version, which has one or two more songs, but still skips "Victim Of Changes") which was filmed in Dallas (the album is I think taken from four different shows).    Halford sounds REALLY good, and I'm wondering how much post-production work was done, if you get my drift. 

Sorry if this is mean, but KK Downing looks ridiculous in that video.   He looks like a cross between Tawny Kitaen (RIP) and a parody of every metal guitar player ever.  It's interesting; I haven't seen Priest in person lately, but in the video, it seems as if Tipton is doing a LOT of the heavy lifting.

Wasn't reading, but saw somebody quote it on the last page. I was there, 7th row. I honestly couldn't tell you how much of it's real, I wasn't hugely into their older stuff by that point and I thought Turbo sucked balls, but my guess would be very little. Priest is no stranger to doctoring up their live recordings, and Live! was absurdly polished. The only thing I really remember was that Sentinel was fantastic, which is certainly what the video shows.

Interesting trivia: All of it was filmed here at the late Reunion Arena, except for a handful shots. Dallas prohibited indoor pyrotechnics, so any scenes with explosions or flames were fills taken at the Houston show (in what is now a megachurch).

Are you in there anywhere?   Some cute girls are shown, though if I'm being honest, it's kind of tame by those standards (compare to any Kiss video where the front three rows are apparently populated by the Vivid Girls).

I saw the "Screaming..." tour, and while I really only remember Maiden (I can't even put into words how blown away I was), I do remember - vaguely - thinking "WOW can Rob Halford sing".  So he must have done at least some of it live.  I do remember "wow, ECHO", so maybe he had more help than I noticed.    Everything else I remember is from the Live Vengeance video, since that was pretty much the same show I saw.

[pg1067]

First..

British Steel

Steeler is one of the few Holland-era songs that has a really standout drum track.  The main riff is SO good, and it's a great song despite not having a chorus.

Never noticed the similarity between Rapid Fire and Prowler, and now I'll probably never not notice it.  Interestingly, Wikipedia lists the same release dates for British Steel and the Maiden debut.  I frickin' LOVE Halford's vocals on this song (in particular).

And I agree with your assessments of Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight.

[Stadler]

I'm not really sure how I feel about Rapid Fire. I feel like I should like it more, but it almost feels like a distraction. It's just not really fulfilling, if you catch my drift.
I find the part at 1:38 ..where have I heard that before... oh yeah.. 1:46 of Prowler.

I've heard each of those songs like 100 times each and never noticed that.  Like PG, I'm probably never going to NOT think of that again!

[TAC]

 

I'm pretty familiar with British Steel, and obviously the Maiden debut, and I've never heard it before either. But sitting here listening this afternoon, I recognized it from somewhere else. I literally tuned down the volume of my TV and shut off my headphones to concentrate. I had to concentrate and every time I replayed it in my head I got a few seconds more, until I finally realized it's followed by a Dave Murray lead.

[Stadler]

I'm pretty familiar with British Steel, and obviously the Maiden debut, and I've never heard it before either. But sitting here listening this afternoon, I recognized it from somewhere else. I literally tuned down the volume of my TV and shut off my headphones to concentrate. I had to concentrate and every time I replayed it in my head I got a few seconds more, until I finally realized it's followed by a Dave Murray lead.

HA!  I hate when that happens!  You can't let it go!    That's EXACTLY what I did with Freewheel Burning above when I was trying to isolate the part where Rob sings really fast. 

[TAC]

Point Of Entry

Point Of Entry was my..um..point of entry with Judas Priest. I saw the videos on MTV, and looking to branch out into other hard rock bands, I liked the songs they showed..Heading Out To The Highway, Hot Rockin', and Don't Go (which I thought was a really interesting song).

I think the winding down of the metal influence in Point Of Entry is one of the reasons why Screaming For Vengeance is so holy shit amazing. By comparison it jumps out of the speakers.

Anyway, I listened intently to every Point Of Entry track today, some I haven't heard in decades..literally.

Heading Out To The Highway is my favorite Judas Priest song. It's likely the first song I heard from them and it has everything I like. Great opening riff, strong vocals, and a great harmonized guitar solo.  It's really a perfect song.
I love this line:
"If you get it wrong, at least you can know
There's miles and miles to put it back together"

It's a great metaphor for making mistakes in your life, and the hope it gives to recover.

I still like Don't Go. It's hard to remove wonderful first impressions from a 13 y/o's music soul. Is it one of their best tunes? No, but it's personal to me and my memories of going to my grandmother's house to watch MTV.

Hot Rockin' is obviously a classic track. It definitely gets the blood flowing. Rob is great in the verse.

Turning Circles is a bit different.  It starts out with an early KISS feel. The opening reminds me a little..a little of Love Her All I Can.
The breakdown at 2:00 is outstanding. Some great tasty guitar in this part. Honestly it would've been so much better without the vocals over it. @Kade, who's playing this part?

Desert Plains.. A Top 10 JP track for me. This is one song where I can actually say that Dave Holland is awesome in.

I'm not going to say that Solar Angels sucks. But I'm not going to say it's good either. The solo is real nice on it though. Real nice.

You Say Yes sounds like a Rocka Rolla holdover. The breakdown and guitar underneath is pretty cool, but again, clouded by the vocals on top of it.

The beginning of All The Way reminds me of the beginning of Mr. Speed. Even the "Alright baby, you know how to have a good time" screams Paul Stanley. Total KISS feel on this.

Pretty sure my 4th grade self could play the into to Troubleshooter. WTF were they thinking with this song? This song blows chunks.

On The Run has a total Saxon feel. Sounds like a rehash of the Grinder riff though.

All in all, an absolutely horrid Side 2.

[ozzy554]

I think Rapid Fire works better as a concert opener than it does on the actual album. Also I prefer the live version on Metal Gods due to the high note Rob throws into the last verse.

[TAC]

What tour did they open with Rapid Fire?

[ozzy554]

What tour did they open with Rapid Fire?

The Epitaph tour. Fantastic setlist overall with at least one song from every album since it was supposed to be their last tour. Wonder if they'll ever do Blood Red Skies again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LJLyU6H0jI

[TAC]

OK cool. I'll look into that tour tomorrow.

Actually I clicked it. Has Faulkner been with them that long already??

The last time I saw Judas Priest was in 1991, although I did see Halford (and Scott Travis) in Fight in 1994. They opened for Anthrax, and I remember standing next to Scott Travis during Anthrax's set.

[wolfking]

Love these writeups Tim.  I never noticed the Prowler/Rapid Fire thing but I can hear it in my head now, don't even have to listen.

That's my favourite line in Heading Out to the Highway also Tim, and I think the same thing about it being a great metaphor in life.

[wolfking]

I'm still working through and am halfway through Sin.  But Damn Sad Wings is an incredible album.  Island of Domination I find a bit of a forgotten gem too.

Sin is great.  Love the middle of Let Us Pray/Call for the Priest.  Never realised but a strong Helloween vibe here.

Edit: Just went back to your writeup Tim and noticed you picked up on that too.

[ozzy554]

OK cool. I'll look into that tour tomorrow.

Actually I clicked it. Has Faulkner been with them that long already??

The last time I saw Judas Priest was in 1991, although I did see Halford (and Scott Travis) in Fight in 1994. They opened for Anthrax, and I remember standing next to Scott Travis during Anthrax's set.

I saw the epitaph tour when it came around, it was my first concert. Thin Lizzy & Black Label society were the openers.

Also looking at clips from the Firepower tour It's really noticeable how they had slowed things down to help out Glenn his last few tours. Pretty much everything is being played at their original faster tempo now which Rob seems to sound better with. 

[wolfking]

How good is Raw Deal!  What an ending!

[KevShmev]

I remember first getting online 20+ years ago and being quite shocked that a lot of fans do not like British Steel all that much. This was, of course, before  I realized that a portion of the internet will always find a way to hate anything , so there is that. And I get that many are sick of hearing Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight.  I don't quite genuflect to Metal Gods like many fans do (I like it a lot, but I can't say I love it), but The Rage and Steeler both rate pretty high on my list of favorite Priest songs. 

[MirrorMask]

How good is Raw Deal!  What an ending!

Nightmare, just a bunch of goddamn, rotten, steaming... raw deal!!!! 

[TAC]

Sin is great.  Love the middle of Let Us Pray/Call for the Priest.  Never realised but a strong Helloween vibe here.

Edit: Just went back to your writeup Tim and noticed you picked up on that too.

There are no two bigger Judas Priest fans than Kai and Weiki.

[emtee]

When you listen through the discography, it feels like they keep getting heavier. At least to me it does.

[TAC]

When you listen through the discography, it feels like they keep getting heavier. At least to me it does.

It feels that way, and I think there's 2 main reasons for this..

1. Their 70's stuff has a latent heaviness that the production just doesn't capture. The riffs and badassness are both there. Les Binks' drumming was metal for sure. If those albums were recorded in 1984, or 1991, or 2004, those albums would jump out of the speakers.

2. Going from Dave Holland to Scott Travis opens up an entire musical landscape. In the 80's, they chased the trends a bit. With Painkiller, they basically said we're going back to who we are, and a Binks/Hill to Travis/Hill backline has way more fluidity. It helps you realize just how heavy they actually were in the 70's.

[MirrorMask]

In the 80's, they chased the trends a bit. With Painkiller, they basically said we're going back to who we are

While I absolutely love to death Painkiller and it's my favorite Priest album, wasn't that as well a trend chasing, in this case Pantera?

[TAC]

In the 80's, they chased the trends a bit. With Painkiller, they basically said we're going back to who we are

While I absolutely love to death Painkiller and it's my favorite Priest album, wasn't that as well a trend chasing, in this case Pantera?

The trend they were chasing wasn't Pantera. Cowboys came out the same year as Painkiller.

I think what they were chasing was twofold...I think they became kind of cartoony with Turbo and Ram It Down, and they wanted to get back to Defenders style metal, and if there was a trend they were chasing, I think it had more to do with the thrash scene that had exploded in the late 80's. Suddenly Priest found themselves ...um..not so heavy. I mean, they took out Megadeth and Testament for that tour. What fan base were they going for?


I think Fight may have been Pantera influenced though.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, you're probably right. Priest "chased" thrash metal and eventually Rob Halford got inspired by Pantera when going solo.

[Stadler]

When you listen through the discography, it feels like they keep getting heavier. At least to me it does.

It feels that way, and I think there's 2 main reasons for this..

1. Their 70's stuff has a latent heaviness that the production just doesn't capture. The riffs and badassness are both there. Les Binks' drumming was metal for sure. If those albums were recorded in 1984, or 1991, or 2004, those albums would jump out of the speakers.

2. Going from Dave Holland to Scott Travis opens up an entire musical landscape. In the 80's, they chased the trends a bit. With Painkiller, they basically said we're going back to who we are, and a Binks/Hill to Travis/Hill backline has way more fluidity. It helps you realize just how heavy they actually were in the 70's.

See, no surprise, but even though I'm aware that KK and Rob have indicated Point Of Entry was a stab at radio, I think they did more chasing from Turbo on than up to Turbo.   I think Screaming, for example, is probably as pure a Priest album as there is.   Full on metal - Devil's Child, Screaming...  - mid-tempo rock and roll - Riding On The Wind, Pain and Pleasure - radio-friendly stuff - You've Got Another Thing Coming - and ballads - Fever, Chains.  I felt the 70's albums were the band searching for their place, and as such there's not as much of the "mettle (because that's how Rob pronounces it) maniacs!" nonsense that I know I got a little tired of later on.    I absolutely LOVE the Priest ballads (Last Rose, Evening Star, When The Night Comes Down); I think they are such good songwriters, and as they narrowed their focus to be "METTLE!" all the time, that took away some of that.

There's also a sort of subset of Priest songs that I don't like; Heroes End, Evil Fantasies; I don't know how to put into words what I don't like about them, but I know it when I hear it.  I think it's mainly Rob's vocals; in these songs (and there are others) his delivery becomes a shade show-tune-y for me.   Even though I don't like these types of songs, they started to move away from them post-Screaming, and that make the records a little more one-dimensional for me (up to the most recent ones; there was at least one good ballad on Redeemer.

If I had to pick an "era", based on drummer, I would absolutely take the Dave Holland era.   Not even close; even though the Les Binks era is good, it also has Killing Machine, which is an okay record.

[eric42434224]

Another big factor in Priest getting heavier over the years was the guitar sound.  More specifically the utilization of continuing developments in amplifiers, pedals, and pickup technology.  Sometimes you can coordinate the changes in guitar tone to the release of new Marshall amps.  I felt they went too far in the 90s when the guitar tone got over saturated with gain and lost some clarity.  It just got muddy and over saturated.  Ritchie Faulkner’s tone on Firepower is fucking killer.  Right amount of gain and heaviness, but it has clarity, definition and punch.  And great production sure helps.

[devieira73]

Due to this topic, I decided to take an honest look at Poin of Entry. Much better than I expected. It's a little strange that Judas was channeling AC / DC and ZZ Top, but there's a lot of good songs here and Heading Out..., Hot Rocking and Desert Plains (yes, the drumming on it is really cool) are great. And I think that side 2 is not bad at all.
The remaster has also Thunder Road, which I think it's a nice addition.

[pg1067]

I still like Don't Go. It's hard to remove wonderful first impressions from a 13 y/o's music soul. Is it one of their best tunes? No, but it's personal to me and my memories of going to my grandmother's house to watch MTV.

I sorta have the same feelings about Heading out to the Highway.  We didn't get cable and MTV until after SFV was released, so I had the YGATC video in addition to the three from Point of Entry as my gateway into Priest.  The HOTTH video was just cool.  I always loved Dave's fills right before the versed.  Are they anything technically great?  No, but they fit perfectly.  And the scenes in the middle of nowhere with Glenn and KK drag racing clearly establish that "these three guys are the important ones, and those two are not."  It's also one of those things where you look back now and laugh and say, "how did we not know this guy was gay?"

When you listen through the discography, it feels like they keep getting heavier. At least to me it does.

It feels that way, and I think there's 2 main reasons for this..

1. Their 70's stuff has a latent heaviness that the production just doesn't capture. The riffs and badassness are both there. Les Binks' drumming was metal for sure. If those albums were recorded in 1984, or 1991, or 2004, those albums would jump out of the speakers.

For sure.  This is why so many people talk about the songs on Unleashed and say things like:  Tyrant is just kind of a middling song on Sad Wings, but the live version on unleashed rips the place apart!  You can even hear a pretty cool Ian Hil bass line under the final tandem guitar solo.

In the 80's, they chased the trends a bit. With Painkiller, they basically said we're going back to who we are

While I absolutely love to death Painkiller and it's my favorite Priest album, wasn't that as well a trend chasing, in this case Pantera?

The trend they were chasing wasn't Pantera. Cowboys came out the same year as Painkiller.

I think what they were chasing was twofold...I think they became kind of cartoony with Turbo and Ram It Down, and they wanted to get back to Defenders style metal, and if there was a trend they were chasing, I think it had more to do with the thrash scene that had exploded in the late 80's. Suddenly Priest found themselves ...um..not so heavy. I mean, they took out Megadeth and Testament for that tour. What fan base were they going for?

I couldn't agree more.  I had never heard of Pantera when Painkiller came out.  I know a lot of folks are down on Ram It Down, but for me, THAT was the return to form after Turbo.  I can distinctly recall my friends and I being super excited with that opening scream on the title track followed by that opening riff.  But Painkiller took everything to the next level.  I had no idea who Scott Travis was, but for the first time, the drums were a stand out instrument in Priest music.

[El Barto]

This is for El Barto if he's reading:  Did you see Priest on the Fuel For Life tour in '86?  I'm watching the "Priest... Live" DVD (the "Electric Eye" version, which has one or two more songs, but still skips "Victim Of Changes") which was filmed in Dallas (the album is I think taken from four different shows).    Halford sounds REALLY good, and I'm wondering how much post-production work was done, if you get my drift. 

Sorry if this is mean, but KK Downing looks ridiculous in that video.   He looks like a cross between Tawny Kitaen (RIP) and a parody of every metal guitar player ever.  It's interesting; I haven't seen Priest in person lately, but in the video, it seems as if Tipton is doing a LOT of the heavy lifting.

Wasn't reading, but saw somebody quote it on the last page. I was there, 7th row. I honestly couldn't tell you how much of it's real, I wasn't hugely into their older stuff by that point and I thought Turbo sucked balls, but my guess would be very little. Priest is no stranger to doctoring up their live recordings, and Live! was absurdly polished. The only thing I really remember was that Sentinel was fantastic, which is certainly what the video shows.

Interesting trivia: All of it was filmed here at the late Reunion Arena, except for a handful shots. Dallas prohibited indoor pyrotechnics, so any scenes with explosions or flames were fills taken at the Houston show (in what is now a megachurch).

Are you in there anywhere?   Some cute girls are shown, though if I'm being honest, it's kind of tame by those standards (compare to any Kiss video where the front three rows are apparently populated by the Vivid Girls).

I saw the "Screaming..." tour, and while I really only remember Maiden (I can't even put into words how blown away I was), I do remember - vaguely - thinking "WOW can Rob Halford sing".  So he must have done at least some of it live.  I do remember "wow, ECHO", so maybe he had more help than I noticed.    Everything else I remember is from the Live Vengeance video, since that was pretty much the same show I saw.

Nah, I was nowhere to be found. I probably went frame by frame back when the thing first came out (on VHS, or course), but mostly the crowd behind the first couple of rows is a blur. And I certainly left the show with the distinct impression that Rob was a badass, but there's a pretty big difference between sounding killer live and sounding flawless on a live album. I wouldn't even hazard a guess as to where the line was.

[wolfking]

I'm a bit behind but moving onto Stained Class today. 

Always said Sin was my fav 70's Priest album but Sad Wings can match it.  Incredible, never really realized that before, strange.

[TAC]

If nobody has any objections, I'll continue my Judas Priest deep dive.

I'm going to skip Screaming and Defenders as I am well versed in those.

I have literally not heard Turbo in its entirety in 35 years. I borrowed the tape from a friend and thought it blew.

I'll start with that one, as I listened this morning.
I might have heard Ram It Down when it came out. I used to play the title track on my college radio show. I think I dropped the needle on the rest of it. Not impressed.

Other than Painkiller and Firepower, I have not heard any of the latter day Priest albums, other than a song here or there, and I think even those are rare.