Judas Priest: Live! (remaster)

Priest Live was recorded during the bands tour for their album Turbo; the lackluster fan response to this release on its own made fans quickly choose sides when it came to a live album based on this tour. Turbo was a lot more commercial than many fans were ready for and the style-look of the group members was very "flashy" or "glam", which caused a stir among the believers in their Heavy Metal gods. Turbo followed Defenders Of The Faith which was a monster of a record and much along the style of Screaming For Vengeance, so when the group suddenly delivers keyboard-laden guitar synth sounds you can see where the confusion begins. It would have been smarter to release some live release from the Defenders tour but they had just released Live In Concert, a VHS recording of the Screaming For Vengeance tour. During this time in history, live concert videos were few and far between, as bands did not release every single tour on video like we see done today (Iron Maiden, Dream Theater etcetera). I saw this tour and had a problem with the song selection that they did for it, but of course, it was geared towards the new album. Outside of "Out In The Cold" and "Locked In", I felt the album was sub-par and was aiming in the wrong direction. It was a view that songs like "Private Property" and "Parental Guidance" made stronger every time they would be played on the radio. For a live recording this does sound good and Priest still makes sure to get heavy on the no nonsense numbers such as "Freewheel Burning", The Sentinel" and "Screaming For Vengeance" but the lackluster tracks from a Metal fans standpoint truly take more away from this release than they bring to it. This is an album that is more for the completeist who wants no gaps or perhaps those that found Turbo to be their very favorite of the Judas Priest back catalog.

The Judas Priest remasters come with enhanced artwork and photographs in the included booklet, and normally includes bonus tracks. There are no bonus recordings on this release however since it is a 2 CD set. Fans should be aware also that Judas Priest issued a comprehensive DVD entitled "Electric Eye", and this features all of the bands videos, archive footage and the concert tour that this recording comes from. I would direct people to that DVD before I recommended this recording to them.

Track Listing

1. Out In The Cold
2. Heading Out To The Highway
3. Metal Gods
4. Breaking The Law
5. Love Bites
6. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
7. The Sentinel
8. Private Property
9. Rock You All Around The World
10. Electric Eye
11. Turbo Lover
12. Freewheel Burning
13. Parental Guidance
14. Living After Midnight
15. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
16. Screaming For Vengeance
17. Rock Hard, Ride Free
18. Hell Bent For Leather

Added: July 31st 2006
Reviewer: Ken Pierce
Score:
Related Link: Judas Priest Website
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Language: english

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