Review of Judas Priest “Live” Album
I would like to start off by saying I am not a fan of live albums. Usually these albums have poor sound quality that takes away from the listening experience for me. It was this Judas Priest album though that I decided to “dust off” this month for the simple reason that they are headlining a tour overseas with my favorite band Megadeth right now on the Priest Feast tour. So I figured I would pop it in the old CD player and start rockin so here we go.
This album has some great songs but some weird arrangements for me. When I go to a concert I want to hear an opening song come out and grab me by the throat! Why on earth did Judas Priest pick “Out in the Cold” to start the show? I can understand putting it later on in the show to give people a break but I feel it was a bad choice in the beginning.
The set list had some good hard rockin tunes in the beginning like: “Metal Gods“, “Breaking the Law“, “Electric Eye“, “Livin after Midnight“, and “You Got Another Thing Comin“, which should be regulars in any Judas Priest show but there are a few that I could have done without. “Private Property“, “Parental Guidance“, and “Love Bites“, have a slight pop edge to me that take away the effect of a hard rock concert. They have so many other rockin tunes that would have worked better like: “The Green Manalishi“, “Hell Bent for Leather“, or “Touch of Evil“. When you are in a hard rock band, your fans expect hard rock!
I would like to talk about the band members on this album also. Lead singer, Rob Halford and his voice are always in tip top shape and this album was no exception. Sometimes I have to keep the volume down at home in fear of Rob’s voice shattering a mirror or something when he hits those high notes. I could do without the little sexual comments on this album too. In 1998 he revealed to the world on MTV that he was gay. On this album he has little hints about it also. For example, before the song “Turbo Lover“, he says “It’s time to grab ahold of something and make it hard.” I don’t know about you but I don’t need that crap, Rob just sing your songs!
KK Downing and Glen Tipton are two of the best guitarists in rock, period. Their back and forth trading off of guitar solos is hard to match. Just take a listen closely to “The Sentinel” and you will hear what I mean.
Ian Hill on bass guitar and Dave Holland on drums really give lackluster performances on this album in my opinion. Ian on bass can hardly be heard and that probably explains why there aren’t any solos by him and in the photos from the concert he is usually standing off to the side of the stage. Dave Holland on drums is nothing but bass and snare. I get more enjoyment watching my son Cam play drums on Guitar Hero World Tour.
All in all I would give this album 3 out of 5 stars. If you are going to revisit this album I wouldn’t listen to the whole album, you would be wasting your time. If you were thinking of buying it, I would recommend the Judas Priest live album Unleashed in the East instead. Now that’s what I’m talking about!
[tags]Judas Priest[/tags]
