rising in the east

REVIEW: Judas Priest – A Touch of Evil – Live (2009 Japanese and iTunes versions)

JUDAS PRIEST – A Touch of Evil – Live (2009)

A Touch of Evil is, depending on how you count, either Priest’s 5th or 7th live album.  Regardless, it’s their first official live album since the Rob Halford reunion. The goal here was to give fans versions of songs never before released live on CD. However, when Priest claim that, they’re not counting the live albums they did with “Ripper” Owens on vocals, or the live songs released on remasters and box sets.

This is a great CD, and it’s very well recorded and mixed. Tom Allom came back to the mixing board after a 21 year break from the Priest. The guitars are driving, the drums are loud & clear but not overwhelming. Allom has done a great job. You can’t hear any obvious tampering or overdubbing (even though, let’s be honest, you know on every live album released today there must be some).

Rob Halford’s voice really struggles on “Painkiller” but absolutely shreds on “Hellrider”. “Hellrider”, in fact, is even better than its 2005 studio version. Halford is now singing in a lower register and saving his screams for special moments in the songs. Don’t forget, he has been screaming for 35 years by this album. He tends to be stronger on more recent material. The rest of the band show no signs of slowing down at all, especially Scott Travis on the drums.

It is absolutely great to hear two songs from the Nostradamus CD recorded live. “Prophecy” is one of my favourites from that album and I hope the band get to play the whole album live one day. It is also fantastic to hear “Dissident Aggressor” which was originally released on Sin After Sin in 1977. It is still heavy and powerful, although Rob has changed the vocal melodies a bit, out of necessity. “Beyond The Realms Of Death” is another great one to have with Rob singing, from 1978’s Stained Class. For a while in 1990 I thought they’d never play it live again, after the band’s “suicide trial”, even though they emerged victorious.

Japanese bonus tracks are “Worth Fighting For” and “Deal With The Devil” both from 2005’s Angel Of Retribution. I think these (and “Hellrider) are the same versions as the Rising In The East DVD. “Worth Fighting For” is one of my favourite recent Priest tunes.  It’s a great mid-tempo burner.  The iTunes bonus track is “Breaking The Law”, the only song absolutely positively undeniably released before on an official Priest-with-Rob live CD (Priest…Live!). This version of “Breaking” is faster than the studio version, and very enjoyable for the sheer glee that emanates from it.

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The artwork for this CD, sadly, sucks. Mark Wilkinson has done some great covers for Priest (see: Painkiller), Iron Maiden, and Marillion. Here there’s a picture of the world on fire, or something. A comment on global warming? You decide. The liner notes also, sadly, suck. There are no indications as to which shows these songs were taken from, or even which tour (the CD culls from 2005 and 2008 tours). There is a brief note from the band about how awesome they are, as they have done on previous live albums. There are some cool pictures, but little else (the Japanese version has lyrics).

I don’t think this CD is essential to anybody but Priest fans. Newcomers would be wiser to buy Unleashed In The East first, and maybe even Priest…Live! before buying this. Priest fans will enjoy hearing live versions of these songs, because they already own “Another Thing Coming” and “Living After Midnight” elsewhere. So, if you are a Priest fan, pick it up and enjoy the sonic blast of metal fury as only Priest can deliver!

4/5 stars

*Note: There is supposedly a Russian version with another bonus track, also taken from the Rising in the East DVD: “Angel”. I question whether this is an official release or not.

REVIEW: Judas Priest – Rising In The East (DVD, 2005)
 
JUDAS PRIEST – Rising In The East (2005 DVD, live in Japan)
 
Two things I am sick of:
  1. The moaning and whining you read on Amazon reviews about Halford’s voice.
  2. The amount of live material that Priest have released since 1998 (too much).
 
In regards to point #2, most of that live material was released with Tim “Ripper” Owens on vocals. Rising In The East represents the first “real” live release since the return of Rob Halford (not counting the brief live DVD that came with Angel Of Retribution). So, this release is forgiveable. Even Priest fans who owned the live stuff with Ripper will be eager to get their hands on some brand new live visuals with Halford, with new songs, the first such release since 1987’s Priest…Live!
 
In regards to point #1, it is true that Rob Halford cannot hit all the high notes anymore, and he has stated as much in interviews.  It is what it is.  He’s 61 years old!  The man still has a fantastic voice.  If I could only sing that well!  He changes the keys on some songs, sometimes sings different notes, in order to do the challenging songs. Some, like “Painkiller”, he does his best at screaming, even though it’s not 1990 anymore. On other songs, like “Hellrider”, he lets loose a powerful piercing scream or two that seem to come out of nowhere! The cool thing about it is, when he does let loose, it’s so unexpected and so powerful that it just blows you away!  In fact, this version of “Hellrider” is my preferred version, over the album.

The song selection is interesting and varied if nothing else. All the staples are here: “Metal Gods”, “A Touch Of Evil”, “Painkiller”, “Hellbent”, “Another Thing Coming”, “Living After Midnight”, “Breaking The Law”. There are also lots of older Priest classics that, for some parts of the 80’s, were seldom played (if ever): “The Ripper”, “Victim Of Changes”, “Exciter”, “Diamonds & Rust” (the acoustic version too). There is a generous helping of new songs from Angel Of Retribution, and a couple odd ducks as well: “Turbo Lover”, “Hot Rockin'”, and “I’m A Rocker”. “I’m A Rocker” is definitely the biggest surprise, as Ram It Down-era material hasn’t been played live since that tour! It’s not the track I would have chosen (give me “Blood Red Skies”!) but I give them credit for being adventurous. The only missing link really is, I would have loved something from Defenders, or maybe “Sinner”.

My only real beef is with Halford’s stage presence. I haven’t seen Halford perform live at all recently, but his stage presence here really baffled and stunned me.  For 90% of the show, he is standing in one place on stage, hunched over, staring at the floor, looking like some strange leather-and-studs hunchback. He rocks back and forth holding onto his half-sized mic stand, eyes closed, wailing away. Every once in a while, he stands straight up and walks around, proving he’s not suffering from ankylosing spondylitis.

He barely speaks to the crowd at all. A sample song intro? “Angel of Retribution? Revolution!” That’s it! He speaks a little more before “Turbo Lover”, reciting the same song intro that he used back in 1986, but quickly and robotically.

Considering that Glenn Tipton, KK Downing, and (yes) even Ian Hill give their all on stage while Scott Travis plays seemingly impossible drum parts, Halford’s stage presence was shockingly dull. He’s always had a flair for the theatrical, and his choice of leather and metal costumes show he’s still that guy. I just don’t get what he’s trying to do with the hunching over. I am sure there is a method to his madness, and he’s not waiting on a double hip replacement, but it’s lost on me.  Anybody who can add insight, please leave a comment.   Maybe you saw him on this tour — I have never seen Priest live.

Song-wise, production-wise, and performance-wise, this is a must-purchase for any Priest fan (I only wish it was released on CD too, although some songs are available on 2009’s A Touch Of Evil Live). Visually, Halford’s performance is puzzling — but even so, it’s actually grown on me since I first watched this.

4/5 stars