It's factual. The center labels were switched so that side A was called side B and vice versa. Here's a picture of the backside of the record sleeve of the original pressing from Gull Records:
This is the one I have Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny = Tristes Alas Del Destino The back sleeve also has the switched sides
Either by fluke or by design it was an inspired choice to switch the sides. ‘Victim Of Changes’ is a beast of an opener.
I prefer it as the opener of side 2. I think it's the centerpiece of the album and, to me, it makes much more sense to have it in the midlle of the alnum than as the opener.
Yeah, it seems like, rather than admitting the mistake, the label just went forward with the switched sides on subsequent presses. I think the band prefers the original running order. The CD box set from 2012 "The Complete Albums Collection" feature the original running order for the first time on CD. I believe the band insisted on it.
@Gus Tomato Ultimate Priest In The East 1 Exciter 2 Running Wild 3 The Ripper 4 Diamonds And Rust 5 Rock Forever 6 Beyond The Realms Of Death 7 The Green Manalishi 8 Delivering The Goods 9 Sinner 10 Evil Fantasies 11 Victim Of Changes 12 Genocide 13 Starbreaker 14 Hell Bent For Leather 15 Tyrant I think there is only one track missing from the actual setlist....White Heat, Red Hot I think. I think he dropped a version from a earlier tour but it sounded too out of place. The rest are all from the actual Japan dates.
British Steel British Steel (album) - Wikipedia Rapid Fire Opens with a chugging palm muted metal rhythm in A that would become a heavy metal staple. The verse changes to C, the minor third…..not D or E….no blues here. This is modal metal country. Call and response though so there ya go. Goes to G at :30 once again staying away from anything resembling hard rock and the blues. The verse is a long one but that is OK….great singing and playing. At 1:19 the “bridge” goes to E but is still modally fluid. Rob returns during the bridge after a short theme section and the thing shifts between E and D……still modal. The guys play their butts off soloing in response to Rob. The verse returns after a quick…and I mean quick…..turnaround that for a second stops on a dime. The verse plows along until 3:42 when I song shifts gears and Rob goes into high gear. Tough and angry song if there ever was one. A call and response metal masterpiece. Metal Gods A down and dirty open E string riff kicks it off. Sounds a little like Sabbath but not too much. The second chord goes to F sharp and keeps the fine rhythm. The verse moves along with I an making it interesting underneath. The chorus enters at 1:35 and is a great one with Rob sounding foreboding and a little mechanical. Call and response guitars. The break is based on the F sharp and Tipton lays out another masterpiece of a solo. The chorus is repeated. The verse returns and everything repeats again until at 3:09 a whiplash effect moves the song along until it comes to a grinding metal halt. IIRC, the effect was created by hitting guitar cases with cords. Great song. Breaking the Law I will post a detailed review of the song. Grinder A fine A Dorian Mode riff kicks it off with a little tinge of boogie..just enough. The chorus at :40 goes to F sharp keeping with the modal non blues harmonic metal landscape….the quick little E passing chord teases the blues though. The break has some great soloing from Glenn. Killer pull offs. The bridge at 2:04 goes to F sharp and the rhythm changes up to a slower grinding upbeat rhythm. Some brilliant contrast. The verse and the chorus follow with the chorus repeated a few more times. At 3:30 an unexpected jump to B and then the song ends with the first bar of the chorus without resolving to the songs’ key of A…….fine use of the keys in this cool song. United Opens with a riff like the chorus in Grinder in F sharp. Makes sense since the song is a chorus sing along of which starts at :52. A great chorus with the song title repeated until you are made to believe and join in united. The verse follows and you can picture the crowd singing the chorus along with Rob. The break that follows sounds like the metal heads marching forward in their quest. Rob and the boys add some additional vocals replicating the crowd singing along… a mall crowd but enthusiastic, nonetheless. Living After Midnight A groovy drum riff and the guitars come in sounding almost power poppy. Chords played with power but full chords nonetheless…..no dropped third here and not just the lower strings. The verse follows and we realize the intro was the chorus…but we kind of knew that anyway. So, the verse is a somewhat cliché’ quasi boogie riff with the tug at the G note off the E string. OK, not pure metal but it sounds great to me. Probably responsible for a lot of Hair Metal songs. The chorus follows at 1:00 and the verse jumps right back in. Rob sounds wild on the word “break” just before the chorus. The bridge follows and sounds a little more hard rock than metal…a little Humble Pie like. The solo is a simple melodic affair that fits just right. Everything repeats without change until the chorus brings the song to a close in repeating fade out fashion. A great metal/hard rock tune that is a fan favorite. Simple memorable riffs that work on many levels…makes you move and pump your fist and wish you were a metal guitar player living the life portrayed in the lyrics. Don’t Have to be Old to be Wise A gnarly screechy A riff with suspensions opens this beauty up. A Stonesy A-D riff follows and the verse kicks in. Like Jumping Jack Flash on steroids. The rise out at goes to E in blues fashion leading to the chorus. A little by the numbers but cool sounding numbers if you get my drift. Everything repeats until at 2:40 the intro riff is laid bare. A fine series of solos follow that are way up the neck and in your face. The rise out returns, and the chorus once again follows in tow. The final verse has Rob getting a little preachy sounding in his vocals telling us what it is about. The outro has Rob still ranting the chorus with conviction bringing the song to a close. So, it is by the numbers again and could be a Stones song, but I dig it. Would be totally out of place on Sad Wings of Destiny but variety is the spice of metal. The Rage Ian starts it off with little tantalizing series of notes around A. A heavy hard rock like riff follows and the verse descends with the Andalusian chords…please don’t sing Good Vibrations over it. The turnaround at 1:22 gets the song back to the intro riff and it is a welcome sound. The verse follows and repeats without change and that is OK. The intro/chorus comes back before a break based on the verse chords. Ian takes over again, and the verse fights its way back. The wordless chorus/intro gives the boys some room to solo and it is a killer with gnarly tone bringing the song to a close. Steeler You don’t have to play guitar to know this bad boy opens with that low growling E string. You can feel it. Reminds me of Neon Knights a little but both albums came out about the same time. Regardless, a transition riff follows at :40 and sounds like it could be morphed into a chorus, but it doesn’t. What it does do is sets up some great guitar solos and another proggy transition first with no words and then Rob adds in lyrics. The verse returns after a drum fill and the chorus like riff returns. The band calms down and starts to groove and the rhythm breathes at 2:46. The arrangement gets in your face a little by little. A Hendrix like guitar tries to disrupt the rhythm but can’t. I guess that is the Steeler but it fails to live up to its name. The tough rhythm grooves along in Aerosmith like fashion until the song comes to a rousing ending on a D chord leaving us battered and bruised without resolution…take that! I realize some fans felt the album led the way for Hair Metal and such and how it was a sellout. I like it because it has some great songs on it. Yeah they are catchy and more mainstream but heck, I was raised on catchy and mainstream and even though I love their early stuff, I can live with this as well……in fact I listen to it a lot. There are traits on the album that influenced a lot of genres of metal that followed. Gone to a greater extent are the complex structures, the interludes and such…still a touch here and there. However, this album greatly cemented or should I say forged their sound and it set their sound apart more from their influences. They imitated but now they are the band to be imitated.
The more I think about it....I'm sure someone on this board also did a 'Ultimate' version. Looking at my files I have 2 versions. He also put some notes in explaining the set list etc. I even have the modded back cover art. Very pro done. Take On The World was omitted too because there was not a decent soundboard recording apparently.
They also played Better By You at least once on this short tour, but not apparently on either of the dates from which UITE was supposedly drawn.
Cheers for that! I can live without’Evil Fantasies’ but ‘Beyond’ is a real loss, but it happens - at the time it was probably just another song in the setlist and an easy choice to leave out but certain songs grow in stature and importance as time goes on, ‘Beyond The Realms Of Death’ being a prime example.
Judas Priest-Album by Album Rocka Rolla Sad Wings of Destiny Sin After Sin Stained Class Killing Machine/Hell Bent For Leather Unleashed in the East
Evil Fanatasies is fantastic here. I have never been overly keen on the studio version but love this. I was informed the vocals are not re recorded here and you can tell as Rob sounds a little gruff when he introduces the song. This can be found on the B side of the 12" single Living After Midnight.
Gotta slap some calamine lotion on the rash I get from the term "h*** metal", there, moving on. British Steel Listening to the albums in succession, I totally get how this could put off old fans. There's none of the gloom and bleakness left. It's all catchy beats&riffs and anthemic vocals. Nothing wrong with that, just a different style. I don't think it's a great album however. Obviously an influence on many, but I think this sort of thing was done better later, including by Priest themselves. "Rapid fire", starts out great but leaves you wanting for something more to happen. "Breaking the law", the classic singalong for breaking the law. Riff lifted from grand master Iommi, as people do. "Living after midnight", good time hard rock, a little too catchy. "Grinder" is fun. "United" another great singalong I know best from the great K-Tel comp "Axe Attack vol. 2" I had as a kid. My 5-year old kid sister loved it. The rest is OK, mostly nothing special.
Stained Class , love it . Hell bent , a little cheese. Unleashed , maybe the best live metal album of all time. With all these box sets a Complete Unleashed box set would be a instant purchase. Someone fly that idea by Rob.
British Steel - Great album, either #1 or 2 for me depending on the weather. The sound and songs are exactly what the band was going for. JP was able to seamlessly blend the prog and pop-metal structures perfectly. Rapid Fire - awesome - the lyrics are sort of stream of consciousness but they aren't vapid. Metal Gods - this song never grows old to me. I have listened to the song numerous times and it is still fresh. The lyrics are so colorful, I feel like I am in a Terminator movie. Great! Breaking The Law - another great song, love the lyrics, the music is simple but - "You don't know what it's like!" Grinder - another song that I never tire of hearing. "Never straight and narrow I won't keep in time, Tend to burn the arrow out of the line." LAM - cool party tune YDHTBOTBW - another song that I love, especially the guitar tone - so wicked. I've had enough of bein' programmed and told what I ought to do. "Let's get one thing straight, I'll choose my fate. And it's got nothin' to do with you!" - hells yeah. The Rage - "From a fireball we came. Crossed sea and mountain." Steeler - great song and lyrics. A fantastic album with heavy metal streamlined to perfection. Interesting lyrics keep this album a classic that I can listen to forever w/o feeling stale.
