Judas Priest/Live In Kansas City(1986)

 

Here is the review of the bonus material that was added to the Turbo 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. 

I have said before and I’ll say it again. Priest knows how to reissue their albums as for myself this is the fourth Deluxe Reissue following British Steel/Screaming For Vengeance/Defenders Of The Faith.

This is the full show from the 1986’s Fuel For Life Tour and all I gotta say is Holy Shit is this ever good! It’s amazing how guitarists KK Downing  and Glenn Tipton broke out some new sonic’s on the Turbo album and dived headfirst into some metal like synth blasts that come alive so much more on the Kansas City show than the studio versions of Turbo. Case in point the track posted above is Locked In and when the song at the 2 minute 10 second mark mashes up the Guitar Synths with singer Rob Halford’s vocals along with a tempo change this is complete Brilliance at taking a song in one straight ahead motion and shifting gears mid-flight! At the time when Turbo was released I was 18 and a total Noob in ignoring such genius Axe Craftsmanship put forward by the Tipton/Downing Duo!

It only took me 30 years to realize the errors in my thinking! Haha! Better late than never I suppose. This night in K.C Priest is on fire and I love the crunch of the Guitars live. Actually all the songs sound huge with even Heading Out To The Highway aided with the Priest Synth to thicken up the sound not to subtract from it. The whole band rocks and this is another great throwback Live Album from Judas!

If you recall when I reviewed the Defenders Bonus live album which was recorded on the 1984 Tour I mentioned that Priest basically played all of Defenders live which was a ballsy move to say the least and because of that I won’t ever have to review the studio album as it’s all live!

(Live at the Kemper Arena, Kansas City)
“Out in the Cold”
“Locked In”
“Heading Out to the Highway”
“Metal Gods”
“Breaking the Law”
“Love Bites”
“Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”
“The Sentinel”
“Private Property”
“Desert Plains”
“Rock You All Around the World”
“The Hellion”
“Electric Eye”
“Turbo Lover”
“Freewheel Burning”
“Victim of Changes”
“The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)”
“Living After Midnight”
“You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”
“Hell Bent for Leather”

Wowzer’s! Hows that for a set list! Pretty A-OK by my standards. The thing that stands out as well is that the Turbo tunes when played  come across with a lot more ooooomph live especially Rock You All Around The World. This track has a lot more bite in its attack live than on the studio. Private Property is another with the guitars having an extra snap to em and even the backing vocals are rough sounding which add to the coolness of this show. Kudos to Priest leaving off Parental Guidance here!

Priest did release a live album from this tour back in June of 1987 titled Priest Live.  Course at the time I bought it but It never really caught on with me. The packaging was beyond lame with that sappy cover and the songs to me sounded like they were doctored up in the studio big time especially the audience participation levels…  It didn’t help that as far a live albums go I would compare everything to Iron Maiden’s Live After Death in regards to packaging/album sonic’s/performances. Priest man, didn’t have a chance back than!

Speaking of Performance’s!……

So ummm I stumbled across this chaps site who goes by the name of Jonathon Valen,  Who is Jonathon Valen you ask. Well he was hired by Priest as a second drummer to augment everyday Priest drummer Dave Holland  to supplement drums offstage(behind a curtain). Kinda of an interesting twist to things round these parts  but man oh man what a great read at Valens site. The dude has proof as guys like Jeff Pilson(Dokken) have posted this..

Whut??

C’mon Rob and Crew. Give credit where credit is due!

Downing and Tipton should be commended for breaking new ground here back in 86 with the playing that came from the Turbo album. Still remember at the time of Turbo’s release reading in Sports Illustrated Magazine an article on KK and Glenn taking up Golfing while on the road between tour dates! I thought that was kinda cool as back than no artist would talk about that kind of stuff so not only were Priest forging new tones  on Turbo but the two lead guitarists were trading in their Metal Spandex for Golf Slacks on days off.

You can click the link below to read the original article from Sports Illustrated! It’s quite a cool read especially the comment of “Just Worship The Devil At Night”….haha….Silly Metal Brit’s!

http://www.si.com/vault/1986/10/27/106777130/heavy-metal-rockers-find-peace-and-quietand-rock-fanson-the-links

Still though here we are 30 years later and what I would consider the official live album from 1986  is finally unleashed!

Well Done!