/mu/ - Music (Temp full images)

Whyever would you think that, OP? It was early and the band didn't have a lot of chemistry yet and the songs are horribly dated.

But that's not Stained Class.

>>47292086
Yeah I agree. That album was their opus magnum.

I just listened to the entire Killing Machine - it's generally considered the bridge between the dark 70s Judas Priest and their lighter, more commercial 80s material. The lyrics are a little more like what was seen on British Steel and beyond, but the guitars still have a lot of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in them.

>>47292448
Burnin' Up is my favorite song on KM.

>>47291991
If live albums don't, then this is tied with Painkiller. Two very different records, but both killer.

If live stuff is included then Unleashed In The East is the best.

>>47292063
It's dated yes, but the album is good all the way through and every song has a memorable melody to it.

>>47291991
your're definitely Mikael Akefeldt

>>47292448
Like the main riff from Delivering The Goods seems as if it could have been lifted right from Paranoid.

After Sad Wings, Rob and Glenn became the principal lyricists for the band and it's interesting to note their different songwriting styles. Rob's songs are generally more reserved and emotional while Glenn tends to like cheesy heavy metal cliches (Killing Machine's title track is probably the quintessential example of his songwriting)

>>47292901
You notice during the Ripper Owens era, Glenn Tipton wrote nearly all the songs and see the results.

I like the title track of KM though; it has a great headbanging riff.

Wasn't Hell Bent For Leather the album with the Green Manalishi cover?

>>47293181
Yeh.

"We've done a lot of covers actually; CBS Records was always pushing us for those because it's reasoned that an album with an already well-known song on it will sell better. Most of them we didn't bother using because we thought they didn't do justice to the original or else it didn't 'fit' us. There were a few times when we recorded covers that were really good, like Better By You, Better Than Me, the old Gary Wright song which we improved on or our cover of Fleetwood Mac's The Green Manalishi. That was very popular."

-- KK Downing

>>47293162
It's a shame Killing Machine didn't become a live staple; they only played it a couple of times during the album tour and never again.

>>47294372
There's probably a good reason for that; Priest would generally run the same setlist through an album tour, sometimes adding or subtracting a song. They did this mainly because they prided themselves on their ultra-precise live performances so if the band tried playing something obscure that they weren't well-practiced on, they might fuck something up. There was only so many songs that could be fit on the live setlist and Killing Machine apparently didn't make the cut.

>>47294452
Maybe, but as you well know, the band had to change the album title for the US because Killing Machine sounded too violent. Also the song probably wasn't a good thing for projecting the radio friendly arena rock image they were trying to sell to suburban America.

>>47294372
There's probably a good reason for that; Priest would generally run the same setlist through an album tour, sometimes adding or subtracting a song. They did this mainly because they prided themselves on their ultra-precise live performances so if the band tried playing something obscure that they weren't well-practiced on, they might fuck it up. There was only so many songs that could be fit on the live setlist and Killing Machine apparently didn't make the cut.

>>47294482
Yeah but they routinely played The Ripper and Genocide through that album tour which disproves your theory.

>>47294516
Yeah but those aren't quite the same thing; Genocide could be taken as feeling sorry for the victims of a genocide and The Ripper is about a historical figure. Killing Machine is literally about a hitman. That was pretty goddamn controversial subject matter by 1970s standards and very likely not a good thing to play live especially when Judas Priest were trying to go more commercial.

I think the most likely reason it didn't get played much is because Priest's live setlist tended to focus on the high-energy speed burner songs like The Ripper, Sinner, and Exciter. KM has a slow, uneven, jerky pace to it that likely didn't fit in with the rest of the setlist.

70s Priest was superior to the 80s version in most important categories:

>during this phase, we hear a young, fresh, hungry band that's eager take on the world and is making songs based on what they want to do instead of what will get them on the radio
>people complain that the first four albums have bad production, but they have lovely, warm guitars instead of the colder, more metallic sound on the 80s stuff
>ditto the booming drums versus the compressed 80s snare reverb on SFV and DOTF

>>47294731
>>47291991
Couple of comments on 70s Priest:

>Rocka Rolla
Yes it's mostly generic 70s rock with little resembling metal on it and some of the songs feel like incomplete jam sessions. Still, the band's potential could be heard in here.
>Sad Wings
Classic - this album has no bad songs and every track features a catchy melody. The point where Priest surpassed Black Sabbath creatively.
>Sin After Sin
Does get criticized for being too soft and inconsistent, but Dissident Aggressor was the heaviest song ever made up to that time with nothing else coming anywhere near it.
>Stained Class
Priest's magnum opus - this was clearly a band starting to reach the peak of their powers. The only downside perhaps is that Rob overdoes it with the high falsetto vocals (for example, Beyond The Realms Of Death sounded more powerful in 90s-2000s performances due to his older, deeper voice)
>Hell Bent For Leather
This has been labeled the first album of Priest's commercial 80s phase, but the guitars here are still 70s all the way. Also Rob switches to low, growly vocals that give the songs a heavier sound.

SWOD did definitely need stronger production especially compared to the booming wall of sound on Black Sabbath's Sabotage.

>>47291991
I relistened to their Discography yesterday and I have to say Screaming for Vengeance, British Steel, Hell Bent For Leather and Painkiller are all better.