In the summer and fall of 2009, while on tour throughout North America and Japan, Judas Priest celebrated the 30th anniversary of the "British Steel" album at each of their concert stops. Each night featured a complete performance of their breakthrough album – featuring classic songs such as “Breaking The Law,” “Living After Midnight,” “Metal Gods,” “Grinder,” and more. Released in April 1980, British Steel became Priest’s first RIAA platinum Top 40 album in the U.S., their first Top 10 studio album in the UK.
Now British Steel’s 30th anniversary moment officially arrives, commemorating one of the most influential albums in heavy metal, a record that fellow musicians and disciples credit for unleashing metal from its blues origins. "British Steel: Legacy Edition" will be available through standard retail and digital outlets on May 11th, 2010, through Columbia/Legacy, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.
"British Steel: Legacy Edition" features the 2001 remaster of the original 36-minute, nine-song album (plus two bonus tracks). Also included is a DVD which combines a live 16-song concert filmed in August 2009 at the Seminole Hard Rock Arena in Hollywood, Florida (the album sequence plus seven more cuts), with a 30-minute “Making of British Steel” interview that includes all four original band members.
The long-term association (eight consecutive live and studio albums) between Judas Priest and producer Tom Allom includes this classic, their second LP together. It was recorded in four weeks at Tittenhurst Park, previously owned by John Lennon, and the home of Ringo Starr at the time. Radio airplay on AOR (album-oriented rock) stations for “Living After Midnight” and “Breaking the Law” (with its early promo video clip by Julien Temple) propelled the LP to #34 in Billboard and an 18-week stay on the chart.
When the Judas Priest album catalog on Columbia was restored for the first time starting in 2001, the band members offered their own recollections (in lieu of a liner notes essay) on each individual CD. They recalled the clanging sounds of “trays of cutlery” and “billiard cues” heard in “Metal Gods,” which became a concert favorite along with “The Rage.” Of the bonus tracks, “Grinder” is a live version recorded in 1984; and “Red, White & Blue,” written as a sing-along for the Turbo album sessions in 1985, never quite made the cut. “A little tongue in cheek,” the 2001 notes declared, “it is also very patriotic and may bring a tear to your eye!”
As planned, Judas Priest hit the stage running every night of their summer tour, starting off with the blistering “Rapid Fire,” the opening track of "British Steel," and reclaiming the other eight songs on the record in grand style. Of course, the concerts did not end there. The band tore through another program-length of songs from the four corners of their history, starting with “The Ripper,” from their first Columbia LP, 1977’s "Sin After Sin".
“Prophecy” from their most recent studio, "Nostradamus"; “Hell Patrol” was from "Painkiller"; “Victim Of Changes” is one of the staples from their 1976 album "Sad Wings of Destiny"; “Freewheel Burning” 1984's "Defenders of the Faith"; “Diamonds & Rust” from "Sin After Sin"; and closing the show with “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” from 1982's "Screaming For Vengeance."
Track Listing for "British Steel: Legacy Edition" is as follows: (Columbia/Legacy 88697 66744 2)
Disc One: CD - British Steel (remastered in 2001):
1. Breaking the Law 2. Rapid Fire 3. Metal Gods 4. Grinder 5. United 6. Living After Midnight 7. You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise 8. The Rage 9. Steeler
Bonus tracks:
10. Red, White & Blue (studio track) 11. Grinder (live version)
Disc Two: DVD - The British Steel 2009 Tour (Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Arena, Hollywood, Florida, August 17th, 2009):
1. Breaking the Law 2. Rapid Fire 3. Metal Gods 4. Grinder 5. United 6. Living After Midnight 7. You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise 8. The Rage 9. Steeler 10. The Ripper 11. Prophecy 12. Hell Patrol 13. Victim Of Changes
14. Freewheel Burning • 15. Diamonds And Rust • 16. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.
