Running Thoughts #1 – Revisiting a Musical Misstep – Judas Priest’s Turbo

Originally Posted December 1, 2014

For those of us who have spent lonely hours on a treadmill or similar machine designed to turn voluntary self-torture into physical well-being, combating boredom is a constant struggle.  Most of us turn to music to get us through those lonely, painful hours, but spend enough time on the turning gears and even the most beloved album loses its ability to inspire and becomes boring.  For this reason, I’ve found myself turning to ever more obscure album selections and “questionable” choices that I would never tap into if I were called upon to showcase my musical tastes.

In that vein, I turned to the once beloved, later reviled, and often criticized 1986 Judas Priest release, Turbo.  My regular readers (as if) already know how Priest triumphantly reclaimed a spot on my musical radar with a masterful live show in Allentown earlier this month, buoyed by an ultimately competent, and sometimes inspired, new album (Redeemer of Souls – worth a listen on your part).  As such, the mighty Priest was once again getting regular listens from me, and was often fueling my cardiovascular forays on the afore-mentioned runs.  However, a steady rotation of Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of Faith and Painkiller, as awesome as that lineup is, began to suffer the same fate as any string of albums subject to repeated listens – familiarity is in inverse proportion to ability to inspire, so I began looking elsewhere in Priest’s back catalog of vinyl.

Which inevitably brings me to Turbo.  Turbo is widely seen as a musical misstep for the mighty Priest.  Coming off what is arguably their strongest string of albums (ranging from “British Steel” to “Defenders”), Priest was firmly established as Heavy Metal royalty and had as much claim to the title of “Most Badass Band on the Planet” as anyone.  However, Turbo radically changed Priest’s course, to mixed results at best.  More on that in a bit.

However, it is just not a simple matter to declare Turbo a “bad album” and move on.  In many ways, Turbo was not at all a bad album.  Its production was the cleanest and crispest sounding of any Priest album to date (which is not always a good thing, as many fans will attest).  And quite frankly, the song writing on the album ranges from masterful to competent, depending on which track you’re focusing on.  But it cannot be denied that Priest, at this point, were master song-crafters, and I think the tracks reflect that, whatever your opinion on them may be.  And the album art was an awesome continuation of the style and motifs of the last two – Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of Faith, and the “trilogy” of those three album covers is a winning contribution to Priest’s image in the 80’s.

No, the reason why calling Turbo a “misstep” is so complicated is not because it’s “bad”.  The reason it is largely seen as a negative album is that it was a significant, if somewhat daring, departure from what had worked so well for Priest on the last 5 albums or so, at what was probably the worst possible time in that band’s career. 

Now, change in a band, even daring departures from customary sounds, is often a good thing and is often lauded even if the change itself is not always seen as a positive one.  Too many bands get “stuck” in the same old sound.  After three albums or so, this sound gets boring and leads to ever diminishing commercial returns as the band’s fan base grows, changes, and often moves on in their musical tastes.  That’s why many bands who have been successful over long periods of time (U2 comes to mind), spend much of their career evolving and changing, like a shark that constantly has to move forward in order to survive.  And, as I’ve said, even if such changes are not always “home runs”, they’re often admired by critics who at least give bands credit for daring to be bold, innovative, and willing to try something new.

Not with Turbo though.  Why is that?

Again, Turbo was not bad and, quite frankly, wound up introducing a lot of fans to Priest who probably never would have given the band a listen otherwise.  I was one of those fans.  Squarely in the middle of those awkward, adolescent years where I wanted to rebel but was too damned scared to rebel too much, I began delving into the “glamorous” American brand of heavy metal in my early teens.  At the time, this pretty much consisted of Motley Cure, Quiet Riot and Ratt, as the “hair metal” craze hot not yet been kicked into overdrive by Bon Jovi, Poison and company by this point.  In the early 80’s, listening to that music and moving in those circles necessarily meant reading the heavy metal magazines, and it was there that I saw the first ads and read the first interviews of the band as they were just releasing Turbo.

As it was being released, it was the use of guitar synthesizers that was the big selling point of the album.  I still remember an article entitled, “Priest Forge New Metal with the Use of Guitar Synthesizers” that piqued my curiosity.  In this article, band members proclaimed that they were engaging in more actual melodies on the new album as opposed to mere “metal riffing”.  In addition to the new musical elements being sold by the record label, there was also a new look for the band that had less of the traditional black leather and studs and more of hair mousse and, quite frankly, multi-colored vinyl apparel in its place.  (This look was the center piece of the “Turbo Lover” video that accompanied the first single off the album).  To those who were already die-hard metal heads at this point in time, there was no getting around the fact that this was a “pussification” of Priest’s look and sound.  But, hey, let’s face it - it was a more accessible look for Priest.  Suddenly, they didn’t look so violent and scary.  And all this talk of using “actual melodies” with their techno-cool “guitar synthesizers” seemed very cool in a notably glittery-metallic-80’s kind of way.  If the current offering by Priest was either “Defenders” or “Screaming”, I probably wouldn’t have given them a listen at that point in time.  I like to think I would have discovered them eventually, as my musical tastes solidified, became bolder, and I grew less reliant on the pop hooks and synth-softened melodies of my early youth for my musical satisfaction.  But there’s no doubt that the reason I went to Priest how I did, when I did, was due to liking the idea that Turbo was offering.  In hindsight, was I reacting to (or, being manipulated by) corporate machinations designed to bring a new, and more lucrative audience, to Priest?  You bet.  But corporate shills don’t always get it wrong (or, perhaps more accurately, no matter how wrong they are, there are always some individuals in the demographic who respond to their ploys), and for whatever reason, I was an easy mark at that time.  If we’re honest with ourselves, we all are suckers at some points in our lives.  And, in my defense at this point, I was both young and still trying to figure out my musical tastes, so I think I can be forgiven somewhat for rising to the corporate bait, so to speak, by given Turbo a try.

So those were the marketing aspects that brought me to Turbo, but how about the music?  As I mentioned above, the song writing ranges from competent to well done.  These were not raw, rough-around-the-edges songs, but songs crafted by a band that had a good eight albums under their belt by this point.  They were experienced and professional and, quite frankly, well done if you judged them on their own basis.

 Judas Priest Before Turbo

 Judas Priest Sporting the New Turbo “Look”

 The album begins strongly with the “title” track – “Turbo Lover”.  Even though this track begins by showcasing the much lamented “guitar synthesizers”, even the most hard-core, old-school Priest lover will grudgingly admit that the band largely got it right with this one.  And if you’re under the age of 45 or so, I’m sure you’ve heard it.  If you were in a high school or college weight room between the rough time period of 1986 – 1989, it would have been playing over the intercom at some point.  It had decent rotation on MTV (for an old-school British metal band, anyway), and absolutely heavy rotation on the much adored and long missed “Headbanger’s Ball”.  It remains a staple of Priest’s set list at live shows to this very day.  I even heard Halford’s vocals from the bridge in the middle of the song (i.e. – “on and on”) sampled to great success in a modern day dance remix, suitable for “raving” anywhere.  Given this song’s storied history and popularity, I won’t go into it much more other than to say that, despite the changes in Priest’s sound, this is the song that passed the test and remains a classic part of Priest’s back catalog.

From there it’s often hit or miss.  “Locked In” is a straight-out, riff-driven rock single that, while pleasant enough, doesn’t distinguish itself notably.  This was followed by “Private Property”, where the cliché-driven chorus of “Hands Off!  This is Private Property!” was Priest repeating the formula that had worked so well from hits off their previous two albums, “Some Heads are Going to Roll” (off “Defenders”) and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” (off “Screaming”).  While the song has a fair bit of catchy attitude about it (and is a great “running song” as a result), for some reason it doesn’t quite rise to the level of those two earlier hits.  And while I’ve enjoyed the song greatly over the years, it’s here where you first start to get the impression that Priest, which was supposed to be the elder statesmen of heavy metal at this stage in their career, were acting a little immature for their age.  To loudly exclaim, “some head are gonna roll!” or, “you’ve got another thing coming” while bedecked in badass black leather and studs somehow seems appropriate.  But, “hands off dude, this is private property” is just a little too, well, cutesy for what was supposed to be the baddest band on the planet.  So, while the song is a guilty pleasure of mine, this is probably where most critics agree that the album starting going off the rails.

This brings us to the fourth track – “Parental Guidance”.  If you had stuck with Priest this far through the Turbo album and found yourself teetering on the edge of hating it, this is probably the song that put you over.  First let me say this – it is an absolutely well-crafted, catchy, hard rocking pop-infused song that had “hit single” written all over it.  If any other band from that time period had released it, especially an American Hair Metal Band, it would have been a mega hit.  But for the mighty Priest?  No way.  We’ve all heard the apocryphal stories of how longtime Judas Priest fans cried when they first heard the Turbo album – well, if that ever really did happen, I’m sure this is the song that brought the tears.

How can this be if the song was as masterfully crafted as I’ve described it?  Well, just imagine Judas Priest in all of their black leather-bound glory, poised on the stage like a pack of hungry wolves ready to tear into their set like a predator after its prey, fans standing rapt with adoration and expecting a badass metal experience.  Then, after a few competent if somewhat “poppy” power chords, the band tears into, “You say I waste my life away but I live it to the full/And how would you know anyway, you’re just mister dull”.  Eh, what?  “Mister Dull”?  WTF?  Then, “You always chew me out because I stay out late/Until your three-piece suit comes back to date, it won’t get straight?”  What the hell?  “Won’t get straight”?  Why is the baddest metal band on the arguing with their parents about staying out late?!? Then, oh god, that chorus – “we don’t need no, no, no Parental Guidance here”.  This is Judas F*&%ing Priest here people, why in God’s name would they be singing about their parents giving them a hard time?!?  Despite the fact that the band members were closer to 40 than they were 30 when they wrote this song, Priest was never a band that ever had to worry about their freaking parents man!  While the pop hooks were there, this was just the wrong song, at the wrong time, for a band like Judas Priest.  If anyone remembers how incongruous it was for a “band” of obvious white-bread pretty boys like “New Kids on the Block” singing about being “Tough Enough”?  Well, this was the inverse of that – a case of bona fide badasses with actual street cred suddenly being bummed because their parents complained about them playing their music too loud.  This was the musical equivalent of that campaign commercial where Michael Dukakis stuck his pencil-necked head out of that tank with a combat helmet on – the image didn’t fit the subject matter, and the public knew it.  Hell, even clueless adolescent me knew it, and I, for the most part, loved the album.

At this point, most listeners’ impressions of the album were set, and the remaining songs faced an uphill battle the rest of the way.  “Rock You All Around the World” was obviously engineered to be a stadium rocker, complete with a sing-along chorus that the crowd could chant along to.  Again, with this track, Priest showed themselves to be superbly competent at their craft, but the chorus was somewhat clumsy and it just never caught on with live crowds the way I think the band intended. 

“Out in the Cold”, which kicked off the second side of the album, was really where you saw the band use the guitar synths to their fullest, and those “actual melodies” they spoke about in the magazines were on full display.  It really was an interesting piece of music and, in my opinion, the second most accomplished track on the album after “Turbo Lover”.  However, it received a lot of criticism for being a slow, ponderous number – which isn’t always a negative in my opinion.  Priest had done “slow ponderous numbers” before, most recently with “When the Night Comes Down” on their previous album (“Defenders of Faith”).  However, I think that “slow and ponderous” coupled with their heaviest dose of guitar synthesizers yet was just too much for most fans who were still reeling from the juvenile pap of “Parental Guidance”.  That aside, I still think of “Out in the Cold” as a strong, if somewhat singular song and still enjoy listening to it to this day.  It was probably the most “musically accomplished” song on “Turbo”.

The next song, “Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days”, was Judas Priest doing their best Van Halen impression.  The song is about summer, hot weather, having fun, summer, looking good, summer, and having a lot of fun, in summer, in hot weather.  All in all, I think it’s a really enjoyable, high-energy song, and it never fails to kick me into high gear when I’m running at the gym.  But, again, when people turn on Priest to hear Rob Halford sing, they’re not doing it to hear his impression of David Lee Roth, and I fear that, because of that, the song just fell flat for most listeners.

“Hot for Love”, despite the sound of its title, was a rather thought-provoking musical foray for Priest.  It seems like Priest was trying to maintain its high-energy, hard rocking sound, while at the same time incorporating elements of “electronica” in a strange hybrid that tries to be equal parts British Metal and Depeche Mode.  In the midst of all the familiar-sounding riffs and power chords were a lot of echo effects and a lot of reverb, with a healthy dose of electronic percussion sprinkled in.  And while I don’t think the band was “successful” with this little musical experiment, it’s probably the song I have the most grudging respect for.  There really are some interesting moments in this song, and the lyrics of “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, nowhere to go/Nowhere to run to/Nowhere to hide this hurt inside” come across as some of the best on the album.  But it just doesn’t hold together.  I always wondered how it would have worked out if Priest could have indulged a little more in this sound, and spent a little more time mastering this style of musical experimentation.  But the overall critical reaction to Turbo sent them spinning in another direction, leaving this potentially fruitful vein of musical experimentation largely untapped in their future endeavors.

By the time the band gets to “Reckless”, a very competent and very enjoyable up-tempo little rocker that closes the album, I think most listeners have tuned out or completely given up on Turbo (or, conversely, gone back to the beginning to hear “Turbo Lover” again if they liked the album).  And I think that’s a real shame because I always considered “Reckless” to be one of those “hidden classics” so many bands have squirreled away in obscure places of their back catalogue.  I think that if “Reckless” possessed a more strategic place in the album’s track line-up, and had gotten the proper promotion from the band and their label, Priest could have had themselves a mild hit with this one.  It’s largely a back-to-basics rocker with little (if any) discernable guitar synth in it (which may explain why they failed to promote it).  Off all the songs on Turbo, I think this is the one that could have fit most comfortably on any of Priest’s previous releases, and may explain why they threw it on the end almost as an afterthought (“hey, here’s this song we wrote for the last album but it didn’t make the cut so let’s tag it on at the end here”).  It’s a shame though, because it really is a competent little number and I’ve enjoyed it a great deal over the years. 

And so ends my song-by-song review of Turbo.  If you’ve followed me this far, you probably see why Turbo failed.  It was not so much a question of musical quality or a case of bad song-writing.  It’s just that this was not the kind of music that Judas Priest fans wanted to hear from Judas Priest. 

And again, it makes me wonder – why?  I mean, Motely Crue had just come off of two albums in the U.S. where they established themselves as badass, masochistic Satan Worshippers, and right around the time “Turbo” came out, the Crue released “Theatre of Pain”.   “Theatre” was, track for track, a much “softer” album than “Turbo” and signaled as dramatic a departure for the Crue’s sound as “Turbo” was for Priest’s (and contained the treacly ballad “Home Sweet Home”, which was much more of a sellout song than anything on “Turbo”).  However, fans of the Crue did not react to “Theatre” with the righteous indignation so apparent in the fan reaction to “Turbo”.  Again, why was this?

I think that, for better or for worse, Priest had already by the mid-80’s established themselves as the elder statesmen of Heavy Metal.  I mean you still technically had Black Sabbath on their third or fourth lead singer, but they just didn’t seem relevant at the time.  And while Ozzy was as popular as ever, watching his career was the musical equivalent of watching a slow-motion train wreck taking place over the course of many years.  His music was great, but nobody expected the Oz man to be a statesman about anything.  It was just an adventure for him to get a new album out and make it from show to show on any given tour.  Meanwhile, Priest had a solid eight or so albums under their belt, and while they were not as old as “Metal’s Founding Trinity” of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Sabbath, they did precede the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (see Iron Maiden, Saxon, Def Leppard, etc.) by a good three or four albums.  And they were competent, well spoken, and all the while utterly badass.  So while Crue were still in their relative infancy and evolving into their sound as a band, Priest was seen more as an institution.  After all, they were the self-proclaimed “Defenders of the Faith”, the definers and defenders of “True Metal” upon which all the glam metal, pop metal, thrash metal and speed metal genres were based. 

So in many ways, I think Priest underestimated the role they played in the Metal Universe, and the larger musical universe in which it contained.  If you looked up Heavy Metal in the dictionary at the time, it probably would have had a picture of the band as a visual illustration of the genre.  They were standard against which all others were measured and from which all other sub-genres evolved.  It was an esteemed position to be in, and they had earned and owned like no other band before or since.

Which is why Turbo was largely seen as a failure.  No one wanted this kind of album from Priest.  The long-term Priest fans surely didn’t want it.  And for the newer fans who were into the more glamorous and pop-infused versions of the genre, well, Priest was not the band they were going to go to to get their fix anyway.  With Turbo, Priest was simply peddling to the wrong demographic, and ended up alienating their core audience as a result. 

But I still say it’s a good album.  Arguably a great album.  It’s just not a good or great “Judas Priest Album”.

So if you’re in the mood for some hard-hitting rock singles, without getting too bogged down in the riff-heaviness that can be heavy metal, you should look Turbo’s way.  Forget for a moment that it’s by Judas Priest, that it was largely seen as a critical failure, and that it badly damaged the band’s image going into the end of the decade.  Instead, pop it in your car on your way to the presentation you have to get yourself motivated for.  Or make sure it’s on your iPod (or equivalent) when you go for that run or workout at the gym.  The album is called “Turbo” for a reason.  While not as “heavy” as what we expect from Priest, it is fast-paced, largely upbeat, and quite frankly, a whole lot of fun.  So assuming you can give yourself momentary amnesia about the band that wrote and performed it - give it a try.  You may find yourself pleasantly surprised and going back to it again and again.  I know that I will.

Concert Review: Coming Full Circle – Revisiting the Priest (10/15/14 at the new PPL Center in Allentown, PA).

Originally Posted October 16, 2014

If there ever was a truism that gets hammered home again and again over the years, it’s that you can’t go back in time, can’t relive the glory days, can’t ever really, truly go home again.  But, if you stick around long enough, you find that there are a few things, on certain occasions, where you can go “full circle”.  While you don’t get to rewind the odometer and re-experience the halcyon days of years gone by, you can re-live an experience in the present that harkens back to one of your milestone moments that occurred in those years gone by.  And, buttressed by the years of experience (hopefully) that have occurred during the intervening years, those “full circle” moments can be, by turns, incredibly enlightening, gloriously re-affirming or demoralizingly disappointing.  It was my great pleasure to have had one of the more re-affirming of those experiences last night when attending the Judas Priest concert in the new PPL Center in Allentown, PA.

Judas Priest is singular in my experience in that they were the very first concert I saw back in the summer of 1988 at Hershey Park Stadium.  Priest was my “gateway band” as I transitioned from my first forays into hard rock into what could truly be considered to be Heavy Metal (they were, and are, “the Metal Gods”, after all).  While the album and tour that got me there was the polarizing and somewhat controversial “Turbo”, it nonetheless served to get me into a band that, perhaps more than any other act ever, epitomized the Heavy Metal ethic.  Even though they were preceded by Black Sabbath by more than a few years, I could argue that Priest had as much to do with inventing the Heavy Metal aesthetic as Sabbath (but that’s a subject for a whole other column).

1988 was, from a commercial standpoint, a very good year for metal of all shapes and sizes.  While Def Leppard, Quiet Riot and Motley Crue had all cracked open the door of commercial success for this often peripheral genre of music during the years prior, by 1988, Bon Jovi had kicked the door wide open, selling millions upon millions of albums clueing the mainstream masses in on what metal heads had known for years – that nobody can entertain a crowd of adrenal-soaked, party-loving kids like a kick ass heavy metal/hard rock band.  In the wake of Jovi’s wave of platinum success, it seemed like any band on the heavy-side of Cheap Trick could cash in on an album release and a summer tour.  And many did.  Often to the detriment of the long-term health and reputation of the genre itself.  But in the Summer of 1988, many established metal acts, who had suffered through years of paying their dues and slowly growing a sizeable and steady fan base, could suddenly cash in on thousands and thousands of fun-loving youths willing to hand over $20.00 in cash (and $20.00 for the obligatory tour shirt) to party with thousands of their peers in front of whatever hard rockers happened to be in town that week.

Judas Priest was no exception.  And to be clear – I find no fault in them, or any band, cashing in on the popularity of heavy metal while it lasted in the mainstream.  What was not so apparent at the time, but is oh so clear in hindsight, is that this is what those people did for a living, and inasmuch as they had to suffer through the “lean years”, it is only natural and only fair that they get to “cash in” during the boom years.  In my opinion, “cashing in” does not always equate with “selling out”, and I find no fault with what Priest did with Turbo and the subsequent tours.  More power to them.

So, while the die-hard, true-believing Priest lovers were well represented in the crowd back on that summer afternoon in 1988, the crowd was also replete with young teeny boppers who were there as much to party (and see the opening act – Cinderella) as to worship at the altar of Priest.  By this point, Priest’s last album (the aforementioned Turbo) had already been out two years and Priest was on their third incarnation of the Turbo tour, drawing it out ever longer to cash in on the inexplicably continuing popularity of metal.  The band, thirty years younger, were in fine form, with Halford prancing around the stage and the deadly twin-leads of KK Downing and Glen Tipton grinding in synch at the edge of the stage and whipping the heavy metal throng into a fury.  I lost myself a few times in that fury, pumping my fist, throwing the horns, and chanting “Priest” like I was at an early 1940’s rally in Nazi Germany.  Though Halford was at the peak of his powers in 1988, I could tell his voice was tired and strained from the constant touring, and while his high-octave shrieks were hitting new heights, his voice had a weary, nasally quality when singing in the mid-ranges.  However, it was a minor complaint, and I left the show sweaty, exhausted, and proudly declaring Priest as having been the best concert I had ever seen.  Of course, it was the only concert I had ever seen, but after I took in a steady diet of acts over the next five years, Priest maintained their top position in my personal lists of “best live acts”.

However, Metal’s act began to grow old as the 80’s wore on, and by the end of the decade, the predominance of hair metal had turned the genre into something it was just hard to get behind anymore.  My tastes drifted into more of a classic rock ethic, before I got swept up in the grunge revolution and the alternative wave that ensued.  By that point, I had convinced myself that the “peak experience” I had at the 1988 Priest concert probably had as much to do with the fact that it was my first concert as it did with the prowess of the band.  That being said, Priest always occupied a warm place in my music loving heart, even as my listening tastes strayed ever farther from their leather-clad aesthetic.

Fast forward a few more decades and here I am in my forties, with a professional, bureaucratic job, with a wife and a kid and a house in the suburbs.  My musical tastes by this point had soared all over the place, from jazz to folk to country to death metal to ska to anything else in between in between that I may have forgotten to mention.  A colleague from work calls me at home on a Sunday (oh shit), and I expected to have to run into the office to help handle whatever crisis may have flamed up.  Instead, he invites me to see Judas Priest at the brand new PPL Center in Allentown, PA (his home town).  After getting over the initial surprise that Priest was touring, and that they were actually playing within striking distance of where I lived, my obvious answer was, “hell yes”.

While the prospect of seeing Priest again after all these years intrigued me (and sure beat most ways I normally spend a Wednesday night at this stage in my life), I can’t say I was overly excited.  Priest’s last album, “Nostradamus”, was a critical and commercial failure, and many of us who were bothering to pay attention at that point had pretty much written them off as a result. So, while the new album, “Redeemer of Souls”, was getting good reviews (and had left a favorable impression on me), most of us considered it to be a case of too little, too late.  On top of that, founding member and major creative force within the band, KK Downing, had retired, his spot having been handed off to a new but talented young man in his thirties named Richie Faulkner.  As such, I went to the show expecting to enjoy what amounted to not much more than a nostalgia act, tantamount to my parents seeing the Beach Boys in the nineties.  Yeah, they’ll play the hits, and they may even sounds similar, but missing many of the original members and with the remaining ones well into their sixties, a transcendent metal experience just did not seem to be in the cards.

We ended up going with another colleague from work who had just been to the PPL Center to take in a show by Tom Petty and Steve Winwood (I was not surprised to hear that both had been excellent).  While I was a Judas Priest “true believer” from way back, I think the concert was more of a musical curiosity for my two colleagues.  For both of them, Judas Priest was the music that was always being played in their high school weight rooms growing up, and their experience with the band was decidedly different from my own.  However, we were prepared for a good time and a competently performed show, if nothing else.

Steel Panther opened the show with a surprisingly entertaining set that simultaneously lampooned and celebrated everything that was both fun and ridiculous about the 80’s.  As they exited the stage, they gave due respect to the headliners declaring the Judas Priest was, “one of the best bands in the world”.  While it was gratifying to see the openers give due deference to the main act, it was a declaration that I didn’t take seriously.

Then Priest came on.  After subtly notifying the crowd that the show was about to begin by blaring Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” through the PA system, the large black tapestry emblazoned with the band’s logo came down and the band, Halford-less at the very beginning, tore into the opening chords of “Dragonaut”, an aggressive and attention-grabbing slab of metal that opens their new album.  The stage, both literal and proverbial, having been set at that point, Halford made his appearance to welcome chorus of cheers, decked in his now familiar long, black leather duster impressively arrayed with metal studs.  While he seemed to be in good voice (this show was only their third date on this tour), his voice was much stronger and less “tired” than when I heard him almost thirty years earlier. 

However . . . well, there’s no subtle way to put this.  Halford, the “Metal God” himself, “doddered”.  Like an old man.  He was hunched over and obviously stiff and instead of pacing the stage like a general in command of his army, he baby-stepped back and forth while hunched over like a codger who forgot to take his arthritis medication.  It was a bit hard to watch, and I said so to my colleagues.

Still, they sounded great, and as they moved into their second song (the classic “Metal Gods” – the track that coined their nickname), I noticed that Glenn Tipton, who was historically their “2^nd Guitarist”, was handling most of the duties on lead.  This struck me as not at all surprising, as Tipton was and is a hell of a guitarist and was every bit the equal of KK (who was historically the “1^st Guitarist” of the band), and I figured they would leave the heavy lifting to him as they slowly broke in the new guy.  In the meantime, Rob continued to “dodder” around the stage, his seemingly frail figure belied by the strength and majesty of his voice.

And then, as they went into the third song (the excellent “Halls of Valhalla”, also from the new album), something amazing began to happen.  In a big way.  Whether it was just a matter of getting warmed up or hitting their strides or Rob just needing a few songs to get loosened up, the band transformed before my eyes from a highly competent nostalgia act into an all-out metal monster.  They growled.  They roared.  Rob shrieked, and began roaming the stage like a panther, slow but infused with latent energy, ready to strike.  The new guitarist took over the rest of the lead roles in the set and transformed into an unholy hybrid of a young KK Downing in his prime infused with the resurrected spirit of Randy Rhodes.  They tore the roof off the place.  In a word, they kicked M&th#r F#ck*ng @ss!.

They tore through the hits one after the other.  “Love Bites”.  “March of the Damned”.  “Turbo Lover”.  And then the title track off the new album, “Redeemer of Souls”.  While the veteran members of the band played with a flawless, technical precision (“in perfect synchronicity, of which so many speak”), it became obvious that they were making the new guy, Richie Faulkner, the center piece of the live show.  And boy did he rise to the occasion.  Clad in the traditional black leather which was the band’s calling card for years and wielding a Flying V guitar (who plays a Flying V anymore for crying out loud!?!), it was obvious Richie was living the dream, playing the living shit out of songs you just know he grew up listening to in his bedroom, parents banging on the wall telling him to turn that infernal noise down, channeling every heavy metal guitar hero from Iomi to Satriani.  He smoked, and really gave the band a physicality on stage that the original members haven’t shown in years.   Scott Travis, the band’s current drummer (original drummer Dave Holland had to retire from music for less than honorable reasons back in the 90’s), was a pleasant revelation on a night filled with them.  While Holland was a competent enough rock drummer back in the day, Travis is a fully-qualified , “blast beat” speed metal drummer and backs the band with a speed and ferocity that lifted the older, slower-grinding classics to new heights of heavy metal power. 

However, while Judas Priest has always been a band through and through, it’s becoming increasingly obvious in their later years that it’s really all about their front man – Rob Halford.  In the closing moments of “Jawbreaker”, Halford shrieked the titular lyric on three consecutive occasions, hitting high notes that his colleagues in the field of heavy metal haven’t hit outside of a studio in decades (I’m looking at you Dickenson and Tate).  It was enough to lift me out of my seat, throwing the horns with both hands, to scream “F&ck%ng Yeah!  Judas F*ck#ng Priest that’s what I’m talking about F*ck Yeah!!!!”  It was a metal moment.  Those of you who have experienced it know what I mean.  To those of you who haven’t - witnessing Rob hit those notes live in concert at this point in his career was like if Ken Griffey Jr. was brought out of retirement to play in the World Series and hit three homeruns in a row.  Or if Joe Montana was brought in to play the Super Bowl and took the winning team on a last minute TD drive.  It was the kind of moment you always dream about but so infrequently witness.  The old man who was “doddering” early in the show was singing the paint off the walls and made a believer out of this old metal head all over again.

Despite these transcendent moments, the bands age did show through slightly, though they smartly took steps to minimize its impact.  A little too often, Rob relied on the crowd to sing the familiar refrains of “Living After Midnight” or “Breaking the Law”, taking those opportunities to rest his voice.  Tipton, who’s lightning-fast fingers could always shred with the best of them, was a little too comfortable sitting back in the shadows when he should have been up with front with the new guy, laying down licks that the Priest faithful know by heart.  However, the band had defied the odds beyond anyone’s expectations and the crowd was all too willing to forgive these minor considerations. 

For a brief period of time last night in Allentown, PA, a classic British Heavy Metal Band took on Father Time and, at least for a few rounds, defied the odds.  It felt like the 1980’s again.  And while I know that it was all a matter of a very talented, very experienced and very well-managed band of musicians plying a craft that they perfected long ago, deep down in my heart there’s a 15 year old, denim clad, mullet-crested kid who believes that it was due to Faith – Faith in the ancient Tradition of Heavy Metal, and it’s Metal Gods, that made it all happen.  As if it was the fans’ energy and faith that transformed the band and they, in turn transformed us in a truly miraculous, heavy metal moment. 

As for my colleagues, well, let’s just say that as we exited the venue, I was gratified to see that wide-eyed, solemn expression that so often results from being impressed so far beyond one’s expectations.  I don’t think they were sure how to react at first.  Impressively stunned is probably the best way to describe it.  One of them even made the somber admission that it just may have been the best concert they ever witnessed.  Even I, the true believer in the group, found myself stunned at just how great the show was.  The guys in Steel Panther did not exaggerate – this is one of the greatest bands in the world.  And the thing is, they’re touring right now, playing medium-to-small venues, probably not far from your own hometown, with tickets at a bargain price compared to most acts in this day and age.  Treat yourself.  Surprise yourself.  Go see them.  Despite their seeming ability to defy the odds, Father Time is undefeated, and it is inevitable that the time will come when this band no longer tours or does shows.  Now is a great time to go see them in an intimate setting and witness the power that is Judas Priest.  Even if Heavy Metal really isn’t your thing, I know you remember the hits – Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.  Not only do you know them, but you know the words well enough to sing along with them as well. 

This is a metal band that played more in the soundtrack of your life than you probably realize or have ever been willing to admit.  Even if you’re not into the real heavy stuff, they play enough of the familiar hits to keep you entertained.  They are Metal Gods and they won’t be around much longer.  Do yourself a favor and go see them.  I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.  If anything, you’ll walk away at least slightly amazed at how great this band is and more than a little dismayed at how little you realized it your whole life. 

The Metal Gods still rock on – and there is still some room for metal magic in this world.

Full circle indeed.

Greetings & Salutations

Greetings & Salutations

                I’m a social media newbie.  As someone who used to pride themselves on keeping up with the latest that computer technology had to offer, I’m surprisingly behind-the-times on anything that transpired after 2004 or so.  A whole lot happened in that year – new house, new job, new child.  Pretty much all the stressors that your doctor asks you about when diagnosing you for stress-related conditions.  As a result, I kind of went into a shell and didn’t start poking my head out to get the lay of this new land I found myself in until a couple of years ago.  In the meantime, a lot happened in the world of computers.  YouTube happened.  Pirating music files went out of vogue now that you can pretty much stream anything you want anytime you want without the security risks inherent in peer-to-peer file sharing.  Myspace happened, and then shrank into an internet backwater as Facebook gobbled up its market share.  Twitter happened.  IPhones happened.  IPads happened.  And before I knew it, I was way, way, way behind in all things techie and cool.  I was suddenly an ostrich with its head stuck firmly in the silicon sand, completely oblivious of how the internet, once confined to those blocky desktop consoles in the form of static web pages, was now a highly dynamic social network accessible in the palms of our hands.

                So last year I began venturing out into this strange new world and activated a Facebook page.  And then badly misused it.  I made contact with about 3 – 4 friends and then tried to use it as a blog, not recognizing it for the dynamic social network it really is.  I was all but ready to give up on it about two months ago until a long forgotten friend from high school managed to spot me on it and then opened up my world to dozens and dozens of past friends and acquaintances who, through example, showed me what Facebook is all about and the proper way to use it.  Facebook is not about 6 page entries ruminating on how Cheap Trick is underrated or how Turbo is a long misunderstood Judas Priest classic.  No Facebook is about short, pithy entries, clever factoids and takes on the latest news stories.  And while that is fun and I’m enjoying it immensely now that I’ve finally caught “the clue bus”, it’s not really what I ventured back into the internet looking for.

                I do want to write those 6 page entries and ruminate at length on all things both trivial and vitally important.  You see I number amongst that throng of millions known as “failed writers”, and if there is one things failed writers love, it’s the illusion of having an audience for what you write.  So I went back into social media thinking that if I maintained a page of some kind, it would motivate me to write for it, and who knows, maybe someday I may write something of merit.  If nothing else, it would scratch that writing itch that doesn’t go away simply because you didn’t succeed in writing as a career, and posting it on the internet, at the very least, preserves that tantalizing hope that, lo, someone might actually read it someday.  At this point in my life, that is my humble aspiration, and I realize after my failed Facebook experiment that what I really need to do is have a blog.  I know, I know, I’m a good decade late on catching the “blog train” when it left the station, but from what I can see, it’s still a vital force on the internet and, if nothing else, is the source of most of my favorite reading material on the web (do people still refer to it as “the web"?).

                So that brings me to my “Thinker of Thoughts” page.  I’m not sure of the title, and I may end up changing it someday, but for now, this will be the repository of all things that tumble through my head that I think are meritorious enough to commit in some way, shape or form, to writing.  Naturally my first entries are going to be those grimy but (at least to me) loveably misguided Facebook entries that populated my page before I had, well, “friends”.  Over the months I wrote them, seemingly of their own accord, they sorted themselves into different “types” of entries that I’m going to stick with here for the time being.  The meatiest of the entries will be those entitled “Running Thoughts”, which are essays developed from the musings I inevitably engage in during those interminable hours I spend on the elliptical machine every week at the gym.  I’ve noticed that most of my early “Running Thoughts” deal with musical subjects, which I suppose is not surprising since I’m usually plugged into my earbuds listening to music while at the gym.  However, it is not my intention for “Running Thoughts” to be a strictly musical column and I hope to branch out into other subjects in the near future.  Entries of a shorter nature include “Words from People Way Smarter than Me”, where I share, and sometimes expound briefly, on words of wisdom I find from sources outside of myself.  The sources from which I pull “Words” will vary widely, ranging anywhere from the Dalai Lama to David Lee Roth.  “Inexplicable Things on the Internet I Find to Be Funny” is exactly what it sounds like, usually a photo or short web comic that strikes me funny in a profound or strange way.  Sprinkled in between will be movie, TV and book review (mostly the latter) where I’ll endeavor to share my critical thoughts and feelings about those various forays into pop culture.

                As I go, I hope to come up with other kinds of installments, hopefully unique and a little bit different from the majority of things you might find on the internet, and Lord only knows where I’ll end up.  Right now I’m working on a few “Running Thoughts” that deal with my recent surprising experience reconnecting with old friends on Facebook, and a re-evaluation of my long standing views on David Lee Roth (I know, another musical entry), so entries on those should be coming shortly.

                Otherwise, I hope you enjoy, or at least find the contents of this blog to be mildly amusing.  Or at least not banal.  I’ll take a verdict of “not banal” - that would be a small victory to start out with. 

                For now, I hope you enjoy.  More (and better) stuff to follow . . .