British Steel (album)

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British Steel
Judas Priest British Steel.jpg
Studio album by Judas Priest
Released 14 April 1980
11 May 2010 (30th Anniversary Edition)
Recorded January–February 1980 at Startling Studios, Ascot, England; United Kingdom
Genre Heavy metal, hard rock
Length 36:10
Label Columbia
Producer Tom Allom
Judas Priest chronology
Unleashed in the East
(1979)Unleashed in the East1979		 British Steel
(1980)		 Point of Entry
(1981)Point of Entry1981
Alternative cover
30th Anniversary CD-Release.
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
About.com 5/5 stars (30th DE)[1]
AllMusic 5/5 stars[2]
BBC Music favourable (Anniversary)[3]
PopMatters 8/10 (Anniversary)[4]
Rolling Stone favourable[5]

British Steel is the sixth album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 14 April 1980.

Overview

British Steel saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on Killing Machine. This time, they abandoned some of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their previous releases, but some of it still remains. British Steel was recorded at Tittenhurst Park, home of former Beatle Ringo Starr, a recording studio located on Tittenhurst's grounds, after a false start at Startling Studios in December 1979. Digital sampling was not yet widely available at the time of recording, so the band used analog recording of smashing milk bottles to be included in "Breaking the Law", as well as various sounds in "Metal Gods" produced by billiard cues and trays of cutlery.[6] It was released in the UK at a discount price of £3.99, with the advertisements in the music press bearing the legend "British Steal". Songs "Breaking the Law", "United", and "Living After Midnight" were released as singles.[6]

British Steel is the first Judas Priest album to feature drummer Dave Holland. It is also their first album on which all the songs were written by only current members of the band: Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny featured songwriting from the band's original lead vocalist Al Atkins, Sin After Sin includes a cover of Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust", Stained Class has a cover of Spooky Tooth's "Better By You, Better Than Me", and the US version of Killing Machine (titled Hell Bent for Leather) features a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi".

The album was remastered in 2001 with two bonus tracks added. Bonus studio track "Red, White, and Blue" was written in the sessions for the Twin Turbos album (which would become Turbo) and recorded at Compass Point Studios in Nassau in July 1985.[6] The second bonus track, a live performance of "Grinder", was recorded on 5 May 1984, in Los Angeles during the Defenders of the Faith tour.

In 2009, Judas Priest kicked off their 30th anniversary tour in the US by playing British Steel live in its entirety for the first time. The only other Judas Priest albums of which all the songs have been performed live are Defenders of the Faith and Rocka Rolla, but neither of them were played in the original LP running order or during the same tour (though the original US LP had a different running order than the UK version).

The 30th anniversary release of the album came with a DVD and CD of a live show recorded on 17 August 2009 at the Seminole Hard Rock Arena in Hollywood, Florida as part of the British Steel 30th Anniversary tour.[7] The live versions of all the British Steel tracks from this release were also made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band video game series beginning 11 May 2010.[8]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K.K. Downing. 

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Rapid Fire" (Track 2 on original US releases) 4:08
2. "Metal Gods" (Track 3 on original US releases) 4:00
3. "Breaking the Law" (Track 1 on original US releases) 2:35
4. "Grinder"   3:58
5. "United"   3:35
Side two
No. Title Length
6. "You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise" (Track 7 on original US releases) 5:04
7. "Living After Midnight" (Track 6 on original US releases) 3:31
8. "The Rage"   4:44
9. "Steeler"   4:30

30th Anniversary Edition - bonus live CD/DVD

All songs written and composed by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K.K. Downing except where noted. 

No. Title Length
1. "Rapid Fire"   4:18
2. "Metal Gods"   4:34
3. "Breaking the Law"   2:43
4. "Grinder"   4:06
5. "United"   3:45
6. "You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise"   5:24
7. "Living After Midnight"   4:53
8. "The Rage"   5:04
9. "Steeler"   5:23
10. "The Ripper" (Tipton) 3:09
11. "Prophecy" (DVD and iTunes version only) 6:12
12. "Hell Patrol"   3:57
13. "Victim of Changes" (Al Atkins, Downing, Halford, Tipton) 9:29
14. "Freewheel Burning"   5:49
15. "Diamonds & Rust" (Joan Baez) 4:07
16. "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"   8:58

Personnel

Judas Priest


Production

Charts

Chart (1980–2010) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] 46
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[10] 59
Greek Albums (IFPI)[11] 4
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[12] 55
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 20
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] 92
UK Albums (OCC)[15] 4
US Billboard 200[16] 34

Singles – BPI (UK)

Chart (1980) Name Position
UK Singles Chart «Breaking the Law»[17] 12
«Living After Midnight»[18] 12
«United»[19] 26

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Gold 50,000
Sweden (GLF)[21] Gold 50,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[22] Silver 60,000
United States (RIAA)[23] Platinum 1,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ "Judas Priest: British Steel" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Judas Priest – British Steel". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  11. ↑ "Greekcharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Judas Priest | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Template:BillboardEncode/J/chart?f=305 "Judas Priest – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Judas Priest. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter British Steel in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

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