Classic Albums - Judas Priest: British Steel

Amazon.com

This installment of the Classic Albums series, in which rock stars talk about the creation of their albums, focuses on the making of British Steel, the 1980 album by Judas Priest, a working-class British, heavy-metal band led by screechy lead singer Rob Halford. As Halford (who has since left the band) and his mates explain what went into the lyrics and recording of the songs that made up the record, the talking heads are intercut with performance footage of a band that helped launch the metal and speed-metal surge of the 1980s and early 1990s. The interviews are not particularly insightful if you're not a fan and are probably redundant if you are; it's fascinating, however, to watch the way the band's studded-leather image evolved over the years. --Marshall Fine

Description

Had Judas Priest released just this one album, it would still go down in history. Judas Priest was one of the most influential heavy metal bands of the 70's.

BRITISH STEEL made them a world-famous band.

The welding of BRITISH STEEL is told in this exclusive program in the band's own words, and by their once long-term producer Tom Allom. Featuring archive footage, interviews and rare live performances, plus all of BRITISH STEEL'S finest songs, including "Living After Midnight", "Breaking the Law", "Metal Gods", "The Rage", "United" and "Grinder", this is a compelling, witty and exhilarating look at the making of one of heavy metal's most artful creations, a true Classic Album.

Watch, listen and kneel to the Metal Gods!

Customer Reviews:

great bio of British Steel.......2005-11-14

All band membors give all their secrets about one of the greatest heavy mnetal albums ever made "British Steel" very interesting stories, and interviews from the band, lots of cool clips, and a few videos and a rare 1991 performance of Grinder, a great buy!

British Steel.......2005-08-19

OK if you are a die hard Priest fan. All the dialog is a bit boring. It moves a little too slow for me. The music was good though.

Love Judas Priest but a few things..........2004-12-19

I feel I have to ask this, how many freaken interviews are they going to do about British Steel/Point of Entry with parts of old videos, saddly some from Fule for Life not saying Fule for Life wasnt good, it was great, however if I wanted to see Fule for Life Id freaken Watch Fule For Life but appareantly they assume your to stupid to notice and may miss it so they RE-add many clips from Fule for Life because they assume you dont have Fule for Life...

See a pattern?

What kills Me is they obviously have some vintage material that is extreamly old and in great condition, viewing and sound wise, yet they show you like 10 seconds then ... go back to an interview :)

I wish Judas Priest would stop going over kill with interviews and just release there vintage material, Im talking even back to Sad Wings as about 10 seconds of Tyrant was played... then cuts OFF!?!?!?! but... saved by what else? an interview :)

Priest needs to know their PAYING fans dont want interviews that take longer to hear then the length of creation of Priests existance on this earth, but I do give it 4 stars, because they were kind enough to grace the PAYING viewers with a whopping 10 seconds of a vintage classic :)

*try to*... Enjoy!

The inside story of the world-shattering metal classic........2004-02-15

Yet another entry in the enjoyable Classic Albums series, the episode documenting the making of Judas Priest's classic 1980 album was one of the few that didn't get screened on NZ TV (ditto the Iron Maiden, Deep Purple & Tincannica ones).
If you purchase this expecting all nine album cuts played in their entirety; then your're going to be disappointed. What you get here is a brief history of the the band which won't be cover any new ground for people who've seen the "Metal Works" video. The DVD features interviews with Messrs Halford, Tipton, Downing and Hill; along with then-producer Tom Allom & Scott Travis taking over from the drummer from that period Dave Holland (who as we all know, has been in the news recently for all the wrong- and quite sickening- reasons).
The DVD features the amusing concept video for BREAKING THE LAW in which the band rob a bank with Glenn & K.K using their guitars as weapons, while Rob Halford does a warped variation on "The Twist" on the bank counter before bending some iron bars to steal some gold albums for BRITISH STEEL. Also included are the videos for LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT & UNITED; as well as anecdotes and breakdowns of each song (the only cut that isn't really covered in much detail is YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE OLD TO BE WISE- my least favourite track on the album).
We get to see Glenn & KK demonstrating their guitar duelling in the studio, Ian talking about his bass intro for THE RAGE- one of very few he got to play (apart from LOVE BITES from 1984s "Defenders Of The Faith", BLOOD STAINED & BURN IN HELL both from 1997's "Jugulator". I could be wrong there. I probably am. Heck, I'm Vidiot, not Einstein) & Priest fans get to hear the infamous story about how "LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT" was conceived for the millionth time.
I do have a one minor quibble: the DVD running time is posted as 110 minutes on the DVD slick, but the actual running time for the doco itself is a mere 50 minutes. Also unlike the Meat Loaf BAT OUT OF HELL & Fleetwood Mac RUMORS "Classic Album" DVDs there's no stories of sex & drugs excess- the closest we get to that is a tipsy Tipton laying down some of his solos in the studio after the band had come back from a few beers at the pub. (Been there, done that).
Extras include a discography and extended interviews, which run about half an hour, so we're still owed 20 minutes of material. Other than that, this is an entertaining look at the making of one of the most important hard rock/metal albums of the 80s. If you're a fan you'll want it in your collection.

Pure Substance for Musicians.......2003-12-18

If only VH1 would get a clue and produce substantive documentaries like this that are actually about making music instead of celebrity-oriented fluff.

This is a retrospective documentary about the making of the British Steel album. Glenn, KK, Rob and Ian are all interviewed about the making of this metal classic. There are interesting stories from producer Tom Allom about how some of the effects were generated, demonstrations of how Glenn and KK work together to get their trademark sound, examples of some songwriting devices, explanations by Rob of the ideas behind the lyrics, and some input from Ian Hill whose perspective is often overlooked even though he has been there from day one. Dave Holland, the drummer at that time, was not included. There is an interview with Scott Travis, the current drummer, in the extras.

This DVD is great for musicians and serious fans who are interested in what goes on during a recording session and the creative process. You may be disappointed if you are looking for celebrity rock star soap opera. But there is always VH1 for that.

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