Unleashed in the East

Infobox Album
Name = Unleashed in the East
Type = Live album
Artist = Judas Priest


Released = October, 1979
Recorded = February 1979 Tokyo, Japan
Genre = Heavy metal
Length = 1:00:49
Label = Columbia Records
Producer = Judas Priest & Tom Allom
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ee1m968o3ep1~T1 link]
*"Rolling Stone" (mixed) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/judaspriest/albums/album/261282/review/5946334/unleashed_in_the_east link]
Last album = "Killing Machine"
(1979)
This album = "Unleashed in the East"
(1979)
Next album = "British Steel"
(1980)

"Unleashed in the East" is Judas Priest's first live album, recorded live in Tokyo, Japan during the "Hell Bent for Leather" tour in 1979. They released it in October 1979.

This was the first of their albums to have Tom Allom as their producer: he would produce all subsequent albums up to, and including, 1988's "Ram It Down".

Authenticity Rumors

There have been many rumours about the album's authenticity as a "live" recording over the years, with claims that most, if not all, of Rob Halford's vocal tracks were overdubbed in the studio, along with the guitar tracks of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. In particular, a popular rumour has it that the album was completely recorded in the studio, and cleverly engineered to sound like a "live" recording. Tipton has denied these claims, admitting, however, that some of Halford's vocals were "touched up" in the studio as his performance was affected by flu during the tour, along with "a couple" of guitar parts, hence the rumours about the album which some people jokingly refer to as "Unleashed In The Studio". However, bootlegs and/or radio broadcasts from this and other tours would indicate that Priest had no difficulty 'cutting it' live. There was also a rumour that the cover photo was taken in The Queensway Hall, Dunstable, England.

Reissues

The album was reissued on CD in 2001 with four bonus tracks, being "Rock Forever", "Delivering the Goods", "Hell Bent for Leather" and "Starbreaker". Three of these were from "Hell Bent for Leather"(US)/ "Killing Machine" (RoW), their then-current album, which was not well-represented on the original release.

These four tracks were previously available on the Japanese pressing of the album (titled "Priest in the East" and having the same track-list as the remaster), and were recorded at the same time as the original nine tracks. Additionally, two more songs were recorded from the same concerts but were only available as B-sides on various singles: "Evil Fantasies" was on the "Living After Midnight" 12 inch, along with "Delivering the Goods". Fan favourite "Beyond The Realms of Death" was pressed with "Rock Forever" and "Hell Bent for Leather" on a special 3 track live EP that came with initial UK pressings of "Unleashed In The East". There is also a 1979 UK cassette version with 12 songs: "Delivering the Goods", "Hell Bent for Leather" and "Beyond the Realms of Death" plus the original 9 tracks.

All the extra songs are fully produced, and are of the same quality as the original nine tracks. Certain bootlegs have turned up with all fifteen tracks put in the original setlist order, to better reflect the actual concerts of the 1979 tour (for the record, all the "Unleashed in the East" recordings were taken from 2 shows: Feb 13th and 15th, 1979). Two more songs, "White Heat, Red Hot" and "Take on the World" were performed but never officially recorded.

However, the "Take On the World" 12 inch single, released in late 1978, included a live version of "White Heat, Red Hot" recorded at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio on May 31, 1978 (on the "Stained Class" Tour). Live versions of "Beyond the Realms of Death" and "Starbreaker" recorded from the same 1978 Cleveland show were released as b-sides to the "Evening Star" 7 inch single and "Take on the World" 12 inch single, respectively. These tracks are available on the "Priest, Live and Rare" CD. They are "not" the same versions as on "Unleashed in the East". The band was possibly trying to avoid repetition by not including songs on the official full-length live album that were already available as live versions on singles.

Track listing

# "Exciter" (Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton) - 5:38
# "Running Wild" (Tipton) - 2:53
# "Sinner" (Halford, Tipton) - 7:31
# "The Ripper" (Tipton) - 2:44
# "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)" (Peter Green) - 3:16
# "Diamonds & Rust" (Joan Baez) - 3:30
# "Victim of Changes" (Al Atkins, Halford, K.K. Downing, Tipton) - 7:12
# "Genocide" (Halford, Downing, Tipton) - 7:19
# "Tyrant" (Halford, Tipton) - 4:32

Japanese version/ 2001 Remaster Bonus Tracks

#

"Rock Forever" (Halford, Downing, Tipton) - 3:27
# "Delivering the Goods" (Halford, Downing, Tipton) - 4:07
# "Hell Bent for Leather" (Tipton) - 2:40
# "Starbreaker" (Halford, Downing, Tipton) - 6:00

Personnel

*Rob Halford: Vocals
*K.K. Downing: Guitars
*Glenn Tipton: Guitars
*Ian Hill: Bass Guitar
*Les Binks: Drums