Unleashed in the East

Unleashed in the East
Live album by Judas Priest
Released 17 September 1979[1]
Recorded 10 and 15 February 1979
Venue Kosei Nenkin Hall and Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo, Japan
Genre Heavy metal
Length 44:35
Label Columbia
Producer Judas Priest & Tom Allom
Judas Priest chronology
Killing Machine
(1978)		 Unleashed in the East
(1979)		 British Steel
(1980)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Rolling Stone(mixed)[3]

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. It was released in September 1979 and became the band's best-selling album up to that point, reaching the US Top 100[4] and the UK Top Ten,[5] eventually the album became one of the five Judas Priest albums to gain a RIAA platinum certification.[6]

To what extent the album was really live remains a matter of contention, with the album sometimes being called Unleashed in the Studio.[5] Years later, after he had left Priest, Rob Halford noted in various interviews that the music was indeed live, but that his vocals had been ruined in the original recording and were later dubbed in a concert-like studio setting.[7]

Reissues

The 2001 CD reissue featured four "bonus tracks", "Rock Forever," "Delivering the Goods," "Hell Bent for Leather" and "Starbreaker", which had been issued on the 7" bonus disc that came with the original 1979 Japanese vinyl release. Three of these were from their then-current album Killing Machine (released in the US as Hell Bent for Leather), which was not well represented on the original release. "Delivering the Goods" and "Starbreaker" had been exclusive to the Japanese release, although the former would be one of the B-side tracks to the "Living After Midnight" 12 inch, released in March 1980.

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." This live version of "Evil Fantasies" had an official CD release on Single Cuts (2011), albeit with a 6 second edit to the start, which trims Halford's chat slightly.

"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: "Rock Forever", "Hell Bent for Leather" and "Beyond the Realms of Death" in addition to the original 9 tracks. To date, this version of 'Beyond The Realms Of Death' has still to be released on CD.

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: 10 and 15 February 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 in Cleveland, Ohio on 9 May 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

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Exciter" (from Stained Class)Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton 5:38
2. "Running Wild" (from Killing Machine)Tipton 2:53
3. "Sinner" (from Sin After Sin)Halford, Tipton 7:31
4. "The Ripper" (from Sad Wings of Destiny)Tipton 2:44
5. "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)" (Fleetwood Mac cover; from Hell Bent For Leather)Peter Green 3:16
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
6. "Diamonds and Rust" (Joan Baez cover; from Sin After Sin)Joan Baez 3:30
7. "Victim of Changes" (from Sad Wings of Destiny)Al Atkins, Halford, K.K. Downing, Tipton 7:12
8. "Genocide" (from Sad Wings of Destiny)Halford, Downing, Tipton 7:19
9. "Tyrant" (from Sad Wings of Destiny)Halford, Tipton 4:32

Personnel

Judas Priest
Production

Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1979 UK Albums Chart 10
1979 Billboard Pop Albums (US) 70

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[8] Platinum 1,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ "Unleashed in the East: Live in Japan by Judas Priest". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  2. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  3. ↑ Fricke, David (21 February 1980). "Album Reviews: Judas Priest - Unleashed in the East". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 10 May 2006. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
  4. ↑ "Unleashed in the East - Charts & Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  5. 1 2 Ville Krannila. "Unleashed in the East". K.K. Downing Steel Mill. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  6. ↑ "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - May 18, 2014". RIAA. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  7. ↑ Bogdanov, Vladimir; Chris Woodstra; Stephen Thomas Erlewine (2002). All music guide to rock: the definitive guide to rock, pop, and soul. Hal Leonard. pp. 606, 605. ISBN 978-0-87930-653-3.
  8. ↑ "American album certifications – Judas Priest – Unleashed in the East". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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