British Steel (album)

British Steel
Studio album by Judas Priest
Released 14 April 1980
Recorded January–February 1980 at Startling Studios, Ascot, England; United Kingdom
Genre Heavy metal
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
SourceRating
About.com (30th anniv. edition)[1]
AllMusic[2]
BBC Music(favourable) (30th anniv. edition)[3]
PopMatters8/10 (30th anniv. edition)[4]
Rolling Stone(favourable)[5]
Sputnikmusic2.0/5.0

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. In a June 2017 appearance on Sirius radio podcast "Rolling Stone Music Now,"[6] Rob Halford said the band may have been inspired by AC/DC on some tracks after supporting them on a European tour in 1979.[7] 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.[8] It is the first Judas Priest album to feature drummer Dave Holland, and 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". The songs "Breaking the Law", "United", and "Living After Midnight" were released as singles.[8]

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.[8] 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 debut 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.[9] 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.[10]

Critical reception

The album received generally favourable to mixed reviews, with AllMusic rating the album a star rating of five out of five explaining that "The album kick-started the heavy metal influence" as well as saying "There are uptempo slices of metallic mayhem on songs such as 'Rapid Fire' and 'Steeler' plus effective moodier pieces in the song 'Metal Gods'," whilst Sputnikmusic rated the album a 2 out of 5, stating "British Steel starts off quite well with 'Breaking the Law'," explaining that "The song is simple and short in structure," but then tells that "The band does not do that well", meaning that the album is poor but contains some songs that are good.

On the other hand, Rolling Stone, also BBC Music rated the album as a favourable review while PopMatters highlighted the album as an 8 out of 10 rating. In 2017, it was ranked 3rd on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[11]

Track listing

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

Side one
No.TitleLength
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.TitleLength
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 tracks written by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K.K. Downing except where noted.

No.TitleLength
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)[12] 46
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 59
Greek Albums (IFPI)[14] 4
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[15] 55
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 20
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 92
UK Albums (OCC)[18] 4
US Billboard 200[19] 34

Singles – BPI (UK)

Chart (1980) Name Position
UK Singles Chart «Breaking the Law»[20] 12
«Living After Midnight»[21] 12
«United»[22] 26

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Canada (Music Canada)[23] Gold 50,000^
Sweden (GLF)[24] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[26] Platinum 1,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Bowar, Chad. "Judas Priest - 'British Steel: 30th Anniversary Edition'". About.com. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  2. ↑ "British Steel review". AllMusic.
  3. ↑ Doran, John (6 May 2010). "Review of Judas Priest - British Steel: 30th Anniversary Edition". BBC Online. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  4. ↑ Begrand, Adrien (28 May 2010). "Judas Priest: British Steel: 30th Anniversary Edition". PopMatters. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  5. ↑ "Rolling Stone review of British Steel". Rolling Stone. 2 October 1980. Archived from the original on 1 January 2009.
  6. ↑ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/judas-priests-rob-halford-discusses-greatest-metal-albums-of-all-time-on-rolling-stone-music-now-podcast/
  7. ↑ http://bravewords.com/news/judas-priest-guitarist-k-k-downing-the-tour-with-ac-dc-was-one-of-my-most-cherished-memories
  8. 1 2 3 British Steel (remastered edition) (Media notes). Judas Priest. Sony Music Entertainment. 1980.
  9. ↑ "Judas Priest Store". Sonymusicdigital.com. 17 August 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  10. ↑ "DLC Week of 5/11 - Judas Priest's British Steel (Live)! // Rock Band®". Rockband.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  11. ↑ Considine, J. D. (21 June 2017). "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Judas Priest: British Steel" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Judas Priest – British Steel". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Greekcharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  16. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Judas Priest – British Steel". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Judas Priest | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Judas Priest – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Judas Priest. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "breaking+the+law | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company".
  21. ↑ "living+after+midnight | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company".
  22. ↑ "united | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company".
  23. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Judas Priest – British Steel". Music Canada.
  24. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  25. ↑ "British album certifications – Judas Priest – British Steel". British Phonographic Industry. 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
  26. ↑ "American album certifications – Judas Priest – British Steel". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

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