Unleashed in the East

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Unleashed in the East
Live album by Judas Priest
Released	October, 1979
Recorded	1979 Tokyo, Japan
Genre	Heavy Metal
Length	1:00:49
Label	Columbia Records
Producer(s)	Judas Priest & Tom Allom
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Judas Priest chronology
Killing Machine (1979)	Unleashed in the East (1979)	British Steel (1980)

Unleashed in the East is Judas Priest's live album that was 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. It is said that he left because of the pressure of getting a famous heavy metal band like Priest out of the "Synth-Metal" point they were at, only to make a bad attempt at doing so with their Ram It Down album.

Contents 1 Authenticity Rumors 2 Reissues 3 Track listing 3.1 Japanese version/ 2001 Remaster Bonus Tracks 4 Personnel

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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", their then-current album, which was not well-represented on the original realease.

These four tracks were previously available on the Japanese version 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". Concert classic "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.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Exciter"
2. "Running Wild"
3. "Sinner"
4. "The Ripper"
5. "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)"
6. "Diamonds And Rust"
7. "Victim Of Changes"
8. "Genocide"
9. "Tyrant"

[edit] Japanese version/ 2001 Remaster Bonus Tracks

1. "Rock Forever"
2. "Delivering the Goods"
3. "Hell Bent for Leather"
4. "Starbreaker"

[edit] Personnel

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