Artist: Judas Priest
Label: Sony Music
Release Date: 12/9/03
Rating: 5 Skulls
Reviewed by Death (1/30/04):
I'm psyched that Rob Halford has finally rejoined Judas Priest and can't wait for a new studio album and tour. For now, we've got the new Judas Priest DVD, Electric Eye, to tide us over. The verdict? It is a surprisingly quality package, although I wasn't sure it was going to be at first. The cover art, title and packaging are fairly generic (although the booklet is muti-paged, in color, and features a quick couple of paragraphs on the project from Rob Halford). And at quick glance the content is nothing exciting for a long-time fan like me. Thirteen of the band's promotional videos spanning a large chunk of their careers, followed by the previously released on VHS Turbo-era tour video, Priest Live. Who cares, right? I've seen all of these videos before, most of them many, many times through the years. Many can be routinely seen any Saturday afternoon today on one of the countless "classic metal video" shows currently running on U.S. cable television anyway. How excited can I get about seeing the "Breakin' the Law" video again? As for the Priest Live footage, (a) I've seen it; (b) the set list is failry generic; and (c) this was from the "glam years" where the band is looking pretty stupid. So the chances this DVD was gonna end up registering as something special as far as I was concerned were slim going into this review, notwithstanding the fact that I am still to this day a huge Judas Priest fan.I gave it a shot anyway, and was stoked that I did. More on that later. Anyway, I watched the promo clips first. They start with the advent of music videos in the early 1980's with the first two videos coming from the British Steel album. "Living After Midnight" is better than "Breakin' the Law," as the former is more performance and I've seen it less times. Then come three Point of Entry videos. "Don't Go" is a quirky and simple but kinda cool song, I think, mostly because it showcases Halford's voice. "Heading Out to the Highway" I've seen a bunch and it is kinda boring. "Hot Rockin'" starts out pretty gay actually - guys workin' out, in the sauna, in the shower... seriously. If you don't hit 'skip track' in the first thirty seconds it gets better, and things turn metal as the band ends up lighting all of their instruments on fire onstage in front of a headbanging audience. Then we get the ubiquitous but always cool "You've Got Another Thing Comin'," followed by two from the awesome Defenders of the Faith album: "Freewheel Burnin'" (featuring a crudly Photoshopped Rob Halford singing while riding in a car from the Pole Position arcade game), and the killer "Love Bites." Then we get the silly "claymation in the desert" future world of "Lockin' In" and the similar (yet with motorcycles!) "Turbo Lover" videos. Then there is the live Chuck Berry cover "Johnny B. Goode" from the glam Ram It Down album, followed by clips for "Painkiller" and "Touch of Evil."
So far, OK, but pretty much what I expected. Some killer clips ("Freewheel" and "Love Bites," primarily, but also "Painkiller" and "Touch of Evil"), some genre standards ("Breakin' the Law," "You've Got Another Thing Comin'"), some commercial pap ("Locked In," "Johnny B. Goode"), and some questionable plot lines ("Hot Rockin'"). The one thing watching these videos does give you is a sense of how Priest have always changed with the times, yet always have been uniquely Judas Priest. From hippies to early eighties "pop" metal to tough-guy biker band/traditional metal to hair metal to thrash/speed metal, Priest have not been afraid to evolve. Makes you wonder what type of sound and image they will return to with the reformation (I for one am hoping for something like the Screaming for Vengeance/Defenders of the Faith version).
Anyway, I only glanced at the Priest Live material for the reasons outlined above. It was also because I quickly discovered how amazing the other section of the DVD had the potential to be and I was anxious to skip ahead. Anyway, there are some worthwhile and interesting performances here, especially if, like me, you actually can kind of appreciate the Turbo album for what it is. This video opens with the "they'd never play this live these days but it was a pretty cool song" "Out in the Cold," another great showcase for Halford's voice and - at the time - a pretty cool choice to open the concert seeing as how this was a quirky and moody midtempo ballad that lead off Side 2 of the then-new album. Anyway, you have to be a fan of that era to appreciate this concert (although there are decent renditions of "Love Bites," "The Sentinel" and "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" on here, plus other cool songs like "Desert Plains," "The Green Manalishi," "Hell Bent For Leather," "Metal Gods," and "Freewheel Burnin'"). If you are looking for classic footage of the iconic Priest as they are remembered on the walls of the imagined heavy metal hall of fame gallery, this ain't it. But it is kinda fun to skip ahead to certain tracks and watch bits and pieces of the show here and there.
So why does this DVD get five skulls? Up to here, it would get maybe four, mostly for the sheer volume of tracks (13 videos plus 19 live songs) and the decent presentation. But the DVD also features six "BBC TV Performances," and these "extras" are by far the reason to buy this DVD, putting it over the top and earing the fifth skull. These are amazing, and I'd never seen any of them before. The real coup de gras for me is "Rocka Rolla" and the awesome "Dreamer Deceiver/Deceiver" from the Sad Wings of Destiny album (probably my favorite Priest record). It is amazing how good this footage is, it looks and sounds pretty good considering how old it is. More importantly, the performances are amazing. Some of the best stuff I've ever seen actually. Halford was and is one of the best vocalists ever, and this forgotten material has a lot to do with the glory that is Judas Priest, even though I sometimes feel like I am the only person out there who would rather hear "Dreamer Deceiver/Deceiver" live in concert than I would "Livin' After Midnight." Anyway, we also get some late 70's, early 80's anthemic stuff like "Take on the World," "Evening Star," the aforementioned "Livin' After Midnight," and "United" - all featuring small, uninspired studio audiences (although the "United" crowd gets into it a bit I suppose) but nevertheless providing for some cool footage of some of the band's poppier material as performed on BBC TV over the years.
The "discography" section was the unexpected icing on the cake. Not only does it show the album cover and tracklisting for all of the records in the Priest catalogue, it plays one track off of the album that is on the screen. So while you look at the Sad Wings of Destiny page, you listen to "Victim of Changes," and when you are looking at Sin After Sin, you're listening to "Sinner," and when you are listening to Unleashed in the East it's "The Ripper" (you also get other cool tracks like "Stained Class," "Killing Machine," "Diamonds and Rust," "Screaming for Vengeance," "Painkiller," etc.). This feature is surprisingly cool, as it is a cool tour through the Judas Priest catalogue. All in all, Electric Eye is a "decent to pretty good" collection, but it is topped off by the "Dreamer Deceiver/Deceiver" footage that alone is worth five skulls, even with nothing else printed on the disc. The nice "discography" feature helps this to achieve critical mass - all told, we now have 13 videos, a 19 song concert, 6 TV clips, and audio from each of the 14 pre-Ripper Owens Judas Priest albums. 52 career-spanning tracks. It's a true measure of the band that I could name at least another twenty essential Judas Priest songs that are not represented at all (in audio or video form) on this disc (*affect comic book guy voice from The Simpsons*) all of which should be considered for inclusion in the upcoming live set: "Blood Red Skies," "The Rage," "Beyond the Realms of Death," "Never Satisified," "Tyrant," "Genocide," "Epitaph," "Island of Domination," "Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest," "Dissident Aggressor," "Exciter," "Heroes End," "Savage," "Saints in Hell," "Running Wild," "Before the Dawn," "Riding on the Wind," "Bloodstone," "Devil's Child," and "Jawbreaker." Any metal band that has a legitimate seventy to eighty track catalogue of killer songs to draw upon spanning a thirty year career deserves your hard earned cash.
Anyway, as I said before, I can't wait for the reunion album and tour. Makes me wonder what kind of opener they will take out? Will Halford continue his interest in supporting the heavy metal underground and thus we'll have Testament, Dimmu Borgir and Carnal Forge opening the Judas Priest arena tour? Time will tell. I'm just hoping we get "Beyond the Realms of Death" in the live set. In the meantime check out this DVD.
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