Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing has posted the following message on hisofficial website celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of the band's greatest, if not their greatest, in my humble opinion, albums, Screaming For Vengeance.
"Hello to everyone!
Screaming For Vengeance is still the bands biggest ever selling record. This may come as a surprise to many but if you ask me why this might be, I would give you quite a few reasons:
Firstly I would say that Screaming has an undeniable completeness about it. By that I mean a good and varied selection of songs, a cool cover and an overall uplifting feel that was perfect for the time when it was released.
Timing! Now there is a very interesting topic when it comes to releases. I have a theory that timing plays a very crucial role in a bands career. In fact I am convinced that even some Priest albums have been released before their time. Typically a lot of bands have released albums that did not have a particular impact at the time of release but went on to be revered as classic albums for me! Although one could argue Painkiller was just such an album for Priest and I am optimistic that Nostradamus will follow.
Back to Screaming; there is no doubt that without You've Got Another Thing Comin' the album may not have been the success that it was but I guess we will never really know.
As it happened I seem to remember that we were quite happy with the album but decided late on that we could add one more song. I know we had some of the parts but we set about completing Another Thing Comin' during the mixing sessions at Bee Jay studios. It came together quite quickly and I seem to remember that we all had a good feeling about it as it did sound like a good driving song and possibly a good radio track.
There is no particular secret as to how a band puts its sound together. Quite simply each player does his best to achieve his own individual sound and then when everyone plays together there you have it: the bands unique sound. Then if you are lucky, the studio that you choose to use will have some good sounding rooms with acoustics that will complement the sounds from each instrument including vocals. There is no doubt that you will see artists recording in the bathrooms, kitchen, offices etc. or in fact anywhere that they can to achieve the right acoustics, reverb and so forth that is to their liking. It's no wonder that there is such a wide variety in the sound of bands albums. Not only are they changing their instruments and equipment throughout time, but they are also using different studios around the world and I can honestly say that no two kitchens sound the same.
For sure the band was enjoying life at the time. Personally I felt that we were on a roll and nothing could stop us and it didn't. We also got to make the record in Florida which for us English lads was a real treat. The atmosphere and weather was definitely rock and roll. Although the material was written back home, there is nothing better than recording in a warm sunny climate. It certainly helped to be able to spend a little down time at the pool.
Sadly it is too long ago for me to remember the exact details and events that surrounded the making of this record. I can only sum it up by saying that I sincerely wish that I could turn back time and experience the whole thing again as it certainly was the year that Judas Priest was Screaming for Vengeance!"
Eds comment: As another tie in to this very special album, our very own Eddie Trunk has written the liner notes for the re-issue of Screaming For Vengeance.
"Hello to everyone!
Screaming For Vengeance is still the bands biggest ever selling record. This may come as a surprise to many but if you ask me why this might be, I would give you quite a few reasons:
Firstly I would say that Screaming has an undeniable completeness about it. By that I mean a good and varied selection of songs, a cool cover and an overall uplifting feel that was perfect for the time when it was released.
Timing! Now there is a very interesting topic when it comes to releases. I have a theory that timing plays a very crucial role in a bands career. In fact I am convinced that even some Priest albums have been released before their time. Typically a lot of bands have released albums that did not have a particular impact at the time of release but went on to be revered as classic albums for me! Although one could argue Painkiller was just such an album for Priest and I am optimistic that Nostradamus will follow.
Back to Screaming; there is no doubt that without You've Got Another Thing Comin' the album may not have been the success that it was but I guess we will never really know.
As it happened I seem to remember that we were quite happy with the album but decided late on that we could add one more song. I know we had some of the parts but we set about completing Another Thing Comin' during the mixing sessions at Bee Jay studios. It came together quite quickly and I seem to remember that we all had a good feeling about it as it did sound like a good driving song and possibly a good radio track.
There is no particular secret as to how a band puts its sound together. Quite simply each player does his best to achieve his own individual sound and then when everyone plays together there you have it: the bands unique sound. Then if you are lucky, the studio that you choose to use will have some good sounding rooms with acoustics that will complement the sounds from each instrument including vocals. There is no doubt that you will see artists recording in the bathrooms, kitchen, offices etc. or in fact anywhere that they can to achieve the right acoustics, reverb and so forth that is to their liking. It's no wonder that there is such a wide variety in the sound of bands albums. Not only are they changing their instruments and equipment throughout time, but they are also using different studios around the world and I can honestly say that no two kitchens sound the same.
For sure the band was enjoying life at the time. Personally I felt that we were on a roll and nothing could stop us and it didn't. We also got to make the record in Florida which for us English lads was a real treat. The atmosphere and weather was definitely rock and roll. Although the material was written back home, there is nothing better than recording in a warm sunny climate. It certainly helped to be able to spend a little down time at the pool.
Sadly it is too long ago for me to remember the exact details and events that surrounded the making of this record. I can only sum it up by saying that I sincerely wish that I could turn back time and experience the whole thing again as it certainly was the year that Judas Priest was Screaming for Vengeance!"
Eds comment: As another tie in to this very special album, our very own Eddie Trunk has written the liner notes for the re-issue of Screaming For Vengeance.
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