BraveWords.com's Martin Popoff just spoke with JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Glenn Tipton about a number of topics including their new live album, A Touch Of Evil: Live, due out on July 14th via Sony Music and Epic Records. Here are a few excepts from the chat:

BraveWords.com: How about a bit of the lay of the land with this live album? The track listing is kind of interesting... what is the mission with this record?

Tipton: "Basically, it’s all previously unreleased live tracks. So, anything we haven’t gotten released before live, or not everything, but this album contains tracks that haven’t been released, other than bootlegs of course, officially live, by Priest."

BraveWords.com: Which songs, do you feel have quite a bit of a difference? Have a reworking?

Tipton: "Well, our songs don’t differ a lot live from the album, in terms of arrangement, but they’ve just got a live feel. And I think every band, I think if you can do a good live album, the energy that you create on stage is usually more awesome, if you like, particularly in a band like Priest’s case, than you produced in the studio. It’s always a bit more clinical in the studio, where the tempo was more guarded, in the studio. We usually tend to upgrade things tempo-wise when we get on stage. And there is audience participation that just brings Priest songs alive. At the end of the day, we come alive in front of an audience, and we feed off an audience, and there’s definitely far more energy there. So that’s the reason we do live albums."

BraveWords.com: Looking at the set again, are there any here that you kind of joke about amongst yourselves as saying, these are really difficult, come on guys, we’ve really got to concentrate. What are hard tracks for Priest to play live?

Tipton: "Well, nothing is really hard, Martin. Obviously, when you dig deep, there are songs that we perform that we wrote 25, 35 years ago, in some cases, and what we’re doing with this tour, is obviously we’re playing British Steel start to finish, which is going to be a great thing. Bring songs like The Rage, Steeler, and then like classic songs, back, and then we’re going to do some retro tracks as well, probably Freewheel Burning. We’re not completely sure what were going to supplement it with, but we’ve got a pretty good idea. So it will all be sort of tracks from that era, and I think it’s a very nostalgic era. The only difficulty is bring back tracks from a long time ago is that you tend to forget them, so you have to relearn them. Other than that, it’s quite simple."

BraveWords.com: Now, this live album, Tom Allom is back as a co-producer. What does he bring to the table for the live album, and what did he bring to the table to help with your success in the early days?

Tipton: "Tom is a great producer, not just a great producer, but a great guy. When we first started work with Tom, the Tom Allom years, for want of a better phrase, are brilliant. Tom just has a way with the band. He knows us as individuals. He’s very diplomatic, and he’s got the ability to get what we want, but put his own stamp on it as well. And all credit to Tom, he worked with us on some great albums, and was responsible for the way, definitely, that the album sounded. I’ve got a lot of respect for Tom. He’s also a great guy and a great friend. And that makes a big difference when you are working with people. You can work with great producers, but if you don’t like them, it will show in your work. But we get on really well with Tom. And I think that’s apparent in the sound of the albums and the production."

BraveWords.com: Specifically, is he a cheerleader for a certain thing, guitars, bass, drums? What is he a cheerleader for?

Tipton: "Tom is very good at recognizing if the sound that we walk into the studio with is right. And then very diplomatic in the sense that if it isn’t quite right, working with us to achieve what that particular track on that particular album should sound like. I mean, we always work very, very hard in the studio to achieve the best sound, both on drums and guitars. And if people think we walk in, after 35 years, that it’s easy to walk into a studio and have the right guitar sound, it isn’t. You have to work at it. You know, it can be very difficult after all these years. You change your equipment and therefore it records different when you walk in the studio. You’re in a different era, tackling different types of songs. It always needs modification on the guitar sounds. So Tom is very good at working with us to achieve what that song and that album actually needs."

BraveWords.com: And what did he do with the live album? What was his role there?

Tipton: "Well Tom, we gave him tracks that had been recorded on the road, and sometimes those can be pretty rough around the edges. Depending on the particular night. It might be a great night concert-wise or vibe-wise, but the sound quality might not always be good. And then it’s up to Tom to refine that and repair that, and make it sound good, and compress it and limit it, and just blend it in a great mix. And Tom is excellent at that. I’m not taking anything away from Martin Walker. Martin was our upfront live sound guy, and was responsible for recording sounds as well. So it was well recorded by Martin, but Tom is very, very good at getting a final result, getting a sound that is very Priest-like and he’s done a great job in this album."

BraveWords.com: How many different versions of these songs would you listen to to pick one?

Tipton: "Well, we did record a multitude of shows. But there’s no point listening past a version you are happy with. So when we did listen, we picked out the stronger concerts, and we sort of knew that that was the one to use or not. But again, Martin Walker did a lot of the groundwork on that, and we credit Martin for picking good shows and good concerts."

BraveWords.com: Now, you named the album after a Painkiller song, and it closes with Painkiller, and I’ve got to tell you, people just love that album; it’s become one of your most popular albums. What is it about that album that is magic, against say, Ram It Down?

Tipton: "You can’t really say. I mean, we’ve tried, on every album that we’ve actually produced, we tried to make it sound different and have its own character. And even the compositions, whilst remaining unmistakably Judas Priest, we’ve never been satisfied with repeating the album that we did before with different lyrics on it, which a lot of bands do. They get a formula and they stick with it. We like to push the boundaries further, and you know, no more than with Painkiller. I think Painkiller in its time was very innovative. You know, it wasn’t exactly thrash, but it wasn’t far off it. There are great tracks on Painkiller, All Guns Blazing. It’s got a great selection of songs, very powerful songs, very well recorded, well produced. I think Chris Tsangarides worked with us on that album. Chris is also a great producer, and it’s got a lot of energy. I think Painkiller just has excessive Priest energy, and I think that’s what people like. For a studio album, especially."

Check out a A Touch Of Evil: Live widget below featuring samples from the entire album.

A Touch of Evil: Live features absolutely scintillating renditions of such Priest gems as 'Riding On The Wind', 'Beyond The Realms Of Death', 'Dissident Aggressor', 'A Touch Of Evil', 'Eat Me Alive', and the set-closing 'Painkiller'. Also of note are the first live album appearances of standouts from Priest’s critically acclaimed 2008 concept double disc, Nostradamus ('Death' and 'Prophecy').

Recorded by Martin Walker and Brian Thorene during the Judas Priest’s mammoth 2005 and 2008 world tours, A Touch Of Evil: Live also marks the first Priest album that producer Tom Allom has worked on since 1988 (co-producing along with the band). It was such Allom-produced albums as the aforementioned Unleashed In The East, as well as British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance (among others) that made Priest not only one of the premier metal acts, but one of the leading global rock acts. As heard throughout A Touch of Evil: Live, Priest remain a must-see live act…and a must-hear one, as well."

The complete tracklist for A Touch of Evil: Live’ is as follows: 'Judas Rising', 'Hellrider', 'between The Hammer And The Anvil', 'Riding On The Wind', 'Death', 'Beyond The Realms Of Death', 'Dissident Aggressor', 'A Touch Of Evil', 'Eat Me Alive', 'Prophecy', 'Painkiller'.