JUDAS PRIEST - Live In London
December 18, 2002, 22 years ago
(SPV)
It was inevitable, I suppose, that the powers-that-be would follow up the Live In London DVD with a double live CD package, but considering that the last live Priest outing ('98 Live Meltdown) is only four years old and that Demolition stiffed in a big way, the stink of a cash grab can be detected a mile off. To make matters worse, even though there are more tracks on the CD than the DVD, 17 of the 25 offered appeared on Meltdown as well. So, pass the reeking plate of "who cares?" To top things off, the sound in comparison to Meltdown is noticeably inferior. It's quite pathetic, really, that such a respected institution couild stoop so low, and you know damn well that Tipton and Downing are to blame, as they've been doing this music biz thing for far too long to have their strings pulled by a record label. It would have been far better if the band had gone in to record a couple of new songs (something in the vein of Demolition's 'Feed On Me' would have been cool, acceptable at the very least) and slapped 'em on an EP with some live cuts backing them up. Or, even better, leave well enough alone and use the time and energy wasted on Live In London to write a new album that wipes Demolition from memory. It's sad when your heroes - particularly innovators like Priest -disappoint, a crying shame when they start milking the fans...
