Unleashed in the East

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 1978. They released it in October 1979.

There has 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. Other rumours suggest the album was completely recorded in the studio, and cleverly engineered to sound like a "live" recording. Tipton has denied these claims, however admitting that some of Halford's vocals were "touched up" in the studio as his perfomance was affected by a 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". Regardless of all rumours, the album is considered one of the best live recording by a rock band and an all-time classic.

Proving that one can never have enough "Unleashed in the East", the album was reissued on CD in 2001 with four bonus tracks, three of which were from "Hell Bent for Leather", their then-current album. They were: "Rock Forever", "Delivering the Goods", "Hell Bent for Leather" and "Starbreaker". These were previously available on the Japanese version of the album, 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 12 inch version of the "Living After Midnight" single (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". In fact, UK cassette versions exist with just those twelve 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 10th 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 "Unleashed in the East". The band was probably trying to avoid repetition by not including songs on the official full-length live album that were already available as live versions on singles.

Track listing