Posts Tagged ‘Wymer Publishing’

For whatever reason I have never really listened to Judas Priest, I don’t own any albums let alone British Steel and apart from the Therapy? version of ‘Breaking The Law’ I am not sure I could even hum a track.  So really this is the perfect book for me, if it does its job then I will be compelled to at least give British Steel a spin sometime.

It certainly appeals to the geek in me, CD sized so as not to be overwhelming and covering everything from the artwork, track by track analysis and plenty of fascinating artwork from the period, this will allow the uninitiated like me to blag our way through any future leather clad encounters.

Considering the trim size and at a svelte 62 pages Neil Daniels still manages to pack a lot of information into the book.  Whilst clearly he has an affection for the album (and band); this does not prevent him from giving a balanced and unbiased overview.  British Steel was after all a contentious album amongst Priest fans, a classic now but far from welcomed with open arms at the time.  This is succinctly covered and paints an intriguing picture of a band negotiating mainstream desires with an ardent following.

Perhaps lacking a little in the way of up to date input from the band is the only minor quibble I would have, but given this is a bite sized appraisal rather than a comprehensive tome you can hardly feel cheated.

So, will I become a born again Priest fan? Well, probably not, but I am going to look out for a copy of British Steel and give it a go, so I guess, job done.

Jules says….

To find out more about Neil Daniels visit his website HERE.