The Toy Box

Retro Spins: Judas Priest - Point Of Entry

Hot on the heels of their decade debut, 1980's British Steel, I'm jumping into 1981's Point Of Entry. My previous listening session had been a bit of an eye opener. Not only did I really enjoy what I had heard, but I realized that Judas Priest had songs I had completely forgotten about. What became more interesting to me was digging into the band's history and finding out that none of the original members who formed it were even part of it when they recorded their debut album, 1974's Rocka Rolla.

The band was formed in 1969 by lead singer Al Atkins, bassist Brian "Bruno" Stapenhill, guitarist John Perry, and drummer John "Fezza" Partridge. This lineup would shift up relatively quickly, as Perry would take his own life at the age of 18. Ernest Chataway would fill the roll, but as part of their history, it's noteworthy that future guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing would also try out for the band at this time. While they initially started out as Earth, they would soon adopt, and take their name from the Bob Dylan tune, The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. Fred Woolley would join in 1970, replacing Partridge.

After recording a demo, the band obtained a three-record deal with Immediate Records. Unfortunately, prior to them being able to record anything, the label went out of business. The band would split up in 1970.

Later that year, Atkins would come across the band, Freight, who were rehearsing without a singer. It featured K. K. Downing on guitars, his childhood friend Ian "Skull" Hill on bass, and drummer John Ellis. He'd join them, and they'd adopt the name, Judas Priest. While they performed throughout 1971, but 1972 Ellis quit, and was replaced by Alan Moore. Prior to the end of the year, Moore too would quit and be replaced by Chris "Congo" Campbell.

Judas Priest signed on with Black Sabbath bassist, Tommi Iommi's management label, Iommi Management Agency, where Atkin continued to write material for the band. However, with a family to support, and bills to pay, he left in May of 1973. Campbell too would depart around this time, with both being replaced soon thereafter by drummer John Hinch and vocalist Rob Halford. With Atkin's departure, Judas Priest officially had no original members in the band.

After performing their first tour of Europe, Judas Priest returned to England and signed with Gull Records. At the suggestion of the label, they took on a second guitarist, Glenn Tipton. The lineup for their 1974 debut, Rocka Rolla consisted of Rob Halford on vocals, Gleen Tipton and K.K. Downing on guitars, Ian Hill on bass, and John Hinch on drums. Though a 1987 remastered release would also include credit for Alan Moore for his drums on the bonus track, Diamonds and Rust.

At the rist of this post becoming a novel, we'll pause there and get into the album.

Point Of Entry kicks off with Heading Out To The Highway, a solid into track to the album. That rocking sound that I familiarized myself with in their previous record was definitely present, and I was all in on it.

As expected, I didn't know any of the tracks on the album. At least, that's what I thought. For some reason, when Troubleshooter started up, I could have sworn I've heard it before, but if I did, I can't pinpoint when or where. Still, I feel in the back of my mind that I know it from somewhere.

Unfortunately, coupling all of the history above together did serve to take a lot of my attention away from the album as a whole, and while I didn't necessarily hear anything I would call bad, I also wasn't really attuned to it all to say what I heard. It was nice background noise, I suppose, but that's also not what I was wanting to get out of it. I may need to take some time and listen to this once again, but that's not going to happen any time soon. I have too many albums to get through.

My next stop is 1982's Screaming For Vengeance, which is actually the first album I got from Judas Priest, and the only one I owned for several years before finally branching out. I'll talk about all of that tomorrow, and then with 1984's Defenders Of The Faith swing back around to their continued history.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Baltimore Comic Con Part III: Keith Williams

Keith Williams gets a massive shout out for being the inker on the Web Of Spider-Man in the mid to late 80's. It's because of this that the very first Spider-Man issue I ever "read" was done by him. Yes, way back in Web Of Spider-Man 38, Williams helped to set my mind ablaze with comic mania, and start a long journey, which I'm still on today.

As such, I really wanted to do something nice for him. No, not just set that massive stack of books in front of him to sign.

Rather, when I learned that he had gotten his start at Marvel Comics by sending in the infamous Marvel Try-Out Book, I tracked a copy down for him. I then took it a step further, and got his boss, Jim Shooter to sign it. This was made all the more important and impactful because Jim passed away just two weeks later.

The moment of receiving it was so great for Mr. Williams that it actually made him cry. His wife assured me those were happy tears, cause I was like, "Oh no, what have I done?"

His wife was right beside me taking photos of the moment as it unfolded.

After talking a bit more about Jim Shooter, he put on a grin, and said, "Let me get focused," and dug into signing. When I initially walked up to his table, I held off giving him the book. First, I said, "I brought a few things for you to sign," then proceeded to make the massive pile for him out of two cases of comic holders. He laughed, and said, "Did you bring all of them that I ever worked on?" To which I said, "Yep." Mind you, it really wasn't all of them, because he'd signed a few for me in the past.

When he got to issue 63, I asked if I could have a remarque on it, to which he added this sweet Spider-Man head to the cover.

Truthfully, these aren't all "must have signed" books for me. Instead, it's because Mr. Williams is so reasonably priced, $5.00 per signature, that it's easy to take volume to him. In fact, I even told him, "Your prices are so great, and I can't choose, so I brought them all." Then I laughed, and said, "The lesson here is to raise your prices so that it forces people like me to be more selective." He laughed as well and said he wouldn't.

As he was signing, Keith made mention that he also worked on Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars as a background artist, but uncredited. He said that wasn't the only thing. Many a night he was in a hotel room with other artists cranking out pages to catch up on deadlines and was uncredited on a lot of books as a result. I told him, "Well, I guess I know what I'll be bringing with me when you're at Big Lick NOVA next year (P.S. he's scheduled to be there in 2026, and that signing hopefully has already taken place by the time this goes live). So, hooray, more Keith Williams autographs are coming soon!

For me, this pretty much wrapped up the main signatures I was at the show for. Like I said, I didn't want to take as much as I had in the past, and while this post may look like it contradicts that, the reality is that it was about 1/3 less than what I usually took. I hope to cut that back even further in future shows.

While I could have been done for the day, and gone on my way, I had my convention book tucked in my bag, with the intensions of grabbing a few more signatures for it before tapping out. It was something I missed out on doing last time, and I wanted to make sure I didn't do so again.

Check back tomorrow for my final post from Baltimore Comic Con 2025.

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Retro Spins: Judas Priest - British Steel

Today I'm off on a new journey to listen to a little band by the name of Judas Priest. You may have heard about them. Over their brief career they've released a couple studio albums which faired pretty okay with critics and the general public.

By 1980's British Steel, Rob Halford and company had released five studio albums, contributing to the forging of the road of heavy metal created by Black Sabbath. Though they had a steady following of fans, and their first entry into the decade would also become their highest charting album to date, they had not yet broken out into mainstream. Nor was that going to happen just yet.

Judas Priest would reprise the more commercial sound they adopted with their previously released Killing Machine (1978) and drew inspiration from AC/DC on some tracks after supporting them on tour in 1979. In conjunction with this, they also abandoned some of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their previous releases. To further move towards mainstream success, the band focused on shorter song lengths with hooks, in an attempt to push radio play.

Guitarist J.K. Rowling...er....K.K. Downing would say that the band had a lot of fun recording the album in the former home of Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr. Not yet in a digital age of sampling, the boys had to find unique ways to incorporate the layers of sound they were looking for, which included smashing milk bottles, shaking cutlery trays, swishing pool cues, and whipping guitar strings against suitcases. Downing would joke that since it was Ringo's home and cutlery, that essentially the Beatle was responsible for the creation of the metal sounds on their album.

British Steel would be unleashed among the time that was seeing a surge in new wave British Heavy metal, released alongside Saxon's Wheels Of Steel, and Iron Maiden's self-titled debut. Critically, it was well received and later credited for kickstarting heavy metal's glory days. It's also gone on to be listed by Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time and also noted as one of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

What I came to find out was that there were songs from Judas Priest which I had forgotten over time. In particular, from this album, that was Living After Midnight. Personally, I bought it for Breaking The Law and wasn't really expecting to know anything else beyond that.

Unlike my previous listening sessions of Megadeth and Iron Maiden, which catered more so to song length and thrashing metal, Priest slows things down. They're not afraid to let the drums thunder, and the guitars squeal, but what they do in all of that is deliver cohesive vocals and lyrics that you can actually understand.

Though I only found one other standout track, United, as a whole, the album was a solid listening session. I'm totally down and excited to hear more from the band, which actually surprises me. I really didn't expect to enjoy this one as much as I did.

There's not much noted, history wise, between 1980's British Steel, and 1981's Point Of Entry. Rather, it's summed up as essentially saying, "Then Judas Priest made another album similar to this one." While that's not much to go on, I'm excited that it's more of what I just heard. That's where I head to tomorrow.

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Retro Spins: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

It's noted that the continued change in sound from Iron Maiden's previous album, Somewhere In Time remained prevalent in their final release of the decade, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. The problem with this is that I didn't hear said change in the previous album.

At this point, I think I've hammered home that my overall experience with the band has not really paid off. The music's been a bit lackluster, especially in the wake of Bruce Dickinson taking over vocal duties of Paul Di'Anno. They've not become a favorite of mine, and candidly, I haven't seen the appeal to this legacy act of thrash metal.

Regardless of my opinion, Iron Maiden has proved time and time again to be a powerhouse in the industry, producing top charting albums, and sales certifications ranging between gold and multi-platinum. The point being, as much as I consider myself an 80's music aficionado, I fully understand that tastes vary, and opinions are subjective.

The band approached their 1988 album as a concept, basing it on the 1987 novel Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card. It would be their first to include keyboards, played by both Steve Harris and Adrian Smith. Singer Bruce Dickinson would also get reinvigorated, with his ideas being embraced and included in the material. You may recall from yesterday's post that all the ideas he brought to the tale for 1986's Somewhere In Time were all rejected by the remaining members.

Following suit of previous releases, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son shot up the charts in multiple countries, becoming their next number one in the UK, and peaking at number twelve on the Billboard 200 in the USA. A support tour was inevitable, seeing the band perform one hundred three shows, including the West Germany, Netherland, Italy, Spain, and France portions of Monsters Of Rock. Michael Kenney would be brought in to perform the keyboard portions for the tour.

Having zero expectation, I fired up the album, prepared to spend the next forty-five minutes half listening, and half twiddling my thumbs. "Not so fast," said Iron Maiden. "Check this out!"

Moonchild starts with a strumming acoustic guitar before delivering a synthesizer intro, overlaid by guitars and drums. From there, the beat kicks in, and the song takes off. Wait, what was happening? I was into it, hook, line and sinker.

From there, the album just kept punching me in the face with solid track after solid track. So many, that while I initially began jotting down tunes of note, Infinite Dreams, Can I Play With Madness, it soon became apparent that I was actually enjoying the whole thing. Where the heck has this Iron Maiden been?

I'm sure many metal purists were rolling their eyes at the inclusion of synthesizers, but for me, I think it's the missing piece that previous albums didn't have. Thrash metal meets synthpop rock. Iron Jovi. That's what I'm talking about.

If you haven't reached the conclusion yet, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son was a great album. It's a definite high note to end it all on, and yet, at the same time, sad that I didn't get this from previous records. Frankly, it makes me want to go back and listen to them again and see what I may have missed out of prejudice. Unfortunately, time won't all for that any time soon.

Upheaval soon reared its head for the band. Thing began unknowingly with guitarist Adrian Smith releasing an album with ASAP in 1989, and singer Bruce Dickinson beginning a solo career with Janick Gers on guitar. While all of this was going on, the band celebrated their tenth anniversary with a compilation release.

Returning to the studio for what would become their next album, 1990's No Prayer For The Dying, during pre-production, Smith would quit. It would later be stated that he disagreed with the stripped-down sound that founding member, and bassist, Steve Harris was leaning towards. Dickinson would suggest he be replaced by Gers, who became the first new member in seven years.

Iron Maiden once again joined Monsters Of Rock and were even joined by Smith who made an appearance to perform with the band. However, as things would have it, issues with Dickinson then began occurring. This began with their 1992 album, Fear Of The Dark, where rather than work with Harris on tracks, which he had done in the past, he instead worked with Gers. Feeling creatively restricted, Dickinson would leave the band in 1993.

After listening to thousands of tapes, the band chose Blaze Bayley, formerly of the band Wolfsbane, to fill the spot of lead vocalist. With his different vocal style from Dickinson, the band received mixed criticism for their next two albums, The X Factor (1995), and Virtual XI (1998). Bayley would be asked to leave in 1999 after a series of poor performances. In hindsight, Gers would say that it was the band's fault for expecting him to perform songs outside of his vocal range.

The band met with Dickinson, and negotiated his return, and following this, phoned up Smith, who also rejoined. Rather than ask Gers to leave, Iron Maiden now encompassed three guitarists, who they nicknamed the Three Amigos. Though there have been ups and downs, success has continued for the band with the lineup of Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Adiran Smith, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, and Nicko McBrain. They're continued the legacy of Maiden and released six more albums between 2000 and 2021. While rumors suggest a new album is in the works, nothing has been concretely confirmed.

As for Eddie, the mascot which has appeared on every Maiden album to date, well, he's still around too. He not only remains the face of the band, but as of 2024 has even made the transition to toys from Funko.

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Retro Spins: Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time

Preparing for today's Retro Spin, and through crossed my mind. That being that I really want to be done with Iron Maiden and move on to other things. The music's been okay, good even, but seven albums from the decade is a bit excessive to play through back-to-back.

Returning to the studio after their demanded time off, Maiden brought with them a renewed focus, and a change in sound that would incorporate synthesized bass and guitars. Where in previous albums focus was on guitars, bass, and drums, delivering straight up thrash metal, this inclusion would add textures and layers to the sound.

Somewhere In Time would be their first album since his joining that Bruce Dickenson would receive no writing credits. This was simply because all the ideas he brought to the table were rejected by the band.

It would go on to become their highest charting to date on the Billboard 200, peaking at number eleven, as well as charting across several other countries. Once again, it would fair the best in the UK, where it mirrored the success of the previously released Powerslave, peaking at number two. To support its release, Iron Maiden once again hit the road, performing one hundred fifty-seven shows across the world.

If there was a change in sound for the band, I didn't hear it. For me, it was relatively more of the same that I'd already gone through multiple times leading up to this point. Frankly, writing this post twenty-four hours after that listening session has actually hurt it more than helped because at this point, I don't even really remember any of it.

I did note that opening track, Caught Somewhere In Time had a solid intro that grabbed my attention immediately. I even went as far as to jot down tune, Sea Of Madness, and Stranger In A Strange Land as standout tracks. However, and truthfully, at this point, I couldn't tell you how any of them went.

With that in mind, I suppose the best way to sum up Somewhere In Time would be to state it's nothing better or worse than what they did before, but ultimately, unless you're a diehard fan, it's also forgettable. Frankly, it's a bit disappointing. Iron Maiden is a legacy act, and I was really expecting better than this.

As I head into tomorrow, I close out their decade with 1988's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. Am I expecting it to be the silver lining and standout that's going to change my mind? No. Do I hope it will? Absolutely. If nothing else, to make it worthwhile to have spent so much money on all of their 80's albums.

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Retro Spins: Iron Maiden - Powerslave

Following their successful tour in support of 1983's Piece Of Mind, Iron Maiden returned to Compass Point Studios, the location they recorded their previous album, to complete 1984's Powerslave. This is the album I initially talked about when playing through their debut. Mainly because of the 80's albums from the group, this one was the rarest, and most expensive to track down.

At this point, the band was churning out hit record after hit record, to the point that it was expected. Powerslave didn't disappoint. It charted across the world again and became another certified album. The tour which followed would be their largest to date, with the guys playing one hundred ninety-three shows across thirteen countries. One such show was the Rock In Rio festival, where they followed Queen onstage. That however, would just be the tip of the iceberg of the event, which also featured such notable acts over the ten-day event as Whitesnake, James Taylor, George Benson, The Go-Go's, AC/DC, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Yes, and The B-52's, to name just a very few.

Side note: Even McDonalds got in on the event, obtaining a Guiness World Record for selling 58,000 hamburgers that day. This was usurped in 2011 by Bob's, who sold 79,000 at the event. The sad part about this is that in 1985, an estimated 1.4 million people attended the festival. Whereas in 2011, it's estimated only 700,000 did. So, between a smaller crowd, they ate more burgers, and we wonder why everyone is so unhealthy.

Iron Maiden would be credited as the first Western band to bring a full production live show behind the Iron Curtain. This would be documented in the band's third official live video, aptly titled, Behind The Iron Curtain, released in October 1984. It would also become a milestone unto itself, being the first documentary released by a Western band touring Eastern Bloc. MTV would also license the rights, and air the show on their channel that year.

2 Minutes To Midnight was the first to grab my attention, but was quickly overshadowed by the amazing instrument, Losfer Words (Big 'Orra). Let's just take Bruce Dickinson out of the mix and focus on this style of music. I'd be down.

Things tapered off drastically and didn't pick up until the album title track. Looking at the cover of the album, things started to click in my mind. The riff which the song revolves around has almost an Egyptian ethos to it. The album would then close with Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, a decent, but definitely long song, at almost fourteen minutes.

Despite the gap between the songs that I liked from it, as a whole, it's not a bad album. Once again, Dickinson serves as the weakest link in the chain. Though I am, admittedly, getting a bit used to his voice at this point.

All the touring would prove to be grueling on the members, and upon its completion, they demanded six months off. They were granted four, and only after Dickinson threatened to quit. This resulted in the cancellation of a proposed tour to support their 1985 live album, Live After Death, which would also be another critical and commercial success for them.

When they finally returned to the studio to produce 1986's Somewhere In Time, the boys would change up their musical styling a bit. We'll dive into all of that tomorrow.

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Retro Spins: Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

Ah, Guitar Hero II. Such great memories. I remember playing that game incessantly when it hit the Xbox 360. I would also subsequently introduce my brother and sister to it, and when Rock Band became a thing, that became our thing across Xbox Live. As for GHII, it's what introduced me to the song, The Trooper from Iron Maiden. So many times, I played that song, working my way to completion of the entire game on Expert, one of the few I got one hundred percent of the achievements on.

But I digress. This is not a post about Guitar Hero II.

By 1983, the lineup of Iron Maiden had changed considerably since the band's debut. Original bassist, Steve Harris, and guitarist, Dave Murray, remained the only two consistent members. The group now also featured Adrian Smith as an additional guitarist, Nicko McBrain on drums, and Bruce Dickinson on vocals.

Maiden would head to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, to record the tracks for what would become 1983's Piece Of Mind. The experience would leave an impression, so much to the point that they'd return to record their two follow-ups.

Upon its release, the band would once again chart across the globe becoming their fourth consecutive successful record. Though it featured the popular tracks, The Trooper, and Flight Of Icarus, the latter would become mainstays on radios in the USA. Maiden would once again set out on a world tour to support the album, performing one hundred forty-seven shows.

As I went to play the album, I accidently put on 1984's Powerslave. Rather than turn it off, I listened to it, so hold please.

Okay, I'm back, and I've now listened to not only that one, but the correct album for today.

Where Eagles Dare is a solid starting off point for the album, and things pick up nicely with Flight Of Icarus. Then there was The Trooper, a song I was familiar with from my Xbox 360 Rock Band days.

I really dug the guitar work on the track, Quest For Fire, but then, that's really where I keep getting hung up with Iron Maiden. The instrumentation is always top notch. It's when the vocals kick in that I start to lose interest. Still, Piece Of Mind is another solid entry from the band.

Returning from their world tour, Iron Maiden went back to Compass Point Studios and laid down the tracks that would become 1984's Powerslave. As noted in my very first post, this album proved to not only be the rarest to find on CD, but among the more expensive. Will it have been worth the price? Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

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Retro Spins: Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

After hearing their debut, I told my heavy metal co-worker that I was concerned to read that Bruce Dickinson was going to be replacing Paul Di'Anno on vocals. I told him how much I was digging the latter's vocals, to which he assured, "You're going to enjoy Dickinson even more." Is that true? Well, I guess we'll find out today.

Di'Anno was let go in 1981 due to his erratic behavior from drug abuse. Following a September audition, Dickenson would be immediately hired to replace him, and the band embarked on a series of road shows prior to recording and releasing 1982's The Number Of The Beast. It would become their first number one record in the UK, crack the top ten in multiple countries, and reach the twenties in others. It would only be the USA where it would falter a bit, peaking at thirty-three on the Billboard 200.

While the band embarked on yet another successful world tour, The Beast on the Road's US leg proved controversial when political activists claimed the band to be satanic and destroyed their albums in protest. Dickenson would call the whole thing silly, and state that their protest actually made them more popular. The Number of the Beast sold 2.5 million copies in its first year.

I found myself immediately frowning when opening track, Invaders, kicked things off. Specifically, when first hearing Dickenson's vocals. Though my ears didn't want it, I tried to push aside my own prejudices, and act as though this was essentially Iron Maiden's debut. It didn't work.

You can't give someone Cocoa Puffs for two years, and then suddenly switch up to Count Chocula. Sure, this is still a chocolate cereal, but it's not the same chocolate cereal, and this one also has marshmallows. If you like marshmallows, then sure, this could be considered better, but if you don't, then this perhaps isn't the cereal you're looking for. As for me, I like Cocoa Puffs and Count Chocula, for two different reasons, but if given the choice, I'd take Puffs over Chocula. Same comparison for Iron Maiden.

I will admit that things did pick up for me with the song, The Prisoner, specifically the guitar solo which kicks in around the three minute forty second mark. Things quickly tapered off though, and I found myself just going through the motions of listening. That is until the title track came on and was followed by Run To The Hills. Now we were talking. Yes, I will take more Bruce Dickinson Iron Maiden like this. Sadly, this didn't turn out to be the case, and I was soon back to subpar tunes until the album closer, Hallowed Be Thy Name.

My biggest problem with Dickinson is his need to continuously screech like he stubbed his toes. Whereas Di'Anno brought a singing voice with character, Dickinson is just a bellowing harpy. It's actually a bit annoying when I think about it. Though he retained a good relationship with his prior bandmates, Di'Anno never rejoined, mainly because Dickinson never stepped down, and sadly he passed away in 2024. In a sadistic way, I keep seeing the father from Dewey Cox popping into my head and saying, "Wrong kid died."

By December of 1982, drummer Clive Burr was fired from the band for a combination of reasons, which included personal issues, intense touring fatigue, and, according to band members, lifestyle choices that affected his performance. He would be replaced by Nicko McBrain. Burr would later claim to have been unfairly ousted.

For their next three albums, the band would find a home at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas to record them all. The first being 1983's Piece Of Mind, an album which I do actually know a song from because of my Xbox 360 Guitar Hero II days. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I suppose that's a decent stopping point. I'll pick up tomorrow, crossing over the halfway point of my journey through Iron Maiden.

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