Ze Priest rrreturns: Nostradamus

uwe · April 22, 2008, 11:28:43 AM

http://www.epicrecords.com/judaspriest/

Ah, such bliss. Nobody does this type of inane, escapist crap better than they. It's like enjoying a Marvel Comic. Love Halfords voice and the guitar work is of course arch-priestish.

Barklessdog · April 22, 2008, 11:38:40 AM

His voice reminds me of Peter Hammil from Vandergraph Generator.

Dave W · April 22, 2008, 11:49:30 AM

Remind me to miss them when they come to San Antonio this August.

Wouldn't mind seeing Motörhead but not on a bill with Priest, Heaven & Hell and Testament.

uwe · April 22, 2008, 12:15:43 PM

I knew that our old garage rocker would not miss this opportunity for some denigerating remark ...

But those who mock the Priest shall have ample time in their afterlife to reconsider ...

Besides, Nostradamus saw it all coming anyway!

Barklessdog · April 22, 2008, 12:21:19 PM

Maybe Nunfist can open for them. they are creatures of habit you know?

Sister Mary Knuckle Sandwich

George Bush is on bass!

gweimer · April 22, 2008, 12:37:30 PM

Next to Dee Snider, Rob Halford was the greatest interview I ever did. He's extremely articulate - never an "ahh" or "umm" in a single sentence in over half an hour. He knew what he wanted to say, and how to say it. And the night I interviewed him - back in the mid '80s - it wasn't a long shot to say he was gay. There really weren't a lot of women around the backstage area, and the publisher of my paper had tipped me off that the industry was already pretty sure where he stood.

Still, a very fun band live. Halford, when he turned his back to the audience, used to make faces at the band. Defenders of the Faith is my favorite release of theirs.

Basvarken · April 22, 2008, 12:44:15 PM

Nostradamus? I prefer this version.

PWV · April 22, 2008, 05:06:40 PM

JP with Motorhead AND Heaven and Hell? Take that Sharon! I love this version of Sabbath:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ztr5xLE2U&feature=related

uwe · April 23, 2008, 06:04:05 AM

Quote from: gweimer on April 22, 2008, 12:37:30 PM
Next to Dee Snider, Rob Halford was the greatest interview I ever did. He's extremely articulate - never an "ahh" or "umm" in a single sentence in over half an hour. He knew what he wanted to say, and how to say it. And the night I interviewed him - back in the mid '80s - it wasn't a long shot to say he was gay. There really weren't a lot of women around the backstage area, and the publisher of my paper had tipped me off that the industry was already pretty sure where he stood.

Still, a very fun band live. Halford, when he turned his back to the audience, used to make faces at the band. Defenders of the Faith is my favorite release of theirs.

It escapes me how that could have ever escaped anybody listening to Halford's lyrics. In dozens of records he never once used the words "she", "her", "girl", "woman", "baby" or a female name - can you think of any other band with a similar ignorance to what is probably the most popular topic of rock and pop lyrics? All his love songs and descriptions of sexual acts were written that they could apply to a male partner. "Victim of Changes" - an old song from the 2nd album that mentions "she" and "whiskey woman" is tellingly not penned by Halford as regards the lyrics but by Priest's previous - straight - singer.

Last but not least: Women always knew. I've never known a woman (and all my girlfriends/wives were necessarily confronted with Judas Priest) that has appreciated Judas Priest or Halford - he leaves them cold ("why does he always press his voice so much?"), quite unlike Freddy Mercury whose more flamboyant gayness never seemed to alienate female fans. You see less women at a Judas Priest gig than at a , say, Iron Maiden one. Julie Burchill, in her youth a New Musical Express scribess, once wrote about her Judas Priest live experience in the late seventies (when Halford had already perfected his gay biker/Village People image, ditching his previous effeminate kimono and 19th Century dandy stage looks): "I've never seen a band so studded with masculine sex symbolism, yet so utterly devoid of any true male virility." Ouch. Obviously, there was a mismatch between her and Herr Halford's concepts of virility. I had made my mind up that Rob Halford was gay when I first saw them live in 1979 opening up (no pun intended) for then still Bon Scott fronted AC/DC.

Uwe

uwe · April 23, 2008, 06:16:39 AM

Quote from: PWV on April 22, 2008, 05:06:40 PM
JP with Motorhead AND Heaven and Hell? Take that Sharon! I love this version of Sabbath:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ztr5xLE2U&feature=related

I find Dio's "swords & scorcery" lyrics grating (he was a much more varied lyricist when he was still with Elf), but I admit that his voice is one of a kind and has held up fine. This guy is close to seventy if not behind it (he's always lied a little about his age, but was already an adult musician in the fifties). You never hear him miss a note, out of key or go beyond his limits.

This Sabbath vid is great for the close-ups of Iommi's right-hand fretwork (he's left-handed) and the replacement digits he wears after cutting off his fingers at his day job as a young man. A lot of his style has to do with that handicap: His downtuning, his lack of real finger vibrato, his slightly uncontrolled flurry of notes when he plays real fast and his weird chords.

gweimer · April 23, 2008, 06:55:21 AM

The funny thing is that someone I used to work with, based out of Reading, UK, was backstage at one of their shows. Rob, apparently, liked jock types. She was also clued to his slant LONG before he went public.

Turbo Lover, indeed....

uwe · April 23, 2008, 08:47:08 AM

One of his more untypical live performances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgKFJisceOw&feature=related

And he does a credible job on this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-4BthN-TjA&feature=related

Dave W · April 23, 2008, 09:39:49 AM

Ronnie James Dio is not "close to 70 if not behind it."

Let us seniors age in peace, there's no need to move us along!

OTOH, I had to laugh the other night when Jay Leno pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI is a year younger than Hugh Hefner.

TBird1958 · April 23, 2008, 11:05:46 AM

Quote from: Dave W on April 23, 2008, 09:39:49 AM
Ronnie James Dio is not "close to 70 if not behind it." Let us seniors age in peace, there's no need to move us along!

OTOH, I had to laugh the other night when Jay Leno pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI is a year younger than Hugh Hefner.

ROFL Dave, thanks!

uwe · April 23, 2008, 11:14:28 AM

Ok, then let's just agree that Ronnie's exact birthdate is shrouded in the mists of time! He's probably 66 in a few months ... To entice some further speculation:

"There is a long-standing dispute regarding Dio's age. His most likely birth date is listed above as July 10, 1942. Dio himself has said in the past that he was born July 10, 1949 and, at other times, outright refused to give the year of his birth. The general consensus is that the 1942 date is probably correct, due to the following:

He was in his first band in 1958, which means that if the 1949 date were correct, he would have been 9 years old. This would be unlikely, but not impossible. (Dio has also said that he started his first group around age 10). According to classmates from his high school, and reportedly also a yearbook, Ronald James Padavona graduated from Cortland High School in 1960. His first band photos, with "Ronnie and the Red Caps" from ca. 1960 or 1961[1], are also widely circulated on the Internet. In the photo, he looks to be somewhere in his mid teens, and probably older than the 12 years old he would have been, if the 1949 birth date were correct.

British/Australian singer Graham Bonnet, who replaced Dio in Rainbow, has said that Ronnie is younger than he. Bonnet was born September 23, 1947. However, in a 2005 interview, while discussing guitarist and former bandmate, Ritchie Blackmore, Dio said that Ritchie "isn't that much younger" than him. Blackmore was born in 1945. Online public records searches (done in 2005) list Dio as 64 years old under the name "Ronald Padavona" and as 57 years old under the name "Ronnie James Dio". Another search shows a "Ronald and Wendy Padavona" in Studio City, CA (presumably a business address), ages 64 and 58 (as of February, 2006), which would fit with the assumed birth years of 1942 and 1947 for Dio and his wife, Wendy. This also suggests that Dio's legal name is still Ronald Padavona. Interestingly, Blackmore has said that Ronnie is younger than him at other times, although this could easily be attributed to Dio's maintaining a false birth date that Blackmore (and others who know Dio) assumed was correct.

As a result, most of Dio's fans agree that the 1942 date is the most likely the correct one. The 1949 date is second most likely. 1944 is another possible date, and 1947, 1940, 1939, and even 1937 have been suggested[citation needed], but there is no real evidence to back these dates up. The age of Ronnie and his son also builds the case for 1942, although a 20 year age difference was not that rare in the 1960s. In one interview, Dio was very emphatic about the 1949 year, saying, "Well, I was born in '49, and I never told anybody anything other than that."

I never understood why it was an issue to him, he was hardly ever a teen idol. When I saw him with Rainbow in 1976 and 77, he certainly looked and acted in his whole demeanor more like a person well past past thirty rather than as a twenty-something. He appeared to be very much the elder of everyone on stage, including Blackmore. Neither Elf (an underrated band if there ever was one), nor Rainbow nor Black Sabbath much less Dio had ever teeny bopper appeal or potential. Dio was never in danger of having to be an eternal youth like David Cassidy.

I only saw him with Heaven & Hell last year - his voice can still carry a hall and his stage moves haven't changed either. I wish him well for his next birthday, may it be the 66th or the 57th ...

Uwe