So, as I posted earlier, I finally got my Single Cuts limited edition boxset. And. after some listening and generally going through the contents, I felt that a short review would be in order.
There's a lot of good sides in this boxset. Most importantly, many of the B-sides featured have never been released on a CD, or were only released on the out-of print release Priest, Live and Rare, which is not endorsed by the band. Also, the audio quality seems to be somewhat better than on the 2001 remasters. And I also like the idea to have the singles in sleeves that mimick the original single artworks, although it means that there is a whopping 20 CDs with only 2-4 tracks each. But it wasn't too much trouble for me to copy the CDs on my computer (both in WAV and mp3, mind you) and burn three CDs of my own that contain all of the tracks, except the duplicate versions of Evening Star, Starbreaker (live), United and Better by You Better Than Me.
However, there's also quite a few errors that decrease the overall score I'm going to give for this:
Liner notes/track listing:
- Sin After Sin is named as the band's fourth album in the notes for the Better By You Better Than Me and Evening Star 7" singles, and BBYBTM and Invader are claimed to come from SAS as well.
- Starbreaker, the B-side for Evening Star 7", is erroneusly claimed to be the studio version in the liner notes (the track list has it down correctly), however it's actually the same live version that also appears on the Take on the World 12".
- The liner notes for the Take on the World 12" have Starbreaker and White Heat, Red Hot in the wrong order, and they also claim that the live version of White Heat is over seven minutes long (which is correct for Starbreaker, instead). The actual track listing has the correct order, though.
- "Burnin' Up" is erroneusly listed as being part of the "Judas Priest Audio File".
- Locked In 12" is listed as being released in May 1986 in both the liner notes and track listing, however this is impossible because the live tracks come from the May 23rd St. Louis concert (Desert Plains, ie. it's the same version as on the Point of Entry remaster) and June 20th (Freewheel Burning, recorded at The Omni, Atlanta and released on Priest...Live). Either the date is wrong or then they have wrong live tracks.
Artwork:
- Take on the World and Living After Midnight are missing their distinctive artworks. Evening Star 12" could've used the picture LP artwork.
- All of the 12" singles with artwork actually use the 7" artworks (Hot Rockin', Freewheel Burning, Some Heads Are Gonna Roll, Locked In, Painkiller, A Touch of Evil, Night Crawler).
Single contents:
- The Freewheel Burning 12" is an oddity. Instead of having a version of Freewheel Burning with an extended intro and live versions of Breaking the Law and You've Got Another Thing Comin' (both from US Festival 1983) as it should have, it has the ordinary 7"/album version of Freewheel Burning, the live version of BTL from US Fest, and the studio album version of YGATC.
Live songs (not so much of an error by the producer, just some nit-picking):
- The live tracks on the Hot Rockin' 12" (Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight) were recorded at Jaap Edenhal, Amsterdam, Holland on 14th February 1981 .
- Exciter's live version, the B-side for YGATC, comes from Unleashed In the East.
- As stated before, the Locked In 12" live tracks come from Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO, 23rd May 1986 (Desert Plains, also featured on the Point of Entry remaster) and The Omni, Atlanta, GA, 20th June 1986 (Freewheel Burning, also featured on Priest...Live!).
- The live version of You've Got Another Thing Comin' featured on the A Touch of Evil 12" comes from Priest...Live! and was recorded on 20th June 1986 at the Omni, Atlanta, GA.
- The live versions of Breaking the Law and Living After Midnight featured on the Night Crawler 12" come from Priest...Live! and were recorded on 20th June 1986 at the Omni, Atlanta, GA.
All in all, despite of being much use to any Priest collector who doesn't want to collect all singles on vinyl, the rather amateurish errors reduce the overall score. I'm going to give it 3 out of 5.
Edited at: Saturday, March 17, 2012 4:30:47 PM |
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