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Point of Entry

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For other uses, see Point of Entry (disambiguation).

Untitled

Point of Entry is the seventh album from the British heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was released on 26 February 1981.

In 1980 Judas Priest garnered some airplay with "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight" from their album British Steel. As a result, the band pursued a more melodic, radio friendly direction on Point of Entry.

Following the conclusion of the British Steel World Tour, the band began work on their next project. By this time, they had sufficient funds to fly all their equipment to the huge, state-of-the-art Ibiza Studios in Spain. This gave Point Of Entry a louder, stronger, more "live" sound than previous Judas Priest albums.

According to Glenn Tipton, "The title 'Point of Entry' symbolises a lot of different things, such as our desire to enter the new decade and keep evolving with the times. You can't keep playing sluggish riffs like it's 1973."

Promotion

Three singles were released from the album: "Heading Out to the Highway", "Don't Go" and "Hot Rockin'", all of which had accompanying music videos. The song "Heading Out to the Highway" has been a staple in live shows since its release, "Desert Plains" was regularly played throughout the 1980s and "Hot Rockin'" is still performed today. On the 2005 "Re-united" tour they also played "Solar Angels" on rare occasions: on the World Wide Blitz Tour of 1981 (supporting Point of Entry), it had been the opening song of every show.

Cover

"Europe got an intriguing and colorful sort of futuristic metal wing over a horizon shot...designed by Roslav Szaybo, who had done all the band's CBS albums to date." [1] The North American cover differed from the rest of the world, this being repeated with the remaster. The US artwork, featuring computer printer paper to simulate the line in the middle of the road and white cardboard boxes on the back, was designed by Columbia Record's John Berg.[1] " 'The sleeve was awful, scoffs the guitarist (Glenn Tipton), 'and we've got to blame management for that because they didn't shop around enough to get one that was suitable. The American cover was different, but that turned out to be even worse!' "[2] The artwork also saw the introduction of the 3D Judas Priest logo, which would be used up to Turbo.

Reissues

The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added, a live version of "Desert Plains" and "Thunder Road", a track from the Ram It Down sessions.

In the booklet of the Remastered CD, the band states:

"Recorded on the island of Ibiza with multiple distractions, glorious sunshine, and extremely low cost alcohol, this album was regarded with mixed feelings because it was different from what people expected. The album was nearly all spontaneously written and performed in Ibiza - it was an experiment in the sense that before this we had already written the majority of the songs before going into the studio."

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]

In 2005, Point of Entry was ranked number 352 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[4] In the 2007 book Metal: The Definitive Guide, author Garry Sharpe-Young wrote that the album consists of "radio-friendly fillers." Morever, Sharpe-Young called the original British artwork "bland" and subsequent American alternative artwork "an even worse compromise."[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K.K. Downing, except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Heading Out to the Highway"3:47
2."Don't Go"3:18
3."Hot Rockin'"3:17
4."Turning Circles"3:42
5."Desert Plains"4:36
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Solar Angels"4:04
7."You Say Yes"3:29
8."All the Way"3:42
9."Troubleshooter"3:59
10."On the Run"3:47
2001 bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Thunder Road" (Recorded during the 1988 Ram It Down sessions)Glenn Tipton and Rob Halford5:12
12."Desert Plains" (Live at Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, Missouri; 23 May 1986) 5:03

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[6] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[7] Gold 500,000^
Worldwide sales: 1,600,000

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

Judas Priest
Production

Charts

Chart (1981) Peak
position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] 19
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[9] 32
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[10] 14
UK Albums (OCC)[11] 14
US Billboard 200[12] 39

References

  1. ^ a b Popoff, Martin (2007). Judas Priest: Heavy Metal Painkillers. Toronto, Canada: ECW Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-55022-784-0.
  2. ^ Gett, Steve (1984). Judas Priest: Heavy Duty. Port Chester NY: Cherry Lane Music Company, Inc. p. 47. ISBN 0-89524-227-3.
  3. ^ Huey, Steve. "AllMusic review". Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  4. ^ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 69. ISBN 3-89880-517-4. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)
  5. ^ Sharpe-Young, Garry (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide. pp. 37–38. Retrieved 24 September 2015 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
  7. ^ "American album certifications – Judas Priest – Point of Entry". Recording Industry Association of America.
  8. ^ "Officialcharts.de – Judas Priest – Point of Entry". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Judas Priest – Point of Entry". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  10. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Judas Priest – Point of Entry". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  11. ^ "Judas Priest | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  12. ^ "Judas Priest Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
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