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Ram It Down

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"I'm A Rocker" redirects here. For the 1980 Bruce Springsteen song, see The River (Bruce Springsteen album). For the 1973 song, see Side 3 (Raspberries album).

Ram It Down
Cover art by Mark Wilkinson
Studio album by
Judas Priest
Released13 May 1988 (1988-05-13)[1]
RecordedDecember 1987 – March 1988
Studio
  • Ibiza Sound Studio, Ibiza
  • Puk Recording Studios, Gjerlev
GenreHeavy metal[2]
Length49:33
LabelColumbia
Producer
Judas Priest chronology
Priest...Live!
(1987) 		Ram It Down
(1988) 		Painkiller
(1990)
Singles from Ram It Down
  1. "Johnny B. Goode"
    Released: April 1988 [3]
  2. "Ram It Down"
    Released: 1988 (NL) [4]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
PopMatters(poor)[6]
Martin Popoff[7]
Sputnikmusic

Ram It Down is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 May 1988 by Columbia Records. It was the band's last album to feature longtime drummer Dave Holland, and was promoted in Europe and North America with the Mercenaries of Metal Tour.

On 18 July 1988, the album earned gold certification for shipments of over 500,000 copies.[1] In 2001, it was remastered and reissued with two bonus tracks.

Background

[edit]

In 1986, Judas Priest intended to release a double album entitled Twin Turbos, of which half would consist of melodic, more commercial hard rock, and the other half would be heavier and less synth-driven. Columbia Records objected to the double album concept, and the project was ultimately split into two separate releases, 1986's Turbo, and 1988's Ram It Down. At least four songs, "Ram it Down", "Hard as Iron", "Love You to Death" and "Monsters of Rock", were written for the Twin Turbos project.

Ram It Down would be the final Judas Priest album for 30 years recorded with producer Tom Allom. Allom would later return as co-producer to the 2009 live release A Touch of Evil: Live. He would not produce another Judas Priest studio album until 2018's Firepower.

The band recorded a rendition of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", intended for inclusion on the soundtrack for the 1988 Anthony Michael Hall comedy film Johnny Be Good; the song found its way onto Ram It Down and was the album's first single. Although the song is credited as written by Berry and arranged by the band, only the lyrics remain from Berry's version, the music being entirely new. It was played during the first few concerts of the band's 1988 tour, along with the title track and three other songs from the album, namely "Heavy Metal", "Come And Get It" and "I'm a Rocker".[8] The only Ram It Down songs to have ever been played on later tours are "I'm a Rocker", during the 2005 Retribution Tour; and "Blood Red Skies" during the 2011-2012 Epitaph World Tour[9] and the 2021-2022 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour.

Originally, the song "Thunder Road" was to be put on the album; however, after the album producers were asked to do the cover of "Johnny B. Goode", "Thunder Road" was replaced. Some of the parts from the song made it into the cover of "Johnny B. Goode". "Thunder Road" was released as a bonus track on the 2001 remaster of Point of Entry.

Reception

[edit]

Although Judas Priest's fanbase was big enough to push the album to gold status in North America,[10] critical reaction was fairly negative. Several retrospective reviews have considered the album's songs and performances stale and routine. Allmusic's Steve Huey argued that, despite the band's conscious attempt at "delivering a straight-ahead, much more typical Priest album" compared to Turbo, the album "generally sounds like it's on autopilot" and lacking in personality, with "pretty lackluster" songwriting and "too-polished, mechanical-sounding production", ultimately deeming it the lowest point of Halford's tenure in the band.[11] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters remarked that the Judas Priest of Ram It Down was a "sorry self-parody" that had lost touch with the heavy metal scene, and described the album's material as composed of "Spinal Tap clichés".[12]

Halford's take on the rest of the album is that it was "a very heavy record", with Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing "really rip[ping] it up on a lot of those riffs". Halford said the band recorded a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire"; he said it was "a shame" that the song did not make the album.[13]

Track listing

[edit]

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

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Ram It Down"4:48
2."Heavy Metal"5:58
3."Love Zone"3:58
4."Come and Get It"4:07
5."Hard as Iron"4:09
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Blood Red Skies"7:50
7."I'm a Rocker"3:58
8."Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry)4:39
9."Love You to Death"4:36
10."Monsters of Rock"5:30
Total length:49:33
2001 CD edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Night Comes Down" (Live at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, 5 May 1984)4:33
12."Bloodstone" (Live at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee, 12 December 1982)4:05
Total length:58:11
Outtakes
No.TitleLength
1."Thunder Road" (Bonus track on Point of Entry)5:12
2."Fire Burns Below" (Bonus track on Stained Class)6:58
3."My Design" (Remains unreleased) 
Total length:70:21

Personnel

[edit]
Judas Priest
Additional musician
Production
  • Produced by Tom Allom
  • "Johnny B. Goode" co-produced by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford, and K. K. Downing
  • Engineered by Henrik Nilsson
  • Additional recording by Bill Dooley
  • Equipment supervision by Tom Calcaterra
  • Artwork by Mark Wilkinson

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1988) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 43
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] 14
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[18] 30
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19] 25
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[20] 3
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 9
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[22] 34
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] 5
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 5
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 24
US Billboard 200[27] 31

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[28] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[29] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Other information

[edit]
  • An unknown song was recorded for inclusion on the album but the tape was lost during a chaotic period which resulted from Halford's decision to leave the band following the group's next album, Painkiller, and Tim "Ripper" Owens' hiring as his replacement.[citation needed] For this reason Ram It Down is the only remastered Judas Priest disc with no added bonus studio tracks, just two added live tracks.
  • The song "Blood Red Skies" was released as a promo only single with a 4:51 radio edit, the album version and a 10:33 extended remix.[30]
  • Although drummer Dave Holland is credited on the album, the band used a drum machine on a majority of the songs.[14]
  • The band recorded three tracks with pop producers Stock-Aitken-Waterman – two originals "Runaround"[31] and "I Will Return"[32] and a cover of The Stylistics' hit "You Are Everything.[33] However, they were ultimately not included on this album due to a management decision. Pete Waterman calls them "probably the best tracks we ever did" and admits that "I occasionally dig the record out and play it to people, and they're amazed that we made heavy metal."[34] Around this time, Glenn Tipton also recorded guitar solos for songs by another Stock-Aitken-Waterman produced artist, Samantha Fox, and was officially credited on the track "Spirit of America".

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "RIAA certifications". Recording Industry Association of America.
  2. ^ Daniels, Neil (2007). The story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith. Omnibus Press. pp. 193–4. ISBN 9780857122391.
  3. ^ "Judas Priest singles".
  4. ^ "Judas Priest singles".
  5. ^ Huey, Steve. "Judas Priest - Ram It Down review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  6. ^ Begrand, Adrien (11 July 2002). "Judas Priest: Ram It Down / Painkiller". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  7. ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  8. ^ "Judas Priest Albums total". setlist.fm.
  9. ^ ""Blood Red Skies" performed by Judas Priest". setlist.fm.
  10. ^ "RIAA Searchable Database: search for Judas Priest". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on 31 March 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  11. ^ Huey, Steve. "Judas Priest - Ram It Down review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  12. ^ Begrand, Adrien (11 July 2002). "Judas Priest: Ram It Down / Painkiller". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  13. ^ Sharpe-Young, Garry (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide: Heavy, NWOBHM, Progressive, Thrash, Death, Black, Gothic, Doom, Nu. Jawbone Press. p. 36. ISBN 9781906002015.
  14. ^ a b Downing, K.K. (20 September 2018). HEAVY DUTY : days and nights in judas priest. CONSTABLE. ISBN 978-1-47212-867-6.
  15. ^ https://mmusicmag.com/m/2015/07/nathan-east/
  16. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Judas Priest – Ram It Down". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  17. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Judas Priest – Ram It Down" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  18. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 8565". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  19. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Judas Priest – Ram It Down" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  20. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  21. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Judas Priest – Ram It Down" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  22. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  23. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Judas Priest – Ram It Down". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  24. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Judas Priest – Ram It Down". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  25. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Judas Priest – Ram It Down". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  26. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  27. ^ "Judas Priest Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
  28. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Judas Priest – Ram It Down". Music Canada. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  29. ^ "American album certifications – Judas Priest – Ram It Down". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  30. ^ "Rare! Judas Priest MCD BLOOD RED SKIES 3 Versions !!!". Worthpoint.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  31. ^ "{title}". Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  32. ^ "{title}". Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  33. ^ "http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/judas-priest-audio-snippet-of-never-released-collaboration-with-pop-production-team-stock-aitken-and-waterman/#Br5sq7mwuIDbfgZh.99 Archived 1 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ [1] Archived 18 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine
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