Made in Japan

For whatever reason, many of rock'n'roll's greatest live albums were recorded in Japan. I can only guess it's due to the fact, or the impression, that Japan has the best recording equipment and engineers, but it could be for a number of other reasons: to add some kind of foreign mystique, or allow Western fans to enjoy a concert they wouldn't normally have heard. I really don't know, but when I browse live albums, a huge number are recorded in Japan.

Two of heavy metal's classic live albums were recorded in Japan: Deep Purple's Made in Japan and Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East. Made in Japan was recorded over 3 nights in August 1972. It features some amazing work by Deep Purple at their peak, having just released Machine Head, and playing many tracks off that album at super speed. Particularly impressive is the riffing between Ritchie Blackmore's guitar and Jon Lord's keyboards, and Ian Gillan's vocal range. Supposedly, Ian Paice asked the album's mixing artist to bring the drums higher than on an average recording, because he believed it was the best playing of his career.

Unleashed in the East was recorded in 1978 in Tokyo. However, the recording didn't end there; one of Priest's guitarists, Glenn Tipton, has since confirmed some of the vocals and guitar were rerecorded later. Nevertheless, while the album may not be a 'pure' live recording like Made in Japan, it's still an incredible feat of rock'n'roll. Many Priest fans consider the live versions of their earlier songs on this album the definitive versions. I suspect the band itself does as well, as Halford announced "Exciter" as "from Unleashed in the East" when I saw them live.