K.K. Downing (or Kenneth Keith Downing jr.), in a recent interview, touched on the subject of collaboration with S/A/W, which included Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known for hits by BANANARAMA, Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue. In early 1988, JUDAS PRIEST and S/A/W spent four days in a studio in Paris and recorded three compositions – a cover of THE STYLISTICS’ “You Are Everything” and two S/A/W tracks (“Runaround” and “I Will Return”). The PRIEST members later said it was just an experiment, the result of which was never presented to the public. When asked if K. K. was against the release, he replied:
“It was one of those things. Anyway, our manager was friends with Pete Waterman; they’d been friends for years. And I think Pete flew to Denmark when we were recording there; I think it was the ‘Ram It Down’ album, if I remember correctly. But we met Pete, and Pete is a great guy. The whole crew was very talented. They just suggested we fly down to Paris and spend a couple of days there and record a couple of tracks, which we did. And so we met up with the guys. Their advance preparation was really great, and they made it as easy as possible for us. And we recorded three tracks.
Basically me and Glenn [Tipton, PRIEST guitarist] I think said we shouldn’t release those tracks. As much as we liked them, as great as they sounded – they were all real pros – it just wasn’t right for us. So we stuck to our opinion. And even now I personally think it was the right decision. But nobody – not our manager, not Pete, not Stoke, not Aitken – none of them ever said anything to us about it. It was our decision, and they took it easy. And that was the end of it. It just went by the wayside. So there you go.”
Full interview:
