song by Judas Priest to receive radio play, and Baez herself reportedly enjoyed the cover. This was the band's second attempt to cover the track, and the earlier version from the Gull Records era was only released in 1978 on the compilation album The Best of Judas Priest and as a bonus track on the 1987 reissue of Rocka Rolla. The "brazenly homoerotic" song "Raw Deal" has been described as vocalist Rob Halford's coming-out song, and a "heavy metal gay rights song". Halford came out as a gay man in 1998. Touring As session drummer Simon Phillips had commitments to another band, he declined to join Judas Priest as a permanent member. As a result, former Fancy drummer Les Binks was hired for the subsequent tour. An acquaintance of producer Glover, Binks was able to play double bass, and was one of the few drummers who could replicate Phillips' drum parts live. A live tape from their headlining show in Croydon on 1 May 1977 shows that all the album's songs except one, "Last Rose of Summer", were played on the 1977 tour. "Raw Deal" and "Here Come the Tears" were only played at headlining shows and permanently retired after this tour, "Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest" was also played a few times in 1978, "Sinner" and "Diamonds and Rust" became regulars on future setlists while "Starbreaker" and "Dissident Aggressor" returned to the band's setlists after a lengthy absence, in 2011 and 2008 respectively. With major label support, Sin After Sin marked Judas Priest's first-ever opportunity to tour the United States, where they served as the opening act for REO Speedwagon and Foreigner. Reception Sin After Sin was Judas Priest's most commercially successful release to date, reaching number 23 in the UK Albums Chart. That success was difficult to duplicate in the US where Sin After Sin failed to chart. At home, they also faced a somewhat hostile reception or were outright ignored by a music press which was at that time heavily focused on the new genre of punk rock which swept Britain in the late 1970s. Though it would take several years, Sin After Sin is the first of eleven consecutive Judas Priest albums to be certified gold or higher by the RIAA. Sin After Sin introduced the combination of the double bass drumming and rapid sixteenth-note bass rhythms combined with rapid sixteenth-note guitar rhythms that would