Judas Priest Discography Discussion (part 2 starting page 20)

Sad Wings of Destiny was the first Priest album I heard. I just chose the album with the highest rating on Metal Archives to get familiar with the band. I must admit, I didn't like it very much then and to this day I prefer many of their other releases over this one. But a massive maturing can definitely be seen. The Ripper, Dreamer Deceiver, Tyrant (first Priest song I liked) and the masterpiece Victim of Changes. It's the "filler" between those songs that brings down the value, I think.

Mother Sun is a cool one. Starts off with a harmony and contains Glenn's vocals. I once saw a video on YouTube where Glenn jokingly says that he also does all the vocals on their albums and does an amazing scream right away. I haven't been successful in finding it again. Anyway, I feel that Priest has always had a good touch for ballads. Not at all cheesy but beautiful and powerful. Since Diamonds and Rust to Worth Fighting For.

Is the Al Atkins album cover intended to look like Sin After Sin?
 
Let's see if Deceiver and Island will grow over the years, Saap. I like Halford in particular. But the music is also sharp as a razor. Lyrics are pretty cool as well imo.

Worth Fighting For a ballad? Do you perhaps mean Angel?

Saapanael said:
Is the Al Atkins album cover intended to look like Sin After Sin?
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Hehe, certainly intended to attract Priest fans.
 
Angel too but I like to consider Worth Fighting For a ballad. It does have heavier parts but it's rather slow and clean for quite a while.
 
Sad Wings of Destiny is my favorite Judas Priest album. When you go by song by song, Painkiller would be my favorite but I'm an albums guy and Sad Wings' feel and flow is just astonishing. Two of the most incredible Rob Halford performances ever (Dreamer Deceiver and Victim of Changes). The album has three songs in my Priest top ten (already mentioned ones + Tyrant). I feel like this one is the most emotionally charged Priest album hence my liking for it.
 
Nice work on the Atkins stuff, Mosh.
Not only had I not heard it, I was not even aware it existed.

Like Foro, my first taste of early Priest was the Hero, Hero compilation (0n cassette!)
The track order works very well.
I'm not sure if I prefer it, but I always had a soft spot for that version of Diamonds and Rust.
 
I'll have to check out the Hero, Hero comp. I was aware of its existence but never saw any use for it. The song list is interesting though.

I can see why Sad Wings would be harder to get into. Knowing Priest for such high powered 80's metal songs like Ram it Down and Screaming for Vengeance, this album took me by surprise. It was my first taste of 70's Priest. It took some live versions of the first tracks and a general growth in taste for me to enjoy this album but now it sits in my top 3.
 
I have Sad Wings in my top 3 Priest albums as well. They definitely had matured between Sad Wings and Rocka Rolla. One thing that I think is interesting to note is that there are quite deep and complex lyrics early in their career unlike the majority of bands out there. Whereas Priest had their "shallower" lyrics at a period of time later than this.

I love the studio albums of most of these just as much as their live counterparts, especially Tyrant and Victim of Changes. These 2 + the 2 Deceiver tracks stand up to the best 4 songs on any album that I know of. Not a huge fan of The Ripper, Genocide and the 2 interludes, but they aren't bad or anything and do have their moments. I also feel that Tyrant was a forerunner to Speed and Thrash metal more than people would think, especially since it was released at a similar time to Symptom of the Universe.
 
Good call on the lyrics. Even artists like Rush and Dio started with a "shallow" lyrics phase and while Judas Priest's lyrical content tends to be disregarded, they had very mature lyrics from the very start. Obviously this didn't last, but it's interesting to think about.

Judas Priest definitely had a big hand in speed/thrash metal. If Tyrant wasn't convincing enough, Sinner was just a year away.

Something else I thought about: The topic of album sides comes up a lot on this forum and I wouldn't surprised if it gets mentioned a lot in this thread (I specifically expect comments about side A of Defenders of the Faith from Foro), I think Sad Wings of Destiny has one of the greatest ones. There aren't many four song runs that stand up to side A of this album.
 
Yea, I mentioned the side changing in my original post but I'll always consider Victim to be side A. The "real" way might make the most sense but once you've heard it the other way around countless times it's hard to think of it like that.
 
Chris "Congo" Campbell (drums/percussion: 1972–1973).

Check this out this excellent overview:
http://www.jugulator.net/judas_priest_history.htm

... MAY 1973: Atkins and Campbell leave, Halford and Hinch join

Despite the growing success, the lack of a record deal, as well as poor finances, continued to burden Judas Priest, as they barely made enough to cover their tour and living expenses:

"We'd go off to a gig, hire a van, put our gear in it, pay a couple of roadies, perhaps cover the cost of a P.A., and if we were lucky we'd have enough for fish and chips and a bottle of pop on the way home."
- K.K. Downing, HM Photo Book, 1984

In order to earn some extra money, band members would go to the clubs on their own and introduced themselves as signed artists for Atlantic Records! One night Priest were in Liverpool and had no gig scheduled, so they used the approach to set up a gig across the cavern in a Greek tavern for 15 pounds and good quantities of traditional Greek dishes!

"We'd even sink to the level of getting girlfriends to go into some pub somewhere, and sort of charm a drink out of them, and bring it out to us."- Ian Hill, VH1 Behind The Music, September 2001

But the grim cash-flow situation had taken its toll on both Al and Chris, and in May, both would leave the group:

"In so many words, Alan said, 'I've either got to make more money or leave.' We told him that there was no way we could suddenly start earning more, so he quit. I think Campbell said more or less the same thing, so he left too."- Ian Hill, Heavy Duty official biography, 1984

"Although there was plenty of work, the bigger we got, the more overheads there were, and we were still without that elusive record deal. Soon the financial situation became a problem - I had a baby daughter to support - so I said goodbye to Priest in 1973 and took a normal 9-to-5 job. Congo also left the band at this time, and our roadie Keith Evans left to join AC/DC as a personal roadie and technician to Angus Young. Everybody thought this was the end of the band, but K.K. and Ian decided to carry on with new members." - Al Atkins, Victim Of Changes liner note, 1997 ...
 
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Thanks Foro, was trying to figure out who that guy was last week but couldn't find any info.
 
Cheers.
Mosh said:
I'll have to check out the Hero, Hero comp. I was aware of its existence but never saw any use for it. The song list is interesting though.
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There are different CD versions. Besides the LP, I have a CD called The Collection (but it has the Hero, Hero cover). It has (again) a different track order from the LP there also less tracks on it. No Caviar and Meths, and no Diamonds and Rust.
 
I found one on spotify that has the original LP order. Can't find anything different, wasn't even aware of The Collection.
 
Rocka Rolla isn't a bad album, far from it in fact. I think the thing which makes the debut seem much poorer than it actually is, is because this album was so great, and a very noticeable improvement over the debut. It's very difficult for me to choose between my top 3 Priest albums, but this one has always been a serious contender for their best ever album. It must have been mindblowing to hear this back when it was released in 76', as it was a revelation even to me, and I first heard it in 1992. "Victim Of Changes", "The Ripper", and "Prelude/Tyrant" are 3 of the most vital cuts of metal I've ever heard. On the flipside, "Dreamer Deceiver" is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created, whilst the immensely underrated "Epitaph" is an emotionally aching piece of melancholy which makes me emotional every time I hear it. The other songs are also great, especially the crunching "Island Of Domination" which has grown on me immensely over the years.

Just for this album alone, Priest deserve to be called legends, and I feel the band never again reached the peaks of genius and creativity that is exhibited on the best of their 70's material. To me, Priest were just as important to metal as Black Sabbath, and this album along with "Stained Class" are enough reasons to give them that status. Sad Wings is a magical album, and definitely one of the finest rock/metal albums of all time.
 
Perhaps I'll have to give Epitaph another go. I've seen quite a bit of praise for it in this thread but I've always disregarded it as a book end, along with Prelude. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it never did anything for me. Tyrant and Genocide on the other hand, are great tracks. The vocal harmonies on Tyrant are to die for, it's unfortunate that they didn't do more of that.

Island of Domination is certainly an underrated song. It closes the album perfectly.
 
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