Favorite Song off of "Rocka-Rolla" by Judas Priest

Lari wrote:

James B. wrote:

Lari wrote:

The title just reads "Dying to Meet You" on my copy (nothing about heroes).

Yeah, I have both versions of the cover on vinyl and the "Hero. Hero" compilation as well... No mention of it on any of them. Since I don't have the tunes memorized I used Wikipedia for the info. So my guess is they must have added the "Hero/Hero" due to song being on that compilation ?  

Probably. But it seems to be only a Wikipedia thing. Metal Archives, Rate Your Music or other sources don't have it.

I think it's just Dying to Meet You.

Having said that, obviously the song has two halves. I have no problem some people calling the second half Hero, Hero. But I prefer it as one long track. That's also why it's my favourite.

Troublezone wrote:

Never cared much for this album. It doesn't represent what they would soon become afterward.

Agreed to a degree. However, there's still some real interesting stuff here. Depending on how big of a Priest fan your are, of course. But you can definitely hear the cogs turn from heavy rock to Judas-Priest-Heavy-Metal on tracks like Never Satisfied.

And damn, here are the origins of Rob Halford and that voice. Just listening to Dying to Meet You.

One for the Road, Rocka Rolla and Cheater are also enjoyable groovy rocking heavy rock songs. In 1974, in this genre, this doesn't lose out to many albums. The whole genre was in its infancy.

The name of the song is "Dying To Meet You." Gull Records is the label that released both Rocka-Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny. They still own this material and they have reissued it constantly since the original release. They have repackaged the material as well and that's where "Hero, Hero" came from. In 1981, Gull released a compilation of Rodger Bain remixes of this material entitled Hero, Hero. I don't think any song on Rocka-Rolla was ever entitled "Hero, Hero." As another trivia note, most of the cd issues of the Hero,Hero compilation don't use the Rodger Bain remixes but revert to the usual mixes.

Also, the "Armored Guy" was added as an album cover in 1984 and the name of that artwork is "The Steel Tsar."

mikeinfla wrote:

Cheater... I no longer own this album. I have always wondered, why the two covers? I like the "Coca-Cola" cover better. Just looks cool.

I've always assumed it was a copyright issue with the Coke people.

As for me, I voted for the title song 'Rocka-Rolla'. Stupid or not, it's got a catchy chorus and it pops immediately into my mind whenever I hear the name.

A close second would be 'Never Satisfied', however, I was only familiar with the Armored Saint version for many years before I finally heard the original.