The early Priest?

What do you think about the early Judas Priest? I'm talking about Rocka Rolla and other stuff like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI0iX2q4pw8&mode=related&search=tank%20stormtrooper%20nwobhm - Rocka Rolla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXBnAhMDFdI&mode=related&search=tank%20stormtrooper%20nwobhm - Dreamer Deveiver (Wait after the guy speach...lol)

I actually think that they still rock! When I was in a shop I saw the Rocka Rolla album without the original cover and I was asking to myself if I had to buy it... I didn't buy it...Why? That's the fault of all of these crappy people who think that Priest is only a British Steel!

I love the first two albums they did - particularly Rocka Rolla ! I picked it up when I was first getting into them way back in 1982-83 and I loved it, long before the elitists and boneheads had a chance to taint my attitude towards it. It's great stuff!

Personally I really like their first two albums, "Rocka Rolla" and "Sad Wings of Destiny". I own them both and they are regular players for me.

I find them refreshing, original (especially for the time they came out), and invigorating.

Having said all that, they are not top favorite albums. They are good, solid, but definitely not Judas Priest's finest hours.

Happy to see that I'm not alone.

i think their first 5 albums are pure brilliance. it's what heavy metal was meant to sound like.

Personally my favorite Judas Priest album is "Painkiller". But in all reality, there really isn't a Judas Priest album I don't like.

I think those first 2 have more pure raw sounding metal. Where as the later albums were better overall and produced way better. I have all those Priests on vinyl and the first 2 on the Gull Records Label!

Wargod48

Dreamer Deveiver is the song that made me a Judas Priest fan for life.

mc666 wrote:

i think their first 5 albums are pure brilliance. it's what heavy metal was meant to sound like.

Agreed. Those first 5 are awesome. I think Rocka Rolla suffers from bad production, but I think that's what gives it its appeal.

I'm actually pretty stoked because usually when I bring up that I like "Rocka Rolla" people usually just act like it's a piece of trash album that was released by mistake.

I really like it actually. It's a great album to put on while road tripping in the desert too. If you look beneath the surface, there is a lot of melody and depth to the songs and the lyrics are quite intelligent.

It's kinda like a 'thinking' kind of album. Same with "Sad Wings of Destiny" actually.

blackieboy wrote:

I'm actually pretty stoked because usually when I bring up that I like "Rocka Rolla" people usually just act like it's a piece of trash album that was released by mistake.

I really like it actually. It's a great album to put on while road tripping in the desert too. If you look beneath the surface, there is a lot of melody and depth to the songs and the lyrics are quite intelligent.

It's kinda like a 'thinking' kind of album. Same with "Sad Wings of Destiny" actually.

It's more than a Metal album it's the one who show how the true Judas Priest is!

I have Sad Wings and up through to Angel of Retribution. I think Sad Wings is excellent . I wasn't sure what to expect from reading how different their early stuff was from the later. I have yet to hear Rocka Rolla (some day,though)

If you like "Sad Wings of Destiny" you'd probably like "Rocka Rolla".

I personally prefer SWoD myself, but like I said - I like them both!

I like it a lot.

Not a big fan of Rocka Rolla but, SWOD is amazing , probably my favorite priest album.

Yeah all their early stuff rules!!

I have both and like them very much.

Those albums were actully kinda progressive in a way. I like their stuff after Hell Bent for Leather, but it's more predictable than their early stuff. For a long time the two Gull releases were available as compilations...I think "Hero Hero" or "The Best Of"...and Priest wasn't happy about it.
For me, Sad Wings and Sin After Sin are as good as metal gets. And I've worn out about six copies of Stained Class in various formats. Rocka Rolla is interesting but I never grooved on it.

Sad Wings of Destiny is a classic, Rock-a-Rolla is a good one too!

Love Rocka Rolla. Have it on CD and on vinyl.

All Priest is good Priest IMO (with the exceptions of parts of TURBO and DEMOLITION, haha), but the 70s stuff is some of my favorite JP. STAINED CLASS is probably my favorite Priest album EVER but ROCKA ROLLA and SAD WINGS are also very interesting listens.

ROCKA ROLLA is definitely its own beast. They were a young band that hadn't quite found "their" sound yet (that didn't happen till SAD WINGS), but it is still a cool, weird, trippy listen in my book. Kinda like an odd mix of Zeppelin and Sabbath. My favorite track is "Cheater."

I have ROCKA ROLLA on vinyl (with the original "soda pop bottle cap" cover art) and the pictures of the band on the back are priceless -- Downing doing his best Hendrix impression in a tie dye shirt and pimp hat, Ian Hill lookin' like the Dalai Lama, etc. -- and it's the one and only time I'm aware of that Rob Halford is credited as "Bob" Halford. And he's even credited with "vocals AND harmonica" on Rocka Rolla to boot!

I also have one of the later CD versions with the "armored flying guy" on the cover (which by the way was painted by Melvyn Grant, who later did Maiden's FEAR OF THE DARK cover)... legend has it that the "flying guy" art was a rejected cover idea for the SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE record (as was the art used on the HERO, HERO compilation). Nice cover, but it doesn't really fit ROCKA ROLLA's vibe at all.

Not sure on those because I've only heard a few songs from that era. As I posted on a previous thread, Virgin has a 3CD pack of the first 3 Priest albums that I hope to get once I'm able to go there (hopefully it's still there).

DallasBlack wrote:

Not sure on those because I've only heard a few songs from that era. As I posted on a previous thread, Virgin has a 3CD pack of the first 3 Priest albums that I hope to get once I'm able to go there (hopefully it's still there).

If they don't, Gull Records who released the first 2 albums in the 70's has released 1,001 different editions of those albums.

From the Priest website:

Gull Records through many subsiduary companies are releasing sub standard re-hashes of these 1st two albums under different guises. If for instance anyone out there has bought their "JUDAS PRIEST - THE BEST OF" - Insight Series, then they would find that 50% of the album consists of a mindless interview with John Hinch an ex-drummer with Priest who we had to let go because he was musically inadequate. The interview is not only misleading but full of rubbish and false information.

They, however have cleverly track listed the back cover so it appears that other band members are involved and as though it contains new material. It's just one example of how Gull Records are greedily continually exploiting and misleading the fans out there and unfortunately we cannot control it or stop them - but we can strongly advise you not to waste your money buying tracks you will already have under the original album titles. They have nothing new to offer and are just trying to cash in on the Priest name - so check out any CD with their name on it before buying.

Yea, those first two records have been packaged and re-packaged to death over the years. In addition to the "Best of Judas Priest" and "Hero, Hero" compilations, I also saw a 2CD set a while ago called GENOCIDE which was just ROCKA ROLLA on one disc and SAD WINGS on the other, with a photo of the PAINKILLER era Rob Halford on the back. I wonder how many people got suckered into that one thinking it was something more current.