shNITPICKER 2 - METAL FURY on 70s PRIEST

Well, it seems that majority of Judas Priest fans like either British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith (Tipton's favorite, I gather) or Painkiller the best. If you are a fan of Turbo, leave this blog... NOW! Go back to your Frankie goes to Hollywood and/or Wham albums and leave me in peace. If Point of Entry means perfection to you, then I say... well, actually write... ummm... well, you are rather weird. In that case you may stay as long as you do not drink the colors of the blog ears painted with noisy hollow.

Here we are, grinding our teeth, dwelling and picking into the shi... erm, nit 'n' grit again!

 Let us dwell now into MY favourite albums. Back to the 70s, maaaan! Sad Wings! What a bunch of great songs! And still... there is still not a good version of it available on cd *saaaaad face :((((* (See my futile attempts the modernise the blog with smileys... or... cry-eys?).  The General problem for a long time was, that Gull records had the rights to Priest's two early albums (the first of which is a dull blues album, so who cares... unfortunately the second one is my favourite, so there's the problem!). As Gull needed money they released different versions (and even stupid collection, like the notorious Hero, Hero) of ye same ole material they had. Many of these versions are not only redundant but also substandard in quality for one way or another. I have three versions of this album and each one has its drawbacks.

Convict ACD 1157 aka Attic. Notable: Yellow like snow near the brewery for incontinents.

So what's wrong? Let's start with the version I got first, the Attic one (ACD 1157). It is not the worst of these, mind you. The songs sound okay (obviously the album was recorded cheap and quick in the first place, but that can't be much helped afterwards). But the cover art is lacking. I have never seen an official version of a classic metal album that contains no booklet - just the cover of the album and a foggy picture in the back. The booklet opens but is completely white inside. And the back cover is all yellow, just a list of songs. Of course it is the songs that matter, but such a classic arsenal of killer songs deserves better, methinks.

Convict SMMCD 562 aka SnapperTurd. Notable: Unreliable, will kick you in the ass for 97% of the length, then suddenly will kick you in the teeth instead.

Then there's the hideous 1998 remaster, Snapper music, I believe (SMMCD 562). The cover art is better, there actually are pages and a short essay inside the booklet. Backcover is to my knowledge the same as on the vinyl including more foggy pics of the band, not just the yellowish fog included in the Attic version. It sounds good too... until we reach Island of Domination. There's a little, but VERY ANNOYING glitch in the track. Right after the slow & heavy middle section the pace picks up.. and there it is... in 3'23-24 a small, but still recognisable BUT THEREFORE EVEN MORE INFURIATING swaying in the guitars like some drowsy, brainless, drooling mixer falling on the controls for a second! IN THE FINAL TRACK! Why!!! So close to being good version, it all blows to smithereens in just about the last possible moment! HEADS ARE GONNA ROLL, you arseholes!

Finally, Priest decided it was time to officially release these two classic albums the way the band intended them to be released. So, naturally, as a Priest fanboy I snapped the Complete Albums box set, which included both of these. No bonus tracks, just the albums like they were meant to be heard. I must admit that the tracks sound good, but again, I have a problem... They changed the goddamn TRACKLIST! You see, when the album was released Gull records made a booboo. They swapped sides (on purpose or accident?? who knows...). So, as far as I have known this album, Victim of changes has been the opener, followed by the Ripper and the magnificient Dreamer Deceiver/Deceiver-twosome. But no more, now it is the b-side like the band always wanted it to be. But for me, it ruins the flow of the album!!! I love Tyrant, it's my fave on the album, so it works well as an opener, but Gevocide, for me, is a long, a bit plodding slowburner that doesn't really work as an second track... It sounds better near the end of the setlist... or tracklist. And Island of Domination is an easy-going, relaxed, humorous s&m-track with a nice echo effect closing the album, not a middleway flow-breaker!!! For me, this tracklist just doesn't work. Priest almost always had a darkly humorous track near the end (Heavy Duty&Defenders, Love You to Death, Evil Fantasies, Devil's Child...) not in the middle! The album was better the "wrong way". And, I must admit, I don't really like the miniature-lp-replica-whatever-cardboard -pieces-of-scheisse that much. MY FAVOURITE ALBUM OF MY FAVOURITE BAND IS RUINED AGAIN!!! Once again so close, and ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT! Is it so hard to release my favourite album with the old tracklist and a decent coverart in a regular jewel case with no special extras?? Are You Serial????

Yep, yep... Nice work Columbia. How about saving the money you make selling this albums FOR AN EAR AND BRAIN OPERATION??

And how about Sin After Sin, that's a good album too... But they SCREWED THAT ONE TOO! The original edition had wrong titles and a start marker. Track 5 is Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest and track 6 Raw Deal, but the original cd claimed it was "track 5 Let Us Prey and track 6 Call for the Priest/Raw Deal". The marker was an equally stupid mistake, it is evident that Here Come the Tears starts softly and grows into a huge, exploding crescendo, but they attached this soft, beautiful intro at the end of the preceding track! So yet again (cf. Maiden's Powerslave) if I want to listen to this emotional track as a whole, I'd have to rewind or fast forward the preceding track which, if you didn't guess it already, IS VERY VERY ANNOYING! If I noticed this just by listening to the album, WHAT THE HELL ARE THE RECORD COMPANIES DOING! Glitches, can't-be-bothered-booklets, wrongly named tracks, falsely placed markers... Doesn't anyone in a big company ever listen to this stuff BEFORE they release it and take our money?? Is there any quality control?? MONEYGRABBING PILLOCKS!

This remaster is perfect. Except for the fact that NEITHER OF THE BONUS TRACKS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS ALBUM, YOU CRETINS!