SOUNDTRACK: JUDAS PRIEST-Rocka Rolla (1974).
Unlike Sad Wings, Judas Priest’s debut album is more of a curiosity than a cool surprise. I love this original cover–the new release has a crazy drawing on them that doesn’t make any sense with the title. Admittedly the title is kind of dumb, but the riff on Coke works. With the new cover, see below, the title just sounds dumb now.
The album is mostly heavy blues songs. Although the title track has some bizarre disco elements thrown in as well (including the lyrics). The chugga chugga in the choruses is not the chugga chugga of metal, but the chugga chugga of disco.
The biggest surprise comes with the third track, the oddly titled, “Winter/deep freeze/winter retreat/cheater.” It’s 9 minutes long and is not so much an epic as multiple weird little pieces thrown together.
“Never Satisfied” is the closest they get to their future metal sound. But it owes a big debt to Black Sabbath (down to the guitar sound which has the little high note in the chords that Iommi plays on parts of “Paranoid”–a sound I was always confused by but which seems to have inspired K.K. Downing). Nevertheless is rocks pretty hard.
“Run of the Mill” has the potential to be a good rocker. But the 8 minutes of it are rather unfocused and there’s a trippy jam in the middle. (Again with a major Black Sabbath debt underway). “Dying to Meet You” also has a cool sinister sound. Both of these tracks would be well served with a better producer. The second half of this nearly 7 minute song is probably the most metal sounding of the whole disc, although the guitar solo sound has a very Allman Brothers feel to me.
The final track “Caviar and Meths” is a two-minute instrument that is very reminiscent of trippy” Planet Caravan” style Black Sabbath. It’s rather groovy and I’ve always liked it. The reissue has the band’s cover of “Diamonds and Rust.” Because all metal bands should cover Joan Baez!
Wikipedia explains something about this album which make me feel better about it. Apparently the band was really unhappy with the production. Several heavier tracks were left off the album by the producer (they were later recorded for Sad Wings). And that odd little 2 minute instrumental “Caviar and Meths” was originally a 14 minute epic written by the guy who preceded Rob Halford. (He evidently recorded a 7 minute version of the song). Indeed, many of the songs were written by Halford’s predecessor and Downing, so they are lacking Halford’s input. (the page was very helpful for me).
[READ: September 11, 2011] In Too Deep
Since Book Five was so awesome, I couldn’t wait to move on to Book Six. Book Six is the first book written by an author who has written a book already (Watson wrote Book 4 as well). At first I feared that Watson was going to squash my enjoyment of the series; it felt like there was a lot of recapping going on (I know that in a series like this a recap is necessary for people who pick up book 6 instead of book one, but it can be frustrating when you know all that backstory already). However, at the same time, Watson also started the story in the middle of a scene, so everything was brand new, fast paced and a little disorienting.
I’m happy to say that once the story got going Watson really pulled out all the stops and this made Book Six the most exciting book so far. In this book they travel to Australia. As anyone who has looked into Australia knows, most of the deadliest animals on the planet live in Australia (woo hoo!) so that makes Dan quite excited. Australia is also a much looser place to explore than some of the tightly controlled areas they have recently visited–there’s no guards in the outback. And, when the kids hook up with an old friend of the family, Shep, they have access to tasty waves, tasty barbie, and…most awesomely, a plane.
They also have access to Isabel Kabras. Isabel is the mother of Ian and Natalie Kabras–two teens who are rich, spoiled and ruthless. They tried to kill Dan and Amy once, and Ian, who is a hottie, has some kind of sway over Amy–especially when Isabel tells her that Ian secretly likes her. Isabel tells Amy that she has information about how Dan and Amy’s parents died. She will tell her all about it if they can meet in private. And so, for the first time in the series that I can recall, Dan and Amy are separated. She meets the Kabras, and Isabel is looking for a trade. Amy is suspicious, of course, and that leads to the first of many deadly animals. It’s safe to say that Amy survives but I won’t say how–it’s very cool.
Shep turns out to be an excellent host and an excellent ally. Finally, someone they can really trust. Shep and his mates take the kids surfing. And when the beach is stormed by a family of oversized Americans intent on smashing Dan and Amy, Shep calls on his surfing buds for help. Shep also agrees to take them to look for a special clue in the opal mines of Darwin (the cover story the kids give about researching a relative is, while true, something that should raise a flag or two in Shep, but it doesn’t). It’s here that those deadly animals come into play.
More importantly for me, the suspicions that were raised about Nellie in Book Five become even more intense. Nellie informs everyone that she can fly a plane–so she helps by taking over for Shep on their cross continental flight. But what kind of 20 something year old knows how to fly a plane (and never told anyone?). When the kids learn their next location Krakatoa, east of Java, Shep arranges to fly his friend’s plane. But they are caught at the airport by Irina Spasky. Irina has brought the police and claims that Shep has kidnapped the kids, all in an attempt to do what? Warn them of future dangers, like she says? Or to simply kill them, like she has tried to do in the past? Even readers aren’t entirely sure what her motives are.
The kids avoid the trouble (again, i won’t say how) and fly to Jakarta. Because they are now suspicious of Nellie, they take off from the hotel without her (she’s wiped after flying). They head out to the volcanic islands and discover….Uncle Alistair (I love when the authors throw in characters unexpectedly like this. I have noticed that the Wizards have not been much in evidence lately, so I assume they’ll be coming back soon enough). Uncle Alistair is one of my favorite characters–he such a puzzle–is he good? is he bad?
The book ends with a fairly shocking twist. Amy has been remembering more and more details about the night their parents died. And as more details come to her head, she recognizes more and more people who were there that night. Could her parents really have been murdered? (And can she share with Dan her fears about that night?). Is there really no one she can trust? The final scene in the book is intense, scary and contains the most shocking surprise of all. It’s an awesome ending to the book, and even though I was planning on taking a small break from the 39 Clues after this one, I immediately picked up Book Seven to see how it all played out.
This series is getting wonderful.
And I have confession: I am not trying to figure out the puzzles that the kids find, I’m not stopping and mulling about what these things may mean. I’m never even close when I try, so I don’t bother. Also, I don’t really care what the actual final clues are that they turn up (I suppose if I had been trying for the real life grand prize, I would). I also notice that there are all kinds of clues in the book itself (pages numbers that are really letters, morse code looking items or words where the title of the book usually is). If I were in high school and had free time, I would be ALL OVER these things. I would be trying to figure out all the clues and working on all of the secret messages and all of that. I just don’t have the time or energy to devote to something like that. That makes me a little sad, because I’m sure the overall experience would be even better if I was utterly absorbed into their world. So, you won’t get any help with clues from me, but I hope others make the effort to decipher the hidden messages (even if the real life prize contest is over).
This is the new cover of Rocka Rolla, by the way:
I Just Read About That... 
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