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. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 