A succession of drummers ran through the band over their initial years together, and while Atkins continued to write material that would eventually come to light on a Judas Priest album, he himself also left the band due to the lack of income the band was bringing in, and the necessity to support his young family with stable employment.
With the departure of Atkins, Downing and Hill went out and recruited two new members, drummer John Hinch and his lead singer from his band, Rob Halford, who was also the brother of Hill’s then girlfriend. The band then played gigs all through 1973, and in 1974 made their first tour of Europe, all still without a record contract. On their return to England in April of 1974, they signed a deal with Gull Records, and began preparations to record their debut album. It was at this time that the band decided to fill out the group with a second guitarist, and so recruited Glenn Tipton to join the band. However, as this came at the time when the songwriting had been completed, his contributions to this album were minimal, and would become more important down the track.
And so, after five years, one dissolution, one rebirth, countless changes in personnel and a long apprenticeship on the gigging tour, Judas Priest finally had their chance to show what they had to offer on vinyl, with the album that became their debut opus, “Rocka Rolla”.
For most fans or acquaintances of the great Judas Priest, this album would probably be a complete mystery unless you grew up with it as a part of your listening collection. Shrouded in the mists of time, with very little exposure to the world, this album is one whose style is as startlingly different to what most fans began with when sampling this band as is Alice Cooper's debut album “Pretties For You” or Pantera's debut album “Metal Magic”. The fact that the band has ignored it completely when it comes to live sets for over 30 years of course has a number of reasons behind it, but it also perhaps indicates that the band knows what the fans really want to hear, and that isn’t necessarily provided on this debut album. But everyone has to start somewhere, and the influences on Priest on their debut album seem to come from a time several years in the past, and perhaps are not as representative here on the 1974 release as they could well have been had it been recorded in 1969.
Technical problems during the recording contributed to the poor sound quality of the record. Producer Rodger Bain, whose resume included Black Sabbath's first three albums and Budgie's first album, took control of the decisions over the young and green members, decisions which the band did not always agree with, which caused some tension. And while this album is a good deal mellower than the raucous and metallised material that was to come down the line, there are certain moments when you can hear that fabled Judas Priest sound in its infancy. For the most part, however, this album is rooted in the folksy blues music that feels as though it would be much more suited to the late 1960's rather than the advancing of the mid-1970's. A lot of it could almost be influenced by the first couple of Deep Purple album's, which is somewhat surprising given what Deep Purple had evolved into by the time this album was released. However, having said this, it has been reported that many of the band's better known and stylistic songs, such as "Tyrant", "Genocide" and an early version of "Victim of Changes" were ruled out of being placed on this album by their producer, Rodger Bain, because they weren’t commercial enough. He also cut the song "Caviar and Meths" from a 10-minute song down to a 2-minute instrumental. Many of these songs of course eventually found themselves onto the next album, which itself is a much more recognisable Priest-sounding album. Just what would the addition of those songs to this album have created at the time? It’s an interesting question and one that would be well worth debating.
There is no duelling of those Downing and Tipton guitars here, and there is no great hint of any of the speed and heaviness that was to come from this band as they established themselves. The songs tend to in places just plod along, the drum and bass beat sometimes barely getting above a crawl as Halford croons lightly over the top.
"One for the Road" is an example of this though not in a terrible way, but it does struggle to reach its conclusion as the bulk of the song feels like it just repeats itself over and over again. It is a reasonable track but out of kilter with what was produced as opening tracks down the path a little. The first single, "Rocka Rolla" is a better song with a slightly rockier feel, and the dual guitars making themselves more prominent, as well as the shirking squeal of Halford's harmonica. Still, it honestly sounds more like The Eagles than Judas Priest. The suite of "Winter", "Deep Freeze" and "Winter Retreat" is an interesting delving into more hippy rock along with the very 1970's guitar improv. For much of the time it feels as though perhaps the album has stopped, frozen in time if you will. It's a very... unique... almost Pink Floyd expedition, and one that seems so very unlike the band that was to emerge from this album.
"Cheater" comes across in a similar vein as "Rocka Rolla", closer to a rock song that the other efforts, with a snazzier pace and the return of the harmonica, but more importantly those single guitar solos that showcase what makes this band great.
"Never Satisfied" rambles along, again falling into the trap of predictability and repeating riff that the opening track “One for the Road” suffers from. "Run of the Mill", while on the surface appearing to be a slightly long and overdrawn song, showcases Rob Halford's amazing vocal range for the first time, as he really ups the intensity towards the end of the song. It wants to be "Victim of Changes”, but it doesn't quite have the power or the catchiness of that great track at this point. Despite this, this track becomes the forerunner to those style of ballad/epic songs that Judas Priest was to become renown for, and as such is an important piece of the puzzle going forward.
"Dying to Meet You" slumps along at a similar tempo, a sluggish song that at times struggles to keep the listener interested. The micro half-song that follows, "Hero Hero", comes much closer to being in the same street as you would expect of a Judas Priest song, but again it is much too little in comparison to what has come before. The album closes with a two-minute instrumental titled "Caviar and Meth", a song that in the days before Al Atkins was replaced as lead singer by Rob Halford was in fact a fourteen-minute monster. What was recorded here was just the introduction to that original piece, another of those production ideas that perhaps didn’t turn out for the best.
My foray into Judas Priest did not begin until the middle of the 1980’s, where I first began my entrancement with heavy metal music. And it was the albums from the 1980’s that I first heard and bought and came to know. So, it wasn’t for some time until I came to delve back to the albums of the 1970’s and truly experience just what they held.
When I first got my first copy of “Rocka Rolla”, I won’t deny that it was a complete surprise. Should it have been? I mean, the style of music here is certainly of that era, and it is the band’s first album after all. But there is no doubt that I expected something completely different from what I got, and that threw me a curve ball for a while. Trying to reconcile what I found here compared to the albums I knew so well - “British Steel”, “Screaming for Vengeance”, “Defenders of the Faith” and “Painkiller” - was a tough gig. So it probably got very short shrift at that time, and I went back to those albums I knew. Eventually I came back to it, well into the great black hole between 1990 and 2005, and with a less cynical or narrow field of vision (or hearing). And here is where I found my appreciation for the album as it was recorded. Did I go back to listen to it often? No, there are a lot of other Judas Priest albums I head to before that.
Over the last three weeks, I have had my CD out of its cover and back in my stereo again, and it has been a real joy – and I mean that. It has a lot of variables compared to those albums that followed it, all of which I am more inclined to follow, but that doesn’t mean this doesn’t have a lot to offer the fan.
As a piece of history, especially of this band, this is still an interesting listen. It is not a write-off, but it is of a different era, and most certainly was written and performed that way. While it is worth a listen for all of the fans who have not experienced it, in the long run I would be surprised if many fans revisited it on a regular basis. And that’s okay, because just around the corner there is a little album waiting to be recorded called “Sad Wings of Destiny”, and that’s where things start to get very interesting indeed.
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