You have to give
Judas Priest's original record label some credit. If there's a grand prize for sneakily re-packaging only two albums of material numerous times over the years, they take the grand prize. When they were still a young, up-and-coming band,
Priest issued a pair of releases during the early to mid-'70s for RCA -- 1974's
Rocka Rolla, and 1976's
Sad Wings of Destiny. Then, after the group jumped to Columbia and went on to become on of the world's leading metal bands, their former label began reissuing the aforementioned albums -- either with different artwork, or by picking highlights from the two albums and fraudulently advertising the sets as a "greatest-hits" album. Hence, that's exactly what the 1999,
Best of Judas Priest is -- if you're thinking that you'll be getting a career-spanning collection of
Priest's best work, you'll be in for a great disappointment. While admittedly "Destiny" is a certifiable
Priest classic, their debut is an incredibly uneven affair. At most, one song should be included from
Rocka Rolla on any compilation, not several. Collectors will notice that a pre-
Sin After Sin version of "Diamonds and Rust" is included, as are several interview snippets with early drummer John Hinch. But advertising a collection of tracks from only a pair of albums as a "best-of" is a rip off, plain and simple, especially when there are already several
Priest collections out there that do a far better job of collecting their best material (especially 1993's
Metal Works '73-'93). ~ Greg Prato