heavy metalraritiesal atkinsjudas priest
01:45 Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Al Atkins has revealed a 50th anniversary edition of Judas Priest’s Rocka Rolla as well as a reissue of his solo album Victim Of Changes is being planned. Atkins says the reissues will be handled by Sleasy Rider Records.
The former Judas Priest singer says in a social media post: “Just searching through my old tapes and stuff and found these 2 inch reels of Victim Of Changes which was an album I recorded way back in 1998 with Paul May and Dave Holland. It later got shelved by Universal Records after Dave's conviction but after all these years it is now to be licensed out by BMG at last!!.... My new company Sleaszy Rider SRL will be rereleasing it in the autumn of this year which will also coincides with the rerelease of Rocka Rolla which is being remastered by Tom Allom celebrating 50 years of it's first release so that's something to look forward to.”
Rocka Rolla was first released in September 1974 by Gull Records and is Priest’s full-length debut album. While Rob Halford sings on the album, Atkins was responsible for the songwriting of three tracks, “Winter”, “Never Satisfied”, and “Caviar And Meths.” The latter track was originally a 14-minute song, but was cut down due to time constraints. Only the 2-minute introduction was recorded for Rocka Rolla.
Victim Of Changes was originally issued in March 1998 via Neat Records. The album contains Atkins’ versions of early JP songs that were featured on Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings Of Destiny.
Part of the album’s lineup featured former Priest drummer David Holland. Holland was found guilty of attempted rape and several indecent assaults involving his young music students in 2004 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The album cover bears a resemblance to Priest’s 1977 album Sin After Sin.
Tom Allom is producer/engineer responsible for working on iconic heavy metal albums like Black Sabbath’s debut, Paranoid and Judas Priest’s British Steel and Screaming For Vengeance.
