Judas Priest - Last Rose Of Summer

Now that the summer is winding down, I just played this song (it popped into my head in the songs with long fade outs thread)

I think this is an incredible song by Judas Priest and I really wish they still had this sort of versatility in their sound. The lyrics are very melancholy but also have hope if that makes any sense. Rob really had one of the greatest voices not only in metal but of all time.

 

It's funny, but "Last Rose of Summer" *never* fails to come to mind at this time of year. I love this song too!

 

I'll admit that I typically skip this and head for Dissident Aggressor or Call For The Priest, but it's a good little ballad here that shows Halford has a soft side and not just a hard gay side (listen to Raw Deal)

 

Fantastic song from a fantastic record! Simon Phillips is phenomenal on this record!

 

I like more heavy stuff like Dissident Aggressor, but it's a nice song. Great album, anyway.

 

While I did dead lifts today and listened to Sin After Sin and the first half of Stained Class.

Totally agree, Last Rose of Summer and Here Come The Tears are REAL ballads, the kind that just aren't created anymore (even by Priest). Makes sense though, they were babies at the time, still trying to figure out what 'Judas Priest' was. It's not really even experimenting at this stage of a bands' career because they haven't hit on the formula. Sin After Sin is my favorite Priest record. True ballads, starts with Sinner and ends with Dissident Aggressor!

 

Love that song. Hate what priest bacame afterwards

 

I've recently discovered this album/song and it's a great track worthy of it's own thread. Pure Yacht Rock gold!

 

Ditto. Late August always reminds me of this song. It's been a favorite of mine since I was a kid.

 

Yacht Rock? I don't think so.

 

Absolutely one of Priests greatest songs. It's really unlike anything else in their catalog.
It brings back a lot of memories.

 

I still think they had great stuff after this. Their 70's material will always be my favorite. They started falling (or inventing) to many of the metal cliches by the time the 80's rolled around however.

 

A beautiful song!

 

I think Sin After Sin was a way underrated album, I liked it upon it's release. I also liked the Last Rose of Summer, a great ballad.

 

Those first three Priest albums - Rocka Rolla, Sad Wings of Desiny, and Sin after Sin - showed a band progressing in leaps and bounds, but when they came to record Stained Class in late 1977, the producer that the record company gave them (one Dennis Mackay) insisted on tightening the band's songs, making them shorter, more forceful, more direct, and subsequently trimming away the more eclectic progressive elements that made those earlier albums so great. This more direct approach gave them their huge arena-headlining success in the 1980's but also robbed them of that special something they had between 1974-1976... still, that direct approach did ultimately lead to Painkiller, which to my ears is still the single best straight-ahead heavy metal album ever made, bar none, there's no musical diversity 'cause none is needed nor required, it's an absolute firestorm of an opus they'll never be able to equal much less exceed.

At least they tried something different and diverse with Nostradamus, but when they did, loads of fans moaned it was TOO different... some people, right?

 

Love this song. Thanks for reminding me.

 

Halford still can pull off the ballad. This song alone is worth getting the new album. Halford's voice is still a wonder, those that complain it aint what it was, you try doing what he does at his age. The fact Priest are not in the Hall Of Shame is a joke.

 

Last Rose is a good song; one of my faves from this album (along with Raw Deal, which, despite the subject matter, I feel is unfairly maligned). I think I'll give Sin After Sin a listen tonight via the 2012 Japanese remaster

 

What's the best version of Sin After Sin to get on CD? I have to admit that I've never owned this one on disc before.

 

Whatever you do, DO NOT get the remastered version... not just of Sin After Sin, of any Priest album in that notorious series, they're brickwalled and compressed to blarney and will make your ears bleed. If you can find it, get either an original vinyl or CD edition, they sound pretty good all things considered.

 

Sin After Sin is a great album.
I'm still flabbergasted that some people were shocked when Rob came out of the closet in 1998 when it was already put out there with a track like 'Raw Deal' in 1977

 

I just googled the lyrics to Raw Deal. Dang. After all these years I had no idea what the song was about. I probably didn't understand half the lyrics, just thought it was about Rob gettin' a drink in a bar....

 

Sin after Sin is my favorite Priest release.

the reverb on the kick drum (opening section) -- Roger Glover (and Simon Phillips) genius.

So much variety here. Best drummer they ever had, and every lick from Glenn/KK reaching to the stars in search of their destiny (to be stars some day).

 

sin after sin is one of the bands best albums

 

Its a classic album.
Lovely song...but I actually prefer Here Comes The Tears of the two ballads.
They gained plenty as they streamlined for the 80's...but lost something special too.