JPN original white label promo vinyl: Picked this one up from Disk Union in Tokyo last year and it's immaculate and sounds amazing. For me JPN originals are the top for early Priest vinyl up through British Steel.
For SFV the US Columbia is pretty incredible if not a trip into the stratosphere. Personally I want to hear Defenders remixed with real drums instead of pads or whatever they used. It just never sounds quite right to me in any format.
Besides the Line and Possum releases, are there any other Hero Hero CDs that have the remixes? Neither of those copies are in stock on eBay or discogs, and I really don't want to resort to buying it on vinyl. I was thinking of picking up this Connoisseur CD since nobody's commented on it here, but I have no way of telling if it's got the RR remixes.
This guy says it does: REVIEW: Judas Priest – Hero, Hero (1981) Always avoid Koch and Transluxe for anything Judas Priest.
Alright, I just snagged it. I'm looking forward to hearing the remixes since I'm a big fan of Rocka Rolla. And yes, those Koch and Transluxe remasters are bad. Used to have both versions for the first 2 albums and sold them not too long afterward. I'm pretty happy with the Line RR (even though it could use a slight treble boost) and the Attic SWOD.
Connoisseur Hero, Hero CD samples: Never Satisfied Run of the Mill Dying to Meet You Victim of Changes Dreamer Deceiver Tyrant I like the way this CD sounds; very dynamic with natural and pleasing EQ. It gets better when you crank the volume. In fact, I think the Sad Wings tracks sound much better here than on the Attic disc. The Attic sounds too smiley-faced in comparison. The Rocka Rolla remixes aren't necessarily better than the original album, but they're an interesting listen nonetheless. The main things I've noticed are that there's more clarity (without being too bright) and the reverb is different. The guitars still sound a bit thin and screechy in some spots, so I guess that goes down to what Glenn and KK used during the recording.
Love the original mix though i reissue from a couple ofnyears ago sounds great. LP of course. This is when The Priest started to get that "Judas" sound.
Yah! Replying to a post from 2007. I picked up this weird one today. Mine has a bar code though 4023290011262. I only bought it because my RCA version is in storage, and I just had to play the album. The packaging on mine is atrocious. Essentially, they took the back of the original Vinyl release and cut it up. So the picture of Halford with his back to the audience takes up the whole of the back side of the jewelcase. This is reproduced again on the back page of the four page booklet. The fold out of the booklet is simply the rest of the pictures from the back cover, in black and white. No text at all. In fact, no EFFORT at all. Just terrible. Think the bass is a little flabby on Victim of Changes, but the rest isn't too bad. It's a DR12, with no track lower than a DR11. Bought mine for £3.20.
The RCA, Transluxe, and Koch versions of Rocka Rolla all stay in sync with each other. In addition to that, the Transluxe completely cancels out with the RCA once you level match and invert the phase. To complicate matters a bit more, the TECP Japan CD syncs with the Line mastering. Out of all the versions I compared (most of them up to the Koch remaster), it seems that only the Repertoire had a unique transfer. All of this applies to Sad Wings as well, though I'm not sure about the TECP as I haven't heard it yet. The Connoisseur Hero Hero and Line Sad Wings both use the same tape source (I could tell because they each have the same "crackling" noise during the fade-in on Victim of Changes), but the transfers are different. If you're looking for the RCA CDs, I guess the Transluxe versions would be worth getting instead since they're cheaper and sound exactly the same.
Looks like there is a new vynal release coming out anyone know anything abouy it? Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny
After comparing several versions, my favorite version of Sad Wings is the Line CD. In spite of the channel imbalance, it sounds marvelous; no need for me to look further. It looks to be from Repertoire. I hope they did a new mastering from good tapes instead of simply using their existing CD as a source.
Nothing wrong with the source, it sounds good. In my comment above, all I meant was that I didn't want Repertoire to literally put the CD mastering on vinyl. That's what happened with the 2010 Sony reissues and I think with the Koch vinyl as well.
Isn't the Repertiore version heavily compressed? I actively avoid their discs now, every one I came across had been compressed for no good reason.
It's newer Repetoire stuff that tends to be compressed. If you get a pressing of some album on Repetoire that was made back in the 90s different story. I think people are talking about two completely different Repetoire discs here.
Okay, so now you made me check. The DR Database does indeed list the Repetiore discs of Sad Wings (3 of them). On 4552-WY and 5237, both from 93, both are compressed (keep in mind the best DR value for Sad Wings on CD is 12 overall). The Repotiore's are DR 9 and DR 7 respectively. It seems there was a later 2011 release from them, no idea what the numbers say on that one. According to Discogs, these are the only CD releases of Sad Wings from Repetiore.
The DR7 CD is the newer Rep CD. Album details - Dynamic Range Database More compressed than the earlier one. DR9 might not be ideal but it's respectable. Haven't heard either of these discs though. Speaking of Rep, here is the DR log from my '91 CD of Tank's first album. As you can see not everything Rep has released is excessively compressed: foobar2000 1.3.17 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1 log date: 2018-09-20 15:48:05 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analyzed: Tank / Filth Hounds of Hades -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR Peak RMS Duration Track -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DR11 -2.31 dB -14.97 dB 3:11 01-Shellshock DR11 -2.05 dB -14.27 dB 3:10 02-Struck by Lightning DR11 -1.91 dB -15.52 dB 3:40 03-Run Like Hell DR12 -2.07 dB -16.05 dB 3:43 04-Blood, Guts and Beer DR11 -1.94 dB -15.46 dB 5:26 05-That's What Dreams Are Made Of DR11 -1.75 dB -14.82 dB 3:22 06-Turn Your Head Around DR11 -0.69 dB -14.87 dB 3:25 07-Heavy Artillery DR11 -2.17 dB -15.47 dB 3:06 08-Who Needs Love Songs? DR12 -2.32 dB -15.66 dB 3:56 09-Filth Hounds of Hades DR12 -1.93 dB -15.04 dB 5:17 10-(He Fell in Love With a) Stormtrooper -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number of tracks: 10 Official DR value: DR11 Samplerate: 44100 Hz Channels: 2 Bits per sample: 16 Bitrate: 916 kbps Codec: FLAC ================================================================================
My copy of "The Collection" on Castle arrived today. Looking forward to comparing Sad Wings on this with the Transluxe CD I've lived with for awhile now. Unfortunately the German Line CD some like here appears to be not so cheap anymore on the used market so I'll probably have to skip it for awhile.
Keep an eye out - I bought it on Ebay at the end of June for $5. Weirdly it was listed as "Various Artists: Sad Wings of Destiny.