#386: ‘The Mighty Priest’ – A Mix CD

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RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#386: ‘The Mighty Priest’ – A Mix CD

In January of 2009, I determined to make another mix CD for my best friend Peter.   He really enjoyed them and wanted some more tunes from the LeBrain Library.  The theme this time was Judas Priest.  We had both been playing the video game Rock Band a lot, and I enjoyed singing lead on the song “Painkiller”, so we played that one frequently.  Peter decided that he wanted to check out some Priest, so I worked very hard to make a CD suited to his own personal needs.  I set out five constraints to my Mighty Priest mix:

1. Peter only knew three Priest songs: “Painkiller”, “Breaking The Law”, and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”.

2. Peter generally hates slow songs. Therefore, unfortunately, I could not include classics like “Dreamer Deceiver”.

3. I always try to include a variety of tracks from as many albums as I can.

4. Must be limited to a single CD.

5. One rare track – my trademark is always sneaking in a rarity.

So I whittled down the 50 songs I started with to the nice and cozy 79 minutes you see below. Keeping in mind my self-imposed constraints, what would you have done differently?

PRIEST METAL

I sought feedback, and I received feedback.  My ever faithful rock compatriots had these words:

Uncle Meat: Well…Michael…valiant effort. It is a good mix of new and old Priest. But…no “Electric Eye”? What is wrong with you? I cant even believe you would make this list without including it. That “Turbo Lover” is on here…and not “Electric Eye”…kinda makes me feel dirty…unloved. And?!?!?! No “Freewheel Burning”? . I’m getting mighty confused Mr. Ladano. No “Sinner”? “Heading out to the Highway”? I know their catalogue is extensive…but the omission of “Electric Eye” especially is very disturbing….

Dr. Dave: “Rock Hard Ride Free”!!!

Sarge: No “Metal Gods”?  Actually I only ever owned British Steel, so I cant comment on anything.  “Metal Gods” was always my favourite on that album.

Andy: I’m going to have to register an alternate opinion entirely, and that is, with any band that’s been around as long as Priest has, and has done as many albums as they have, simply cannot be captured in a “best of” that is only one CD. You just can’t do it – there’s too much good stuff, even disqualifying the “slow” songs like you did. I tried it with Manowar, and ended up with a full CD after their first four albums. I’ll be doing my personal The Best of Manowar, Volume II sometime soon….

So what I would have done differently is this: Go in chronological order, and put in all of the absolute “must have” songs from each album (remembering the rules for your friend, of course). Don’t overlap songs from one album on more than one CD, so you might have to juggle the playlist a little. Then, when CD #1 is full, move on to Volume 2.  Eventually, hand over your two (or in the case of Priest, maybe 3!) CDs to your friend, apologizing that you simply couldn’t fit it all onto 1.

Johnny Sixx: What I would have done is include their track “Love Bites”…it’s a gem.

All of them made excellent points, and I think it must be concluded that a truly great single disc Judas Priest collection cannot be made.  As Uncle Meat said, I think I made a valiant effort, but 80 minutes is simply not enough time for the Mighty Priest.  The next time I attempted to do something like this, I went with Andy’s advice in the back of my head…

…And ended up with a 5 CD set!  But that’s another story.

 

30 comments

    2. “It’s impossible, even for a computer!” – Wedge Antilles

      Delivering the Goods is one I wish I had room for, for sure.

      A single disc IS impossible! Yet there are many on the market right now!

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  2. Haha I was waiting for you to mention the 5CD set! If you hadn’t, I would’ve. Yeah, getting Priest onto one CD ain’t happening. Like Maiden, or Metallica, or any of the bands who have so many great songs. Just NO.

    Still, good try, but I’d say it was a bit of a fool’s errand. Were you out of CD-Rs, or something? Only had one left?

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      1. Fair enough. I remember when they put out a one-CD Hits set of GBV, and I ranted in the KMA pages about the impossibility of it. I know I couldn’t do it, if asked by someone for a one CD.

        Still I get you point about working at it, REALLY making sure you only hd the songs that HAD to be there. Sounds like a pretty ruthless proces, actually, having to cut so many tracks.

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  3. My list would not have been as diverse as yours. Mainly 70’s and 80’s, with only one each from 90’s and 2000’s.
    Here it is. Metalizer, Painkiller, Turbo Lover, Freewheel Burnin, Rock Hard Ride Free, Love Bites, Some Heads Are Gonna Roll, Hellion/Electric Eye, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming, Heading Out To The Highway, Hot Rocking, Breaking The Law, Living After Midnight, hell Bent For Leather, The Green Manilishi(With The Two-Pronged Crown), diamonds And Rust, The Ripper.

    Many more could/should be on there, but this would be my fave 17 songs. I think it would be fitting for one cd each of 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, and one live.

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    1. Green Manalishi is actually my favourite Priest song of all time. And it’s not even a Priest song! But it’s my fave for sure. No doubt. The guitar solos…I have every single note memorized.

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  4. Was just recalling, back in 2012 I made a 1CD Maiden disc. WHAT?! Only 1 CD? How is that possible? I posted about it on KMA, but here’s the recap:

    I took these sets:

    The Essential Iron Maiden
    Best Of the Beast
    Edward The Great

    I used one copy of all the tracks duplicated across all three sets and discarded the rest of the duplicates. I removed live tracks (I strongly dislike live tracks on Hits sets) and this left me 15 tracks of Maiden glory:

    The Number of The Beast
    Hallowed Be Thy Name
    Run To The Hills
    The Trooper
    The Evil That Men Do
    Can I Play With Madness
    Aces High
    Wasted Years
    The Wicker Man
    Wrathchild
    Rainmaker
    The Clairvoyant
    2 Minutes To Midnight
    Flight Of Icarus
    Be Quick Or Be Dead

    And that, friends, was a Maiden disc full of greatness. Sure, there’s a ton that’s missing, but pretty damn hard to argue with any of THAT! ;)

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    1. Holy shit. So basically you distilled from the best of, to one CD of THE best of. Wicker Man is on there…Wasted Years…a lot of my Adrian faves,

      Wait…NO BLAZE??????

      ;)

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  7. Electric Eye was the track that hooked me in, so as a result it’s my favourite Priest track. Any best of should include a bonus disc with that repeated 17 times.

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  9. As many commenters have said: You just can’t capture the best of Priest on a single disc. When I wanted to get educated on Priest, I went over to my local Wal-Mart, and all they had was “The Essential Judas Priest”, a two-disc set, which I picked up. This set told me exactly what I needed to know about the band, and was the perfect gateway into Priest fandom :)

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