JUDAS PRIEST – THE CHOSEN FEW: Greatest Hits Picked By Heavy Music Legends Releasing October 11, 2011
JUDAS PRIEST – The Chosen Few is a 17 song compilation album spanning the discography of the legendary Judas Priest and is releasing on October 11, 2011, via Sony/Legacy. In Metal essence, this is a “greatest hits” album which does salute Judas Priest and their unparalleled Metal career. Yes, Judas Priest does have many compilations/greatest hits albums out there, I agree. The story behind The Chosen Few is that all 17 songs have been “chosen” by an impressive group of legendary musicians of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.
Oops. Here goes Stone straying off topic a bit here, with the “legendary” musicians who chose songs for The Chosen Few. I had to go and call these musicians “legendary”, now didn’t I? Chris Jericho chose a song and he is cool, still, he has a ways more to go before I call him a legendary musician. Do I consider Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God legendary? I’ve got an answer for you: yes. Yes again.
In my Metal opinion, this is a grand collection of Judas Priest songs, a collection that will prove to be essential for those fans who do not own every Judas Priest album. I will take a pass on buying The Chosen Few for the time being, with money being tight I would much rather pick up new studio albums or vintage releases that I already don’t own. Buying The Chosen Few when I already own the songs just isn’t practical for me. Regardless of my passing over on The Chosen Few, I would recommend new fans of Judas Priest and those fans who don’t own all of the songs to buy it, it looks like a winner to me.
Two Judas Priest classics, that I would have chosen for The Chosen Few are: Hot Rockin’ (Point Of Entry – 1981) and Some Heads Are Gonna Roll (Defenders Of The Faith – 1984). What Judas Priest song(s) would you have chosen for this album? I believe there are 16 studio albums that Judas Priest has their legendary name on, so choosing a favorite song or two is both easy and difficult at the same time for me. I would have to say my favorite Judas Priest album is Stained Class from 1978. Okay, which is my favorite Judas Priest song ever? ACCEPT “chose” my favorite Judas Priest song for The Chosen Few: Exciter. This solid as steel Metal song is from Stained Class too.
Judas Priest is a Metal band that steamrolled the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal into my brain, so many years ago. I honestly couldn’t vision a world of Heavy Metal without their presence and influence. Once Judas Priest are a retired band, I will miss the living Metal daylights out of them. Metal be thy name.
Check out the track listing below for The Chosen Few. The musicians who chose each respective song are listed as well.
Diamonds And Rust (1977) – chosen by Joe Elliot (Def Leppard)
Dissident Aggressor (1977) – chosen by Steve Vai
Exciter (1978)- chosen by Accept
Beyond The Realms Of Death (1978) – chosen by Lars Ulrich (Metallica)
Delivering The Goods (1979) – chosen by Kerry King (Slayer)
The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) (1979) – chosen by Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) & David Coverdale (Whitesnake)
The Ripper (1979) – chosen by Ozzy Osbourne
Victim Of Changes (1979) – chosen by James Hetfield (Metallica)
Breaking The Law (1980) – chosen by Lemmy (Motorhead)
Rapid Fire (1980) – chosen by Vinnie Paul (Pantera & Hell Yeah)
Grinder (1980) – chosen by Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society)
Living After Midnight (1980) – chosen by Alice Cooper & Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
Screaming For Vengeance (1982) – chosen by Slash (Guns n Roses)
You’ve Got Another Thing Coming (1982) – chosen by Klaus Meine (Scorpions) & Corey Taylor (Slipknot)
The Sentinel (1984) – chosen by Chris Jericho
Turbo Lover (1986) – chosen by Jonathan Davis (Korn)
Painkiller (1990) – chosen by Joe Satriani
* For more info on JUDAS PRIEST, click on the link below:
LONG LIVE JUDAS PRIEST.
Stone.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
October 7, 2011 at 11:33 am
I was lucky enough to see Priest in 1974, when they were supporting Welsh rockers BUDGIE. They’d only released the Rodger Bain produced ‘Rocka-Rolla’ at that point. They blew me away live even then. (Rob Halford even had hair!) My favourite albums are Sad Wings of Destiny and the Roger Glover produced Sin after Sin – therefore I’m all for Ozzy, Hetfield’s and Joe Elliots choices! Victim of Changes in particular is just a blueprint for quality metal. I love that track.
October 7, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Great stuff, Kev. LOL… Rob Halford did have some hair on his head in the early days! I learned quickly, after buying “Screaming For Vengeance”, that there was a remarkable run of albums that Judas Priest had prior. BUDGIE… now that is an influential “early Metal” band if I ever heard one! I still have to pick up the most recent BUDGIE album that they released a few years ago, shame on me.
October 9, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Actually my son introduced me to Budgie back in the summer and I could only ask myself, Why didn’t I know about these guys back in the 70s? When I heard them, I was impressed.
Back to the original question, of the songs not chosen, I would have to pick “Take on the World.”