Customer Reviews

Metalogy (Bonus Dvd)

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Originally posted on www.MaximumMetal.com

The boxed set for Judas Priest has finally arrived and it is worth looking into. It is 4 music CDs and one DVD. How does one best judge a comprehensive boxed set by a band who's work is a testament to heavy metal music other than with the simple words of "BUY THIS PRODUCT". The release of this box does come at a good time, for Rob Halford is reunited with his Mates (Tipton, Downing, Hill and Travis) and they are embarking as the pre-headliner for this year's Ozzfest opening for Black Sabbath. While many agree that Black Sabbath began the heavy metal music sound, there are many who contend that Judas Priest was the first heavy metal band, taking what Sabbath created and introducing it to a larger variety of sounds and styles. Refining it into so many memorable songs that we still find sounding fresh today.

As you can see by the listed tracks, there are only 8 bonus or unreleased tracks among the CD's. The rest are a composite of classics from the bands extensive catalog. Purists probably already have the re-mastered CD's that were released a couple of years ago, or might even have downloaded these "new" never released tracks and might hesitate on buying the Box. However, there is a 60 page color booklet with many pictures and some detailed liner notes (several pages outline the track lists of the CD's). I liked the book since it was something to peruse while listening to the CD's. Of course I did stop to play air-guitar as I usually do when Priest is playing. Come on, you know you all do it. I am not the only one I am sure.

Some of the tracks did make it hard for me to rate this box as high as I ended up doing. While it is nice to see some live tracks that we never heard before, we did not need to have them be of "Breaking The Law", or "Electric Eye" since these are featured on the included live DVD. Also, tunes like "Private Property" and "Parental Guidance" from Turbo could have been left off or replaced with the studio version of "Hot Rockin'" or "Love Bites" instead of the live releases we got and perhaps another tune or two. I have long felt that those songs represented a bad phase for Priest. Turbo had few good moments, but let's focus more on "Screaming For Vengeance" or "Defenders Of The Faith". Of course the bonus DVD that is my favorite part of this package. It was taken from a 1982 "Screaming For Vengeance" tour show that actually aired on MTV. That's right, I said MTV!!! It was even before The Headbangers Ball was airing. Anyway, this has been unseen since its VHS release of almost 20 years ago and it is great to see it once again.

I did have some criticisms on the packaging. It looks cool when you see it all in black surrounded by the trademark "metalhead" studs, I found it rather cheap after the cover was taken off. There are no jewel cases or even slim packs to protect the CD's and DVD. Instead there are merely carbboard black sleeves. They are held in by a plastic piece that without being careful can bend these cardboard sleeves. This is important to mention for those who maintain their collections with the utmost care.

Track Listing:
CD1: Never Satisfied, Deceiver, Tyrant, Victim Of Changes - Live, Diamonds And Rust (Live)*, Starbreaker (Live)*, Sinner, Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest, Dissident Aggressor, Exciter, Beyond The Realms Of Death, Better By You Better Than Me, Invader, Stained Class, The Green Manalishi With The Two Pronged Crown (Live)*

CD2: Killing Machine, Evening Star, Take On The World, Delivering The Goods, Evil Fantasies, Hell Bent For Leather, Breaking The Law (Live)*, Living After Midnight, Rapid Fire, Metal Gods, Grinder (Live)*, The Rage, Heading Out To The Highway, Hot Rockin' (Live)*, Troubleshooter, Solar Angels, Desert Plains, The Hellion/Electric Eye (Live)*, Screaming For Vengeance

CD3: Riding On The Wind, Bloodstone, You've Got Another Thing Comin', Devil's Child, Freewheel Burning, Jawbreaker, The Sentinel, Love Bites (Live)*, Eat Me Alive, Some Heads Are Gonna Roll, Rock Hard Ride Free, Night Comes Down, Turbo Lover, Private Property, Parental Guidance, Out In The Cold, Heart Of A Lion *

CD4: Ram It Down, Heavy Metal, Come And Get It, Blood Red Skies, Painkiller, Between The Hammer And The Anvil, A Touch Of Evil, Metal Meltdown, Night Crawler, All Guns Blazing, Jugulator, Blood Stained, Machine Man, Feed On Me

DVD: The Hellion/Electric Eye, Riding On The Wind, Heading Out To The Highway, Metal Gods, Bloodstone, Breaking The Law, Sinner, Desert Plains, The Ripper, Diamonds And Rust, Screaming For Vengeance, You've Got Another Thing Coming, Victim Of Changes, Living After Midnight, Green Manalishi With The Two-Pronged Crown, Hell Bent For Leather.

Pricing on this product has been vastly different. The best I have seen so far is on www.deepdiscountcd.com for about $39 dollars. Clearly the five disc collection is worth that. Go check it out.

Ken Pierce in NYC
Ken@themetalcircus.com

What better way to celebrate 30 years of Judas Priest than this excellent box set? Spanning every album from their debut album "Rocka Rolla" to 2001's "Demolition", "Metalogy" features every classic Priest song you'd expect: "Tyrant", "Victim of Changes", "Diamonds and Rust", "Beyond the Realms of Death", "Better By You, Better Than Me", "Green Manalishi", "Hellbent for Leather", "Electric Eye", "You've Got Another Thing Coming", "Living After Midnight", and tons more. Songs are digitally remastered (those from "Rocka Rolla" sound better than ever before), and the bonus DVD which features Priest tearing up Memphis in late 1982 during the "Screaming for Vengeance" tour, makes this package all the sweeter. A massively packed book loaded with pictures and info is included as well, and is a must have for Priest fans on it's own. All in all, "Metalogy" is one of the few (very few) box sets worth owning for long time fans, and it superbly covers the career of one of the most influential and pioneering bands in heavy metal history.

Judas Priest are one of the greatest metal bands of all time. The music in this box set spans a career of countless 5 star metal tracks. I understand that some people may find the very early Priest material a little dated, but you have to place yourself into the time zone and the generations Priest were playing to. Priest put a lot of work into their songs and still play a lot of their classic tracks - Sinner, Victim of changes, Ripper etc etc live even today. If you wanna listen to a metal band ahead of it's time, you gotta listen to 'Unleashed in the East'. This is by far one of the greatest live albums by a metal band ever. So to say this is crap, shows a real misunderstanding of the genre.

I became a Priest fan back when Screamin for Vengeance was out on vinyl and my school chums would sit around listening to it and playing air guitar or Atari 2600. Ah those were the days.

Four big CDs of great Priest material, the infamous Memphis show (which I have had on video for over 15 years and is well worn), and a book. The book gives an overall history, but does not have linear notes on specific songs like 'Metal Works '73-93' does. However there are some great pictures and old quotes that many I remembered reading in Hit Parader years ago.

All box sets are guilty of leaving off songs that I like and I think are important. That's why I already have all the albums. Had them for years. Hey stone me if I think 'Last Rose of Summer' is a great song.

Ripper Owens has a small part of this box and I think that's good. Bands should not ignore any part of their history when making a set like this. Maybe if there had been one more disc to throw in, maybe a European concert featuring Ripper would have been good because personally I never saw that lineup. But then again Priest purists say that without Halford it's not Priest.

The Memphis show is amazing. That is a HUGE wall of Marshalls. It's a much better show than the Turbo Tour in Dallas where 'Priest...Live' came from. The band looks much cooler and Rob is not changing leather outfits every song. Plus, he just looked cooler with the short hair. When he let it grow he did look kind of like a dork. Yes, the Memphis show is a great testement to the Priest legend and it's great seeing ot on DVD for the first time.

Hey if you like Priest and already have all their stuff I guess you can do without this, but for the price it's a great keepsake and tells everyone you are still and ever will be a 'Defender of the Faith'.

pogo needs an ass beating.
read his/her reviews and tell me what you think.

If you have all the original Priest CDs already, like myself, you may be wondering, why buy this box set? Here are some points to consider when answering that question:

Con: Most all of the material has already been previously released
Pro: All the tracks from Columbia are re-mastered, so they jump out of your sound system a bit more if you only have the original CD releases.

Con: The cardboard CD holders left me, well, a little flat
Pro: The "Bonus DVD" fits nicely inside my previously purchased "Judas Priest - Electric Eye" DVD Case

Con: The album "Ram It Down" could have been better represented by replacing "Heavy Metal" with "Hard As Iron."
Pro: The live version of "Starbreaker" on this box set is by far the best version I've heard.

Con: The wording's been switched around. The title of the release should read "Judas Priest - Live on the Screaming for Vengeance tour" DVD with 4 bonus CDs!
Pro: like others have said, the DVD is worth the price of admission!

Bottom line, it's all about the DVD if you already have all the previous releases. It would be difficult for me to recommend it for the music CDs as it's well worth it to buy every disc from Rocka Rolla to Painkiller.

The first compilation covering Judas Priest's career from 1974 - 2001! Totally worth the money for true Judas Priest fans! 4 CD's with enough Priest to satisfy everyone and one great bonus DVD, Priest live in Memphis, awsome! The DVD can only be beaten by actually seeing them live.
Totally recommended Box Set!

I honestly beleive without judas priest the metal world would be differant.This compilation is awesome.Every single classic to every single headbanging song rules.Not to mention never before released live songs and the dvd from the screaming for vengeance tour,WOW!!!Excellent packaging and if you love priest buy this now or suffer the consiquences!!!!!

I never was a huge JP fan. They were placed below Iron Maiden, KISS and Black Sabbath on my Heavy metal list, but after listening to the music and watching the dvd I suddenly remembered how cool these guys are! The dvd in particular is mind blowing, showing how tight the band is and putting to rest the debate on who the greatest metal front man is, Rob Halford - hands down. When he does the robot walk in "Metal Gods" the 38 year old me laughed out loud but the 16 year old metal head inside me thought is was freakin' cool! I was at the show in Dallas on this same tour and remembering it was the greatest!
I have no complaints about the music selection. The entire Turbo album sucks and Defenders Of The Faith was underrated. The book that comes with the package is beautiful to look at and informative (much better than that lame Behind The Music episode that VH-1 slapped together). My only complaint is the horrible packaging. I was totally disappointed in it. I would have gladly paid ten bucks extra to get a nice package, like the excellent KISS box set.
So all you 35 to 45 year old metal heads with disposable incomes go out and buy this. You will not be dissapointed. And to all you young metallers, get this and see where it all came together and made the "pre-Poison" eighty metal scene so glorious.

I was able to get this box set last night before it went on sale today 5/11/04. This box set should've been released as a single disc containing all of the b sides, demos & live tracks that are spread out over the 4 Cds in this set. Then just make the DVD available separately. If you don't have all of JP's music yet then get this. It's a great overall review of everything they've done. $60 might be a little much to someone who already has all of JP's material. Like I said above, all of the extras could've fit on 1 CD and the price would be a lot less. Even if the DVD was packaged with the single disc it would've made this more appealing. The DVD of the Memphis '82 show is great. Done in 5.1 it really shines. Getting the DVD was my whole point in getting "Metalogy". I can now get rid of my VHS tape I've had for 20 years. It's a good thing I had gift cards with about 30 bucks left on them left over from Christmas or I never would've spent $60 on my own for this box set. The DVD should've been made available on it's own. If you can spare to spend $60 for this get it, you wont be dissapointed. If you already have all of JP's stuff...wait for a friend to get it and then borrow it.