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judas priest Heavy metal masters relive ‘Chosen Few’
By John Benson
Considering we live in an iPod playlist kind of world, Judas Priest decided to embrace the idea with its latest compilation “The Chosen Few.”
The career-retrospective album finds peers of the classic heavy metal act picking their favorite Priest tunes. The list features Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Slash (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), Lemmy (Motorhead), James Hetfield (Metallica), Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Corey Taylor (Slipknot) and more with their song selections from Judas Priest’s 1977’s “Diamonds And Rust” album through 1990’s “Painkiller.”
Invariably, the entire concept is nothing short of repackaging the past. Still, Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill stands behind the release.
“We’re actually overwhelmed with the results,” said Hill, calling from San Francisco. “The surprising thing about it, we expected some of the old-timers to have listened to our stuff but the newer boys listened to it as well. I suppose it shows the wide appeal of heavy metal in general that all of these musicians were listening to our stuff. This is the only compilation album that’s been put together that we had absolutely no control over.”
Albums that weren’t selected for “The Chosen Few” include 1997’s “Jugulator” and 2001’s “Demolition.” Sure one could argue the releases came after the band’s heyday, but for Hill and plenty of Northeast Ohioans these two albums are quite special. When Rob Halford left Judas Priest in the early ’90s, the remaining group members took an extended hiatus before reforming with Akron resident Tim “Ripper” Owens as their new lead singer.
Perhaps forgotten by the masses, Owens’ stint in the “Living After Midnight” band was definitely not Gary Cherone’s embarrassing moment as Van Halen frontman. More importantly for Hill, it gave the group purpose.
“Ripper had an immense role to play,” Hill said. “I think it would have been very easy for us when Rob left to have folded right there and then. It took us ages to find someone of his caliber, and we felt we’re not going to go on unless we can get someone who could at least match Rob. It took us three years, and he’s a tremendous bloke, a great bloke. Ripper did two great albums and there’s some great music on there.”
Still, fans won’t hear any of the Owens-era material on Judas Priest’s current tour, which comes to Cleveland on Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena. However, diehards can look forward to hearing something from each of the band’s other albums. The extended set list means the act is playing for nearly two and a half hours.