Judas Priest xxxx, 1973 Various Various, England Early Years
Morpheus
Cheater
Never Satisfied
Red Light Lady
Merlin (The Flying Hat Band)
Recorded: Track 1 atBirmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham, England, 15th April 1973. Tracks 2-4 at Townhouse, Wellington, England 10th May 1973. Track 5 somewhere in the Midlands 1973.
For a long time it seemed no recordings from the pre-Rocka Rolla days would ever surface. But as it turns out, in 2019 a small independent label released a compilation album called "Downer-Rock Asylum", including many early recordings of various British rock bands... including Judas Priest and The Flying Hat Band!
The first track comes from 15th April 1973, which according to some sources was Al Atkins' last concert with the band. The track found here is Morpheus, a heavy progressive blues track written by himself. Not only is this the only available live recording with Atkins, it also features the drumming of Chris "Congo" Campbell!
The next three tracks come from 10th May 1973, which is presumed to be Rob Halford's first concert with the band (alongside drummer John Hinch). The featured songs are Cheater, Never Satisfied and Red Light Lady. Cheater sounds very much different from the version that ended up on the Rocka Rolla album (pretty much only the basic rhythm is the same). Never Satisfied is much longer than on the album, but is otherwise similar. And finally there's Red Light Lady, which was combined with Whiskey Woman to become Victim of Changes (although based on this version not much was used in the end).
Finally, there's one live track from The Flying Hat Band, recorded somewhere in the Midlands in 1973. Merlin is a heavy blues track similar in style to the demo recordings also found on this site, and it seems that Glenn Tipton is already on vocals by this point.
