Rocka Rolla is the debut studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 6 September 1974 by Gull Records. It was produced by Rodger Bain, who had made a name for himself as the producer of Black Sabbath's first three albums. It is the only album to feature drummer John Hinch.

Background

According to the band, the album was entirely played "live", in studio (i.e. all musicians playing simultaneously as in a concert, vs. the more popular method of each musician's parts being recorded separately and then mixing them).

According to the band there were technical problems in the studio, resulting in poor sound quality and a hiss through the album. Guitarist Glenn Tipton had just joined when recording of Rocka Rolla began and did not contribute any songwriting except on the title track. He did come up with the songs "Tyrant", "Epitaph", and "Ripper", but Bain considered them not commercial enough and rejected their inclusion. Bain also rejected the concert staple "Whiskey Woman" which later, with contributions from Tipton, morphed into "Victim of Changes". These songs were eventually all included on their next album Sad Wings of Destiny. In addition, "Winter", "Deep Freeze" and "Winter Retreat" form a suite, but are listed as separate tracks and divided as such on the CD release.

"Rocka Rolla" is the debut single by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, first released in August 1974, and later released as the title track of their first album the following month.

This song was played live on The Old Grey Whistle Test.

The song has several short guitar solos played by guitarist Glenn Tipton, an outro solo by K. K. Downing, as well as a harmonica solo played by vocalist Rob Halford. During live performances of this song, Tipton's backing vocals are sung significantly higher than Halford's.

The B-side to the single for Rocka Rolla was another song from the same album, "Never Satisfied", which was co-written by Al Atkins.

Personnel