The reign of Gull Records over Judas Priest’s first two albums is over. Reach Music Publishing has acquired both the master and publishing rights to the first two Judas Priest albums, Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny.
Reach says that they’ll be working with Judas Priest on these two albums and is planning a variety of projects to be announced later this year, including special releases for the 50th anniversary of Rocka Rolla in 2024.
The first two Judas Priest albums were released in 1974 and 1976 respectively. You can read more about them in our Judas Priest-A-Thon review series here and here.
These are landmark albums, particularly Sad Wings of Destiny, in the history of heavy metal music. They contain songs like “Victim of Changes”, “The Ripper”, “Rocka Rolla”, and plenty of others. After those first two albums, the band signed with CBS Records (Sony Music now) to release their third album in 1977. The ownership of those first two records have been in Gull’s control for almost 50 years.
Reach Music has a previous partnership with Glenn Tipton for his music catalog. They announced an acquisition of a 50% copyright interest in his song catalog. This means that Reach has the full catalog alongside Glenn Tipton. They also have deals with other members of Judas Priest including Rob Halford, Ian Hill, and KK Downing.
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Michael Closter of Reach Music had this to say about the deal.
“The acquisition of the masters and publishing for the albums Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny was a monumental opportunity for Reach Music, coming not long after Judas Priest’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“This deal happened with the approval of Judas Priest and their manager Jayne Andrews, and I’m so excited to begin working closely with them on a variety of special projects, including releasing high-quality reissues.”
“I want to thank David Howells, owner of Gull, who signed Judas Priest in 1974 and released their first two albums. He has had, and continues to have, a remarkable career spanning 65 years in the music industry. Thank you for your trust in doing this sale for these essential and historically important Judas Priest albums.”
This ends the Gull era for Judas Priest and their constant shoddy reissues of these first two albums in multiple packages like Hero, Hero, and other versions. It’ll be nice to see some remasters of those first two albums and actual special editions with thought put into them.
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