Christmas is coming a month late for Judas Priest fans as Columbia/Epic/Legacy have announced a January 24, 2012 release of a massive new box set.
The 'The Complete Albums Collection' box set which includes all 17 studio and live albums Priest recorded with the classic line-up of Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing and Ian Hill.

Included will be brand-new remasters of Priest's first two albums, 1974's 'Rocka Rolla' and 1976's 'Sad Wings of Destiny' (which have never been released before as authorized remasters by the band). The 2009 live compilation, 'A Touch of Evil... Live,' features in the box set but it is the only compilation that appears in 'The Complete Albums Collection.'

Each of the 17 individual albums will be packaged in replica mini-LP sleeves that reproduce their original cover art. The set is completed by a new 40-page booklet with photos, album credits, and liner notes by rock journalist/Priest fan Greg Prato.

Judas Priest's 'The Complete Albums Collection' will be available exclusively through Popmarket.com starting January 24, 2012.

Albums Included In 'The Complete Albums Collection':
Rocka Rolla (1974)
Sad Wings of Destiny (1976)
Sin After Sin (1977)
Stained Class (1978)
Killing Machine (1978)
Unleashed in the East (1979)
British Steel (1980)
Point of Entry (1981)
Screaming for Vengeance (1982)
Defenders of the Faith (1984)
Turbo (1986)
Priest...Live! (1987)
Ram It Down (1988)
Painkiller (1990)
Angel of Retribution (2005)
Nostradamus (2008)
A Touch of Evil...Live (2009)

So, let me get this straight...FINALLY Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings Of Destiny are getting remastered and not by some rinky-dink label, but they won't be available seperately-just on this enormo-box?
I have all the remasters so I don't need this, although I do wonder if they're remastering the albums from 2005 on, not there's any need to at all.
And of course, this is NOT complete, complete for the Columbia albums, yes but the Ripper era is ignored. No surprise there, but the Ripper era was represented on the Metalogy boxset.
I really hope they give a seperate release for the first two albums, because no way I'm getting this just for those!

I was really hoping that they would do a first-class job with the packaging on this like they apparently did with the Billy Joel box. Doesn't look like it has mini-inner-sleeves or a nice drawer + slipcase box. I'll have to wait and see reviews of the mastering job before I'd give any consideration to buying this set.

The liner notes in this package are by Greg Prato (as mentioned above). He's my Facebook buddy and he wrote the recent NY Jets book "New York Sack Exchange" (in which I am mentioned more than once!). Great guy.

So this includes virtually nothing new. The first two albums are newly remastered, but the latter albums are not and the same Jon Astley remasters from 2001 are used otherwise.
At least Vic Anesini is doing the first two, but if they're not stand-alone releases no way I'm getting this.

Stupid decision by someone to not include all new remasters, especially since the catalog was just remastered for the Japanese market. The 2001 remasters had some notable problems in the first place (guitar channels flipped on Defenders of the Faith being an unforgivable screw-up!!!), leaving a lot of room for improvement which could have helped sell these sets if the remasters were done right. No way I buy this now, with no upgrade in sound for roughly 90% of the set and mediocre packaging there is no reason to even consider getting this set.

I also wonder if the members of Priest are happy with this release? Just visited the official site and there isn't one mention of this on the news page. Meanwhile the Singles Cut box has a link on the entrance screen, is mentioned in the news section, and has an icon/link for it's news release on a sidebar that is present wherever you are in the site.

Well I shouldn't complain, looks like I have another $100 in my pocket that I would have spent on this. Maybe go for the Billy Joel collection the next time PopMarket has it at a discounted price (or better yet, if Amazon stocks it).