Fifty years on, Judas Priest's Sad Wings of Destiny returns in the shape its makers wanted. Exciter Records are putting out two editions, and the thing they have in common matters more than what separates them: both restore the intended running order, opening on the atmospheric Prelude rather than where the 1976 pressing began, and both add the original 1976 recording of Diamonds and Rust, taped during the sessions and left off.
The Original 1976 Masters edition comes off the analogue master tapes, kept in storage for decades and remastered for the anniversary. It goes out on hand poured Solar Flare vinyl, every record with its own colour pattern, and on CD in a jewel case with liner notes by Bryan Reesman and archival photographs nobody has seen. Britain and Europe also get a Galaxy colour vinyl. It streams from 2 October, with CD and vinyl on 9 October.
The Remixed and Remastered edition is a new mix from the original multitracks, produced by Tom Allom, mixed by Luie Stylianou and mastered by Matt Colton, the team that did the same job on Rocka Rolla. It comes as a 45 RPM 180 gram double LP cut at half speed and on CD in a digipak, streaming from 2 October with the physical release on 27 November. The album was made by Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing, Ian Hill and Alan Moore, and the two songs on it that the band still play, Victim of Changes and The Ripper, were in this summer's set.