Glenn Tipton: Not Quite The End Of Priest

Bravewords reports that Jim Beal Jr. from the San Antonio Express spoke with the Judas Priest guitar legend Glenn Tipton recently about a number of topics.

On the departure of guitarist K.K. Downing Glenn said: "Ken was having a lot of problems with his wrists. He was really struggling on the last tour. When he decided to retire from the band we were pretty much in shock. We waited three months to see what would happen. We decided if we could find the right guy we'd go on. We contacted quite a few guitar players. Richie (Faulkner) stepped into the band and it's like he was always there. He does the essence of what Ken did, but in his own way. It's been wonderful, really, but nobody wanted to see Ken go."

On their classic material: "A band is really only as good as its songs. Every now and then, with a combination of writers, we struck a chord with listeners. We've always been proud to be a metal band, but the songs are easy to relate to. But you can't pat yourselves on the back and say you deliberately wrote these songs. We've recorded 17 studio albums and performed for millions of people and we've always evolved."

On the Epitaph Tour: "This is our last world tour. It takes 18 months to stage a world tour. After 40 years, we decided it's possibly time to pull back a little bit. It's not absolutely the end of the band. I'd say perhaps it's the beginning of the end."

Meanwhile, the band release a new "best of" entitled The Chosen Few on Monday. The album is a collection of the band's best songs chosen by some of Judas Priest's biggest (and most famous) fans and contemporaries. Artists such as Metallica, Def Leppard, Ozzy and Motorhead have picked their favourite tracks for the collection.

Here's the tracklist:

1) Diamonds And Rust (1977) - chosen by Joe Elliott (Def Leppard)

2) Dissident Aggressor (1977) - chosen by Steve Vai

3) Exciter (1978) - chosen by Accept

4) Beyond The Realms Of Death (1978) - chosen by Lars Ulrich (Metallica)

5) Delivering The Goods (1979) - chosen by Kerry King (Slayer)

6) The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) (1979) - chosen by David Coverdale (Whitesnake) & Randy Blythe (Lamb of God)

7) The Ripper (1979) - chosen by Ozzy Osbourne

8) Victim Of Changes (1979) - chosen by James Hetfield (Metallica)

9) Breaking The Law (1980) - chosen by Lemmy (Motorhead)

10) Rapid Fire (1980) - chosen by Vinnie Paul (Pantera & Hell Yeah)

11) Grinder (1980) - chosen by Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society)

12) Living After Midnight (1980) - chosen by Alice Cooper & Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)

13) Screaming For Vengeance (1982) - chosen by Slash (Guns n Roses)

14) You’ve Got Another Thing Coming (1982) - chosen by Klaus Meine (Scorpions) & Corey Taylor (Slipknot)

15) The Sentinel (1984) - chosen by Chris Jericho

16) Turbo Lover (1986) - chosen by Jonathan Davis (Korn)

17) Painkiller (1990) - chosen by Joe Satriani