Okay, maybe an odd notion for a topic...but sitting here listening to the song "Gypsy" by Uriah Heep (recorded 1970) I started thinking about Priest. Specifically 70's era Priest, Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, Stained Class.

In Gypsy, just substitute the organ for a second guitar part and have Rob sing the lead vocal...it would fit on Sad Wings Of Destiny. I think Priest brought in a little of the "epic structure" that Heep was working on and used it on tracks like Victim Of Changes, Beyond The Realms Of Death, etc.

For that matter, I think early Deep Purple also played a part in Priest's development.

When Priest first came out their sound was described as a mix of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. To wich the band replied, "sounds pretty good to us!"

Not really into uriah heep. Which is their heaviest album you could recommand?

I read the Deep Purple book and there was a bit about how in the early 70's the guys saw Uriah Heep on TV and were surprised and got kind of mad. They thought Heep sounded too much like them. They were doing the exact same thing with their music, playing heavy and loud, with those wailing vocals and organ solos.

Anyway, when I hear early Priest I think of Led Zeppelin. Or maybe the Black Sabbath debut album.

It wouldn't take too long for Priest to develop their own style and sound though. Already Sad Wings was very unique for its time, and I think they mastered it by the time Stained Class came out.

EDIT: To Gilbert: Try Magician's Birthday as your first Heep CD. Demons & Wizards and Look at Yourself are also classics. I like the new one (Waking the Sleeper, 2008) a lot, too.

I can hear some Uriah Heep influence in early Priest. I wouldn't doubt they had an influence on them.

I have never heard Uriah Heep's influence on Judas Priest, til you pointed out the song 'Gypsy' and I would not doubt that Uriah Heep was an influence on the mighty Priest.

I also thought that maybe Queen may have been influenced by Uriah Heep, due to the way Uriah Heep would use their vocals and they would layer the vocals, I have even heard critics refer to Uriah Heep as the 'Beach Boys of heavy metal'.

they influenced them, no doubt.

That is correct rattpoison also those early hits where not even written by the band but by the songwriting team of Chinn/Chapman and it was not til 1974 with the album 'Fanny Adams' did they take control of their own careers and songwriting by then Queen had released their debut and where getting ready to release 'Queen II'

'Action' great song and I suppose I could see Queen comparison in that tune, just never thought of comparing the two bands.

I think all of those bands influenced eachother back them. There wasn't a lot of bands out there, so you listened to what was out there. Iron Maiden were heavily influenced by Wishbone Ash for example.