Back from a long day, including another trip to the vet with Inigo, I'm feeling a little tired, but not so tired I can't work in a little discussion of heavy metal.
Disc 384 is...Best of Saxon
Artist: Saxon
Year of Release: 1991, but featuring music from 1979-1988
What’s Up With The Cover?: For some reason my camera couldn't take a good picture of the actual cover, so I just slapped the above photo together in Publisher with some clip art. Just kidding - this is the cover, but it looks like something I just slapped together in Publisher. Do better, Saxon.
How I Came To Know It: I was a teenage heavy metal meat-head in the eighties, and Saxon was one of my favourite bands. I didn't have any of their records, but my brother had several and I taped songs of them with gusto. I'm not a big enough fan anymore to justify buying a bunch of albums, so in this (very rare) case, a 'best of' suited my needs. That said, I might still get 1984's "Crusader" if I see it at a reasonable price.
How It Stacks Up: I only have this single album, and 'best of's don't stack up, so the question is moot, and I win the car.
Rating: no ratings for 'best of' albums. That's a rule of A Creative Maelstrom, and a damn good one, too.
It's funny the bands that are such a big part of my youth that stick with me, and the ones that lose their lustre. Bands that have stuck include Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Bands that haven't stuck include Grim Reaper, and this one. Both of the latter ended up as "best ofs" on my CD shelves in recent years.
Saxon was part of the famous new wave of heavy metal that came out of England in the late seventies and early eighties. They had a loyal following, but never achieved the worldwide acclaim of Priest or Maiden. That said, they had a pretty good career, and if they were smart, probably made enough money to pay off their mortgages and put their kids through school before it was all said and done. Here's hoping, anyway.
Like a lot of metal bands from the eighties, Saxon is inspired by very cool topics for their songs, many of them historical. On this compilation there is a song about the lunar landing ("The Eagle Has Landed"), the assassination of John F. Kennedy, ("Dallas 1 PM"), Vietnam ("Broken Heroes") and the Crusades ("Crusader").
Not only did I find these songs the most lyrically interesting, they tend to be the best musically as well, full of powerful guitar licks and inspired vocals from lead singer Peter "Biff" Byford, who has the perfect voice (not to mention name) to sing eighties metal. High pitched, with an operatic power that soars over the layers of guitar.
In fact, the only song I loved that wasn't about something historical was "Denim and Leather," and even it is really a history of heavy metal's earliest days:
"Where were you in '79 when the dam began to burst?
Did you check us out down at the local show?
Were you wearing denim, wearing leather - did you run down to the front?
Did you kill for your ticket through the ice and snow?
"Denim and leather, goes well together
It was you who set the spirit free."
Saxon is far from famous in North America, but most fans of eighties metal have at least a passing knowledge of this song, which is such an early and important anthem of the movement. Denim and leather (and a healthy head of hair) was indeed the uniform of myself and my fellow metal heads those days.
"Denim and Leather" doesn't emptily pander to the notion of the metal community, though, it delivers, with an instantly recognizable guitar riff, and awe-inspiring guitar solo that continues to stand the test of time, more than thirty years after its 1981 release.
My favourite track on this record, though is "Crusader." Lyrically, this song is a bit schlocky, and at times Saxon seems to just be throwing in every expression remotely related to the crusades, with lots of pained references to "Christendom" and "lords of the realm." It is told entirely from the perspective of the crusader as well, so don't expect any historical balance. That said, it is done more as a narrative voice than a political statement. Besides, the riff is amazing and so very, very heavy. Mmmm....heavy.
For all their historical bias, when Saxon sings about things that aren't historical the results are much worse. Most of their other songs tend to be variations on "isn't it great to play rock and roll?" with forgettable songs like "And the Band Played On" and the truly unlistenable "This Town Rocks."
The liner notes make much of their great live experience, and four of the songs on the album are live versions. Whatever makes them great live, it does not translate onto the record. They just sounded like poorly produced studio versions to me.
Also, this compilation suffers from the same problem as my recollection of the studio albums I've heard, which is that they have a three or four really great songs, and a lot of filler. When I was a kid this never bothered me, because I just taped the songs I liked off of each record and made my own version of a best of.
In the case of this version, there are fifteen tracks (note: one too many) and of those I only really enjoy four or five. One of those is a remake of a Christopher Cross song, "Ride Like The Wind" which while an improvement over the original, is still at its core, a Christopher Cross song.
I'll close by saying that while my once ardent love of Saxon has shifted to more of a 'just friends' relationship, they are still finding new fans. On our trip to Vancouver last weekend, we ducked into a game store, where I was surprised to hear them playing (I think the song was "Broken Heroes" the chorus of which has the line, "where are they now?"). Turns out they're still kicking, because the guy who worked there was a huge Saxon fan, and owned a ton of their records. He looked all of twenty-two.
So congratulations, Saxon. You're still managing to get the message out to new generations that we should never be ashamed of putting on some denim and leather and setting the spirit free.
Best tracks: The Eagle Has Landed, Crusader, Denim and Leather, Broken Heroes, Dallas 1 PM
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