Like most of us, I was not born playing an air guitar or with the sound of Iron Maiden in my ears. IHeavy Metal music only became known to me around the time I hit my fourth or fifth year in school, and then only slowly. We've all memories of our first Metal band, our first Metal album and our first Metal concert, and in this section over the next few weeks I'll be looking at the albums, artistes and influences that shaped my interest in the heaviest music of all. One of the kids in school once crowed "If you're into Pink Floyd then you're a headbanger!" Shows what he knew!
But I'd like to take a look back now at some of the music that opened the door to the wonderful world of Heavy Metal for me, even if, unlike others here, I didn't quite step all the way through. Even then, as now, I knew what I liked and more importantly what I didn't, but nevertheless what I discovered was pretty awe-inspiring. To go from chart songs (come on: we all started there, just admit it!) to progressive rock and thence to Metal was an amazing step for me, and afforded me access to a world of music I had hitherto not even been aware of, or if I was aware, was somewhat in awe and perhaps even a little afraid of. Hell, I used to be scared of The The!
Some of the albums that impressed me so much over that early period in my life have already of course been reviewed, like Iron Maiden's "The number of the Beast", the review of which you can read here
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1199777. But there was a period in my life when really, all I listened to was Heavy Metal. Some of it was bad, some of it was very good. I'd like to take a personal trip back in time now and share with you some of
Although Iron Maiden were my gateway into the world of Metal, there were other bands who influenced me just as much, and one of these was Saxon. I went to their gigs, bought their albums, ate up everything they had to offer. My brother was into the Scorpions but at the time I didn't really like them: the harsh German accent and somewhat shriller tones of Klaus Meine got on my nerves. But Biff! Biff had a deep, growly, very English voice and he said "fook" a lot. Scorpions' music was polished and precise compared to Saxon's raw, heavy tunes, and they were the one for me. This was one of the first albums of theirs I ever bought.
Wheels of steel --- Saxon --- 1980 (Carrere)
Okay, so the album cover betrays a worrying sense of Nazi Germany, but to my knowledge that's purely coincidental. After all, the Romans were the first ones to use the eagle as their sigil, and Saxon are a British band, and so far as I know, have no connections whatever with Nazism or fascism. I should point out too that this album has already been reviewed in part by me in my series on the NWOBHM, but here I'd like to take a deeper look at an album that really helped introduce me to the rawer side, for me, of Heavy Metal.
"Wheels of steel" began a cycle of four excellent albums for Saxon, and discounting their lacklustre, self-titled debut shows a band in a strong position. Sadly, after "Power and the glory", released in 1983, they would fade somewhat from the public eye, although they would go on to record, to date, another fifteen albums, with their latest released this year. Of course, it's hard to quantify their output in terms of charts, as generally speaking Metal albums seldom do well there anyway, but it seems to me that the years 1980-83 were the times when Saxon were big, commercially. Maybe it's just how I remember it, but I recall seeing them on TV more times during those four years than I ever did since. Perhaps their later albums did well, I don't know; chart performance records don't seem to be readily available. It could also be the fact that I stopped buying Saxon albums after "Power and the glory".
Anyway whatever the reason this was the first of four that set me on my way as a fan of this band. As you would expect for a song called "Motorcycle man", the opener starts with the sounds of a motorbike roaring past, then fast guitar and heavy percussion cut in before Biff Byford's echoing voice comes through. Biff has that sort of voice that is just in the right register: he neither screams nor growls, but has that sort of high-pitched roar that sounds manly and powerful without even trying. Great guitar work from Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn on the twin axe attack, and it's a fast, punchy opener, piling into "Stand up and be counted", one of those us-against-the-world, stand-up-for-your-music anthems that were so popular during the heyday of the NWOBHM, when Metallers affirmed their allegiance to their heroes and dared anyone to gainsay them. Yes, I'm a pussy for using a word like gainsay, but who cares?
With a guitar riff not two light years removed from ZZ's classic "Tush", the song belts along with some great guitar and a rollicking drumbeat and a great snarly vocal from Biff, then we're into the big single, "747 (Strangers in the night)" with its almost Lizzy-like opening guitar solo which then drops down to grinding guitar and this time Biff's voice is clearer than it has been up to now. Also some vocal harmonies coming through, for the first time on the album. Great riff in the chorus, very ominous and dark, presaging a real feeling of danger. As a choice for a single it's an odd one, not because it's not a great song, which it is, but due to the length. The original track is almost six minutes long, and even cutting that down for a single left it five minutes running time. Not ideal for the radio.
The title track is up next, and one of a number of songs that became anthems and signature songs for Saxon. With a big angry guitar riff with boogie overtones, it rocks along like Status Quo on crack, and Biff's voice is in fine fettle as he belts out the chorus. Sure, it's a simple song, and nothing Saxon wrote was really all that groundbreaking, although the previous track broke the mould a little, but it's great fun and the riff is just totally infectious. When Biff snarls
"When I'm toolin' down the freeway/ I don't give no lifts!" you tend to believe him. It's the longest track on the album, just shy of six minutes, and while a little repetitive and a little overlong at that it never gets boring. The shivery guitar solo in the third minute is a pure joy to behold, and while it could probably end on the fifth minute, with the final one basically a reprise to end, it's such a great rock song that you really can't get enough of it.
Now, while I mention this album as one of the ones I grew up on, that nurtured my love of Heavy Metal, I don't for a moment suggest it's perfect, because it is not. Like many albums I've listened to, and reviewed, over the years, it has its cutoff point, and we've reached it. The first four songs --- well, three of them anyway --- are Heavy Metal perfection, but that's sort of where it ends. The closing five are not terrible by any means, but this is the point where the album begins something of an inexorable slide downhill, rescued occasionally by better tracks, but all the really good stuff has been put on side one, as it were. A pity, because it really unbalances the album, and after "Wheels of steel" you're ready for more. But what you get is...
A big drum solo intro that sounds like a train coming at you and then a hard guitar rocker which goes under the name of "Freeway mad". Now, considering Saxon are English this was obviously an attempt to break America, since we don't have no freeways over here, as was remarked upon by the annoying American in the Fawlty Towers episode "Waldorf salad" when he grumps "Couldn't find the freeway, had to take some little backroad called the M4!" It's a decent enough song but a little derivative, and given that we've just listened to a song about motorbikes it's maybe a little unoriginal. Then again, the album is called "Wheels of steel", so three songs about motor vehicles I suppose is acceptable.
"See the light shining" is another fast rocker, heads-down, pedal-to-the-metal as Biff and the boys charge on. It changes tempo though halfway through and take a sort of slow boogie turn, bit of early Lizzy in it. One of the better tracks on the second half of the album. "Street fighting gang", on the other hand, is not; a pretty basic, by-the-numbers metal track, it hasn't too much to recommend it. But then comes "Suzie hold on", a rarity in a Saxon slow song. Not a ballad by any stretch of the imagination, but as close to a lovesong as these guys get. The vocal is restrained, the guitar still heavy but more in a "2-4-6-8 motorway" manner than an "Ace of spades", and the drumming is pretty downbeat. A good song certainly, then the album ends on the very mediocre "Machine gun", which has power and energy but not a lot else.
TRACKLISTING
1. Motorcycle man
2. Stand up and be counted
3. 747 (Strangers in the night)
4. Wheels of steel
5. Freeway mad
6. See the light shining
7. Street fighting gang
8. Suzie hold on
9. Machine gun
Sure, there's nothing subtle about this album but it was a hell of an introduction to Saxon and led me on to albums like "Denim and leather", "The eagle has landed" and "Power and the glory". Saxon were another of the big NWOBHM bands but unlike Maiden and Leppard and others they never quite made it commercially. Of course, they're legends in the Metal community, but ask anyone outside of that brotherhood who they are and you'll be greeted by blank stares. I'll always be grateful to them though, for creating some of the Metal that made me.
Read more here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxon_%28band%29