Exhibit #4:
Saxon—Denim and Leather (1981)
Now I'm starting to get into very unfamiliar NWOBHM territory. As far as I can recall there were no Saxon posters to be found on the walls of my cousins' bedroom and no famous covers of their songs by thrash bands. Aside from having heard the name here and there, I have zero familiarity with them.
When I first listened to the opening song of this album, "Princess of the Night", I wasn't sure what to think. It began with a great, fast, almost Motörhead-like riff repeating a few times, then horribly cheesy vocals intruded. But suddenly, just when I thought I was about to endure the kind of album I feared would haunt my NWOBHM experience, the chorus kicked in and the vocals got surprisingly good. This push and pull between cheese and quality continues throughout
Denim and Leather. As with the Diamond Head album, I think some of it comes down to the weak production. It's a little shocking that the fourth album by a popular band would be as poorly produced as another band's self-released debut, but that is indeed the case here.
There's no single individual who really stands out on this album. Pete Gill's drumming, when you focus on it, seems frankly flat and uninspired. Biff Byford's vocals are sometimes good, sometimes bad, and on average just pretty okay. Same with the guitar riff
age of Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn. It's only really Steve Dawson's bass that's in any way notable but even that is hardly earth-shattering. Nevertheless, when all the pieces are put together, these guys have a certain ineffable quality that makes me keep putting this album on. It doesn't shine through all the time—sometimes they come off like the musical equivalent of a guy in a stiff, brand-new leather jacket and detergent scented jeans posturing himself as a grizzled road warrior—but every so often they do bring the heat. It's certainly not a coincidence that I've found I enjoy this album far more in the car than I do at home: Saxon really have a knack for writing solid driving tunes. "Princess of the Night", "Midnight Rider", "Fire in the Sky" and "Denim and Leather" are the strongest examples, but even the lesser songs on here magically sound pretty damn good when you're behind the wheel blasting them.
Though it's enjoyable under the right set of circumstances, this album feels to me like a band that is sticking too much to the middle ground. I'd love to either hear them embrace the almost Van Halen like ornamentation hinted at on tracks such as "Out of Control" and "Play It Loud" or go with the Motörhead leaning rawness of "Fire in the Sky" and "Denim and Leather". Either one would be an improvement for me.