Saxon (album)

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Saxon
Saxondebut.jpg
Studio album by
Saxon
ReleasedMay 1979 [1]
RecordedJanuary–March 1979
Studio Livingston Recording Studios, Barnet, London
Genre Heavy metal, hard rock
Length28:54
Label Carrere
Producer John Verity
Saxon chronology
Saxon
(1979)		 Wheels of Steel
(1980)
Singles from Saxon
  1. "Big Teaser"
    Released: 6 July 1979 [2]
  2. "Backs to the Wall"
    Released: 2 November 1979 [3]

Saxon is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Saxon, released in 1979.

Contents

Background

John V, credited as the producer and recording engineer, is John Verity, the former guitarist of Argent. Biff Byford and Paul Quinn, while also performing with Saxon’s predecessor band Son of a Bitch, had previously served as touring members of Verity’s band. [4] At the time of the album’s production, the band was still using the name Son of a Bitch, but they released it under the name Saxon after Carrere Records requested a change. [4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 5/10 [6]

Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic gave the album three stars out of five, and, in his mixed review, described it as "the quiet before the storm", in terms of the band's subsequent success, and the rising New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Rivadavia also criticized the band's then-lack of experience in the studio as well as their record label, Carrere, for not knowing "how to capture a heavy metal sound on tape", meaning that the album "only hints at Saxon's true personality, power, and songwriting potential". He also said that the progressive rock sounding "Rainbow Theme"/"Frozen Rainbow" and glam rock sounding "Big Teaser" and "Still Fit to Boogie", "suggested some lingering doubts as to musical direction", but that, overall, "the LP helped to put Saxon on the map". [5] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff judged the album "meekly recorded and timid in execution", harkening back to "too many '70s styles, ones that barely fit together" with merely hints of the "more uncompromising forms of metal" Saxon would produce in later years. [6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Biff Byford, Paul Quinn, Graham Oliver, Steve Dawson and Pete Gill.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Rainbow Theme"3:07
2."Frozen Rainbow"2:29
3."Big Teaser"3:55
4."Judgement Day"5:31
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Stallions of the Highway"2:52
6."Backs to the Wall"3:09
7."Still Fit to Boogie"2:53
8."Militia Guard"4:50
2009 remaster bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
9."Big Teaser" (Son of a Bitch demo, 1978)3:50
10."Stallions of the Highway" (Son of a Bitch demo, 1978)3:03
11."Backs to the Wall" (Son of a Bitch demo, 1978)3:12
12."Rainbow Theme" (Son of a Bitch demo, 1978)4:38
13."Frozen Rainbow" (Son of a Bitch demo, 1978)2:32
14."Backs to the Wall" (BBC session)3:17
15."Stallions of the Highway" (BBC session)2:47
16."Motorcycle Man" (BBC session)3:48
17."Still Fit to Boogie" (BBC session)2:46
18."747 (Strangers in the Night)" (BBC session)5:02
19."Judgement Day" (live, b-side "Suzie Hold On")5:40
20."Still Fit to Boogie" (live)2:38
21."Backs to the Wall" (live)3:25
22."Stallions of the Highway" (live)3:41

Personnel

Saxon
Production

Charts

Chart (2018)Peak
position
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [7] 34

References

  1. ↑ "Saxon".
  2. ↑ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 32.
  3. ↑ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 36.
  4. 1 2 2009年リマスターCD (50999 6 94443 2 6)英文ライナーノーツ（Jerry Ewing、2008年11月）
  5. 1 2 Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Saxon Saxon". AllMusic . Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  6. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 241. ISBN   978-1894959025.
  7. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
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