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A Collection of Metal

Saxon - A Collection of Metal Audio CD

A fair review of the Saxon "A Collection of Metal" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Saxon reviews here, or go back to the Saxon tabs.

Band: Saxon
Title: A Collection of Metal
Rating:

Release Date: 1997-06-17
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: 747 (Strangers in the Night) 2: Rock & Roll Gypsy 3: And the Bands Played On 4: Back on the Streets 5: Ride Like the Wind 6: Big Teaser 7: I Can't Wait Anymore 8: Broken Heroes 9: Raise Some Hell 10: Denim and Leather 11: Rock the Nations 12: Motorcycle Man 13: Everybody Up 14: Rock City 15: Set Me Free 16: Play It Loud

Saxon / One of the top metal acts of the 80's
Saxon was a great band of the era. Get REAL folks. Denim & leather is still one of my favorites. Strong Arm of the Law would be another. I agree that the song selection isn't what I would prefer,or you,or maybe even You,but someone musta liked them better than us,(songs).
As far as Black Sabbath & Saxon,that's like apples and oranges ,isn't it? A better comparison would be to Y & T,Accept, Quiet Riot,their contemperaries. I think they measure up.
And,like most the bands of that era ,their material,not their abilities brought them down. Another 80's Metal Act who couldn't make the 90's transition. Talent wasn't lacking. AC/DC, Judas Preist, Motorhead, they all lived to fight another day.
All Saxon needs to do is go back to the type of music that got em paid. And it was GREAT !! Jerome Owens
.

A collection of metal. But not always their purest alloys.
That they were instrumental members of the NWOBHM is beyond contestation. That Saxon have a place in heavy metal folklore is undeniable. But what is also beyond doubt is that despite all the albums, live sets, tributes and this compilation is that Saxon were second tier for almost their entire history and this reduced to third tier for much of their existence.

This collection of metal musings does much to explain their underachieving statuse and also why they will always have their footnote in metals annals. Indeed in 'the book of heavy metal' (to quote Swedish band Dream Evil) it's hard to deny a place to such tracks as 747 Strangers in the Night and Motorcycle Man. The former is a superb rock song and the latter is an excellent rocking tune full of love of many a metal cliche. And both are to be found on this compilation.

One aspect of this release I liked was the liner notes Mark Crampton put together which are highly readable. A slight problem for me is the fact that the numbers aren't lined up in chronological order. My personal preference is for this to be done with best of collections to help newcomers and casual fans trace a bands development. Also just telling the punter the year of a songs release is a potential bugbear - they would of been better off also putting down the name of the album the track came from.

Where the real issues with this release lie however are the, well to be frank the simple fact is that if this is their best 16 tracks it shows why they didn't quite nail it. Everybody Up works fine in a second tier kinda way and if you were 15 years old when it came out then Denim and Leather is probably a great memory though weirdly it's themes and musical signature always remind me of the early Running Wild track Chains and Leather. Also a great memory if you were there would be And the Bands Played On which was is forever linked to the Monsters of Rock series of festivals held at Castle Donnington (now the Download festival). But much of the rest sounds of a standard suitable for filler tunes from Def Leppards first two perhaps, or Raven or any of a bunch of other NWOBHM acts that nearly made it. It's all OK but not what your hankering for. Mind you this compilation may be doing Saxon a disservice in that tunes here may not truly represent their best. I have a gut feeling that buying the studio albums Strong Arm of the Law and/or Denim and Leather may actually get you a stronger album. Now I'm no Saxon devotee but even I've heard the tune Wheels of Steel, a right stomper of a tune but it's not included here, even though Motorcycle Man and 747 Strangers. . . . is here - so it's not absent due to a licencing problem!

Anyway enough of my blather. The deal here is that this seems like a good taster for the band and really will help you make up your mid about whether or not to explore further. But it's maybe not their best 16 tracks. And also was out prior to later efforts like Lionheart and Inner Sanctum (both inevitably loved by Classic Rock magazine - the very inevitability of such approval calling into question how much store to put by it). Much as it may sound otherwise I liked this album. But don't think it really does the band any favours and left me feeling that their overall 2nd division status was probably their natural environs.

SAXON IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK BANDS OF ALL TIME!
THEY WERE
AND ARE ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK BANDS. I'M SICK OF ALL THE BAD REVIEWS OF SAXON. I DON'T CARE
WHAT YOU WANT TO CALL THEM "METAL" OR WHATEVER. AT THE
TIME THEY CAME OUT ROCK MUSIC WAS HORRIBLE AND NOW ONCE
AGAIN IT STINKS! I'D STILL RATHER LISTEN TO THIS THAN THE
GARBAGE THAT MTV AND RADIO IS PLAYING! I'M GLAD SAXON AND
OTHER BANDS LIKE UFO, Y&T, WHITESNAKE,MOTORHEAD, KISS ETC.
ARE STILL AROUND AND SOUNDING BETTER THAN EVER. TRY UFO NEW
ALBUM IT'S A KILLER AND THE BEST ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR!
SO STOP YOUR WHINING AND LISTEN TO SOME REAL ROCK N ROLL! .

Broken Heroes NOT studio, but live version
I believe that I am entitled to my full purchase price back, but good luck getting that out of this site. I was looking forward to this CD, but when I got it I found that Broken Heroes is a live version and not a studio version as listed on the release.
Everything else on the CD is good, and this should've been a good way for SAXON fans to get material off those CDs that were not really up to snuff but had a few good singles on them.

Could've been better
not just a radio friendly rock band, but the positive side of this CD is that it has my favorite song by Saxon called Denim and Leather, I wish that this CD would contain hits from 1979-83 but oh well, if you love Saxon, I would recommend Wheels of Steel or Denim and Leather as your first pick. I can't believe that this best of compilation doesn't have killer tunes like Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law, Princess of the Night and Power and the Glory, instead they decided to put the mellower songs on this CD and I thought that they're remake of Christopher Cross's Ride Like the Wind was mediocre, Saxon is supposed to be a fast hard rocking metal band.

You can see a complete list of all Saxon discography, or go back to the Saxon tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.