What Are You Listening To Right Now (Part IV)

[Zzzptm]

Saxon - Hell, Fire and Damnation

Songs up at their YT channel in no particular order, it's 4/4 so far with the tracks I've spun from it.

[Vyn]

I listened to the Saxon's newest earlier today - absolutely a return to 1983, and Biff sounds fantastic!

That was courtesy of Tidal. From the vinyl side, this evening is another great singer:

[Zzzptm]

Saw some other reviews of Saxon's latest, it's a monster of an album.

[Vyn]

Dave Edmunds - for a brief time he caught a trend and rode it. This platter is an artifact from those days.

It's a decent set of tunes, contains the hit for which he is famous, but there are better on here.

[Vyn]

I posted this record a week or two ago - a white label promo on A&M. I thought I had a different version, and after digging around I found it!

So, this is the first pressing on the band's label, Pyramid, came out about a year before the A&M version.

[Zzzptm]

Oh wow, that's cool. Is there a difference in the sound of the pressings?

[Vyn]

Sound-wise, the Pyramid pressing sounds just ever-so-slightly brighter. To my ear it gives the recording a more dynamic feel. But it's very slight.

The back cover of the A&M pressing has a picture of the band eating pancakes at the counter of a diner. The Pyramid pressing has two pictures, both in black and white. One of a flat landscape captioned, "Flat as a pancake," and the other of the band loitering by some trees and an old wooden fence. Two of the band members are holding shotguns. LOL

[Vyn]

Yeah, it's THAT GOOD

[Zzzptm]

Yes it is! And now whenever I hear of the last track, I think of a Finnish superhero that controls lightning... SUPER CHARGER!!!

Not a bad mental image, really.

[Charger]

Okay I think I need to buy that album too...would be my first Saxon album!

[Zzzptm]

Okay I think I need to buy that album too...would be my first Saxon album!

It's a great one to start with, would not advise you start with a different one. Their classic period is pretty much Wheels of Steel, Denim and Leather, The Eagle Has Landed (Live), The Power & The Glory, and Crusader. Crusader is where there's a bit of a faltering in sound and then I got burned on the next few releases. Hell, Fire and Damnation is every bit as good as their best from the early-mid 80s.

Lyrics are similar to those of Iron Maiden's: pick a historical or sci-fi subject and tell a story about the thing/event. Like "Dallas 1 PM" is about the JFK assassination. Some titles tell you right out what's going to be in the song, like 1066 or Kublai Khan and The Merchant of Venice. Then you see "Fire and Steel" and wonder is this about fighting or racing and no, it's about steel manufacturing in Colchester. And that's totally cool, these guys are proud of the hard-working men that built Britain and all that.

But absolutely, this is a great place to start on a band with a long and proud legacy. This album made me want to reach back to 2004 to see if their Lionheart album was as good and that's what I'm playing now. "Witchfinder General" has a really heavy start to that album, I think I'm in for the ride and will be buying an album later to-day...

[Vyn]

Power and the Glory. Their new release sounds like the follow up to this one.

[Zzzptm]

Absolutely it does.

Me, I just found a recording by Erma Franklin, absolutely loved it, and now I come to find that that's Aretha's older sister and that she had a limited recording career. I'm on a hunt, now...

[Charger]

Finally we get a taster of Kerry Kings solo material!

And holy shit does it sound good! And he got one of the best singers in Thrash MARK OSEGUEDA on board! Did not see that coming!

[Zzzptm]

Playing some Ohio Players after Heaven and Hell. I'm feeling quite diverse to-day!