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Rating:
...just energy, no frills... direct, simple, naive even, but genuine... among my great loves, seen in concert 3 times, between 1981 and 1984... why their success lasted so little, I still wonder now, it is certain that their creative vein exhausted quickly, but I sketch a hypothesis: the band wasn't "liked", I know it's an absurd statement, yet I find it credible...
"Wheels Of Steel", a concentrate of pure Heavy Metal, just barely contaminated by a blues vein, which becomes more prominent in the subsequent album, the beautiful "Strong Arm Of The Law", also from 1980... the Band had released a first self-titled album in 1979, naive and immature, cover included, but something good could already be sensed... just a year later, however, Saxon reached unexpected expressive heights, originality and style to spare, enough to be considered together with "Iron Maiden" among the most representative bands of English Heavy Metal or NWOBHM.
The album is direct and sincere, sparse even, but solid as a rock, without smudges, without slips, all "Heavy Metal" pure. The leader and singer, Biff Byford, has a distinct voice, penetrating, pained, I would dare say a "borderline" voice so much that I always feared during concerts that he wouldn't make it, but then, he always went all the way, and did so magnificently, an incomparable frontman... The album opens with the track "Motorcycle Man", which without mysteries lays all cards on the table, and shows us how Saxon's rock is indeed granitic, but with a singing always "melodious" such that it never feels, just noise... such that it never feels, soulless... the guitar solos are always well-composed and perfectly executed, maybe none of the band's members was ever considered a talent, yet they always did their dirty work excellently. Then there's the very famous "747 (Strangers In The Night)", Saxon's flagship piece, based on the intuition of a very simple introductory guitar riff, which becomes the backbone of the piece. And again, the pure steel of "Wheels Of Steel", or the very hard and then "bluesy" "See The Light Shining", a track divided into two completely distinct parts, but perfectly integrated. The blues and melodic vein can still be felt in the semi-ballad "Suzie Hold On", which even today, almost 25 years later, moves me and makes me dream...
I prefaced this, I reviewed an album of one of "my great loves", it's likely that for this reason, emotion has betrayed me, and that I have been too biased, but one undeniable thing I can affirm, this record is a "milestone" in the panorama of early 80's Heavy Metal...
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Motorcycle Man (03:54)
If you see me flashing by
Do not stop me, do not try
'Cause I'm a motorcycle man
I get my kicks just when I can
Motorcycle man
Motorcycle man
I can beat your street machine
We're taking risks, that's what we mean
'Cause I'm a motorcycle man
We get our kicks just when we can
When we can
Motorcycle man
Motorcycle...
If you see me riding by
Do not stop me, do not try
'Cause I'm a motorcycle man
I get my kicks just when I can
When I can
Motorcycle man
Motorcycle man
Motorcycle, motorcycle
Motorcycle man
I can beat your street machine
I'm taking risks, that's what I mean
'Cause I'm a motorcycle man
We get our kicks just when we can
When we can
Motorcycle man
Motorcycle man
Motorcycle, motorcycle
Motorcycle man
02 Stand Up and Be Counted (03:05)
[Byford/Quinn/Oliver/Dawson/Gill]
Down, down at the bottom
Ya gotta try to get yourselves up
Ya got nothing to lose when your there
There at the bottom
Ya gotta stand up
Stand up for your rights
We can make it
You can break it
Stand up
Stand up be counted
Out, out in the spotlight
Ya gotta leave, leave your worries behind
Ya got nothing to lose when your there
You be forgotten
Well I'll be damning out lives
While the damn us in hell
We can make it
You can break it
Stand up
Stand up be counted
We can make it
We can break it
Stand up
Stand up be counted
Down, down at the bottom
Ya gotta leave all your worries behind
Ya got nothing to lose when you're there
There at the bottom
Ya gotta stand up
Stand up for your rights
We can make it
You can break it
Stand up
Stand up be counted
Stand up, stand up!
03 747 (Strangers in the Night) (04:53)
We've got a 747 coming down in the night
There's no power, there's no runway lights
Radio operator try to get a message through
Tell the flight deck New York has no lights
There's no power what do we do?
747 coming down in the night
Try to get a message through
We were strangers in the night (*)
Both on separate flights
Strangers in the night
Going nowhere
This is Scandinavian one-o-one
Flight from Hawaii coming out of the sun
Kennedy should be in sight
We can't see a thing here in the night
Navigator says we're on the flight path
There's no radio, no sign of life
This is Scandinavian one-o-one
For God's sake, get the ground lights on, because
(Repeat *)
There's a 747 going into the night
There's no power, they don't know why
They've no fuel, they've got to land soon
They can't land by the light of the moon
They're overshooting, there's no guiding lights
Set a course into the light
Scandinavian one-o-one
For God's sake get your ground lights on
(Repeat *)
04 Wheels of Steel (05:55)
When my foot's on the throttle there's no looking back
I leave my motor ticking over when she's parked on the track
I've got a sixty eight Chevvy with pipes on the side
You know she's my idea of beauty and that's what I drive
She's got wheels, wheels of steel (*)
Talkin' 'bout my wheels of steel
I don't take no jibe from no motorway pigs
When I'm cruisin' down the freeway I don't give no lifts
If you see me comin' get out of my way
You know a Transam didn't I blew it away
(Repeat *)
05 Freeway Mad (02:41)
[Byford/Quinn/Oliver/Dawson/Gill]
I'm screaming down the freeway
Gonna try and burn you out
I'm keeping in the fast lane
Top me and I'll take you out
And I know, yes I know
I want it so bad
I'm freeway mad
I'm burning down the freeway
Doing ninety miles an hour
I'm faster than a speedboat
Pulling every inch of power.
And I know, yes I know
I want it so bad
I'm freeway mad
I'm going down the freeway
Never gonna get me out
Steaming like a freight train
Gonna blow my pistons out
And I know, yes I know
I want it so bad
I need it so bad
I want it so bad
Fu-fu-fu-fucking freeway mad
06 See the Light Shining (04:50)
[Byford/Quinn/Oliver/Dawson/Gill]
When you're dyin', when you're dyin'
There ain't no use in cryin'
I'm gonna keep on livin' till the light
Shines down on you
Burnin' right in
Ya can't stop when you're winning
I'm gonna show my hand make history
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
I'm dyin', I'm dyin'
There ain't no use in tryin'
I'm gonna keep on livin' till the light's
Shining down on you
Burnin' right in
Ya can't stop when you're winning
I'm gonna show my head make history
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
Show me the way
I can see the light shining
It's shining down on me, yeah
I can see the light shining
It shines on you and me, yeah, you and me
There's a new day dawning
It's here to set me free, yeah
I can see the changes coming
It's coming over me, over me
I can see the light shining
I can see the light shining
I can see the light shining
I can see the light shining
Shine on, shine on
08 Suzie Hold On (04:29)
[Byford/Quinn/Oliver/Dawson/Gill]
I wish I had a fortune
I'd take the pain away
We could be together
That's how we need to stay
'Cause you can change the world
The world in which you live in, live in
Suzie hold on
Do everything you believe to be right
Doing it all the time
Fighting the fight you believe to be right
Doing it all the time
When we were far apart
No one could be closer
Please don't take your life
'Cause that would break my heart
Try to stop your crying
We both know you're dying, dying
Suzie hold on
Do everything you believe to be right
Doing it all the time
Fighting the fight you believe to be right
Doing it all the time
I wish I had a fortune
I'd take your pain away
We could be together
That's how we need to stay
'Cause you can change the world
The world in which we live in, live in
Suzie hold on
Don't you know that you can change the world
Don't you know that you can change the world
Change the world, you can change the world
Suzie you can change the world
I can't stop you crying
Even though you're dying
09 Machine Gun (05:17)
[Byford/Quinn/Oliver/Dawson/Gill]
Move in to the front underhanded fire
Hear the bullets flying millions every hour
Tracers in the night shooting across the sky
For God's sake cover me I don't wanna die
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Over the top into the wire
Running like a madman into the fire
No-mans land, fighting for your life
Fighting hand to hand forced to use your knife
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Come the wheels of terror crushing all before
Chews you to the bone to hear the monsters roar
With the clash of iron the battles never won
For the forgotten soldier it's only just begun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
It's gonna shoot you down
Move in to the front underhanded fire
Hear the bullets flying millions every hour
Tracers in the night shooting across the sky
For God's sake cover me I don't wanna die
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Come the wheels of terror crushing all before
Chews you to the bone to hear the monsters roar
With the clash of iron the battles never won
For the forgotten soldier it's only just begun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Machine gun
Gonna shoot you down
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