Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| 1. Power And The Glory |
| 2. Redline |
| 3. Warrior |
| 4. Nightmare |
| 5. This Town Rocks |
| 6. Watching The Sky |
| 7. Midas Touch |
| 8. The Eagle Has Landed |
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Audio CD
Many people I know will laugh when I say with conviction that in my humble opinion the title track of this record is quite simply the best British Heavy Metal track of all time.
'Power And The Glory' has it all - Passion, aggression, brutal drumming, screaming guitars, atmosphere, thundering vocals but most importantly of all, melody and something very valid to say. Never have I heard a song that sums up humans obsession with war, glory and the curiosity of the human psyche to 'blindly follow orders' just because...
Most of the rest of the album is of a very high standard to and 'Redline' and 'Warrior' combined with the title track opener provide one of the most punishing and brutal openings to an album that I've ever heard - Lemmy would be proud of em'! "Nightmare" is a good song but it is much more in the commercial vein and was an obvious single. True to the bands earlier classics like '747', it is melodic but maybe sounded a little lightweight at the time and is perhaps part of the reason that some original fans accussed the band at the time of 'going a bit Bon Jovi'.
Side two of the original record, inevitably perhaps, is less impressive - a fact not helped by the most uninspired track on the album 'This Town Rocks' being on first. This is of course less of a problem these days now we have cd's and downloads but for old vinyl junkies like me it is a bit of a shame. There is nothing wrong with 'This Town Rocks' as such but unlike the rest of this record, it is simply standard heavy metal and rather cliched lyrically. 'Watching The Sky' sounds to me like a cross between 'And The Bands Play On' and 'Midnight Rider' from Denim & Leather and "Midas Touch' is a more controlled rocker but the final act of real brilliance here is with the final track, 'The Eagle Has Landed'. A sprawling, meandering half instrumental it swirls and builds in a hazy almost psychedelic way and even Biff's vocals are delivered in such a way to give a sense of atmosphere, wonderment and deep thought.
So then, 4 bona-fide classic tracks on one album with a pretty decent if not quite so imaginative or unexpected supporting cast.
'Power And The Glory' has it all - Passion, aggression, brutal drumming, screaming guitars, atmosphere, thundering vocals but most importantly of all, melody and something very valid to say. Never have I heard a song that sums up humans obsession with war, glory and the curiosity of the human psyche to 'blindly follow orders' just because...
Most of the rest of the album is of a very high standard to and 'Redline' and 'Warrior' combined with the title track opener provide one of the most punishing and brutal openings to an album that I've ever heard - Lemmy would be proud of em'! "Nightmare" is a good song but it is much more in the commercial vein and was an obvious single. True to the bands earlier classics like '747', it is melodic but maybe sounded a little lightweight at the time and is perhaps part of the reason that some original fans accussed the band at the time of 'going a bit Bon Jovi'.
Side two of the original record, inevitably perhaps, is less impressive - a fact not helped by the most uninspired track on the album 'This Town Rocks' being on first. This is of course less of a problem these days now we have cd's and downloads but for old vinyl junkies like me it is a bit of a shame. There is nothing wrong with 'This Town Rocks' as such but unlike the rest of this record, it is simply standard heavy metal and rather cliched lyrically. 'Watching The Sky' sounds to me like a cross between 'And The Bands Play On' and 'Midnight Rider' from Denim & Leather and "Midas Touch' is a more controlled rocker but the final act of real brilliance here is with the final track, 'The Eagle Has Landed'. A sprawling, meandering half instrumental it swirls and builds in a hazy almost psychedelic way and even Biff's vocals are delivered in such a way to give a sense of atmosphere, wonderment and deep thought.
So then, 4 bona-fide classic tracks on one album with a pretty decent if not quite so imaginative or unexpected supporting cast.
Format:Audio CD
As a fairly big Saxon fan, i looked forward to listening to this album, as i hear a lot of people on forums and such speak about it in rather harsh tones. To be honest, I love this album. It doesn't have the quality of the previous three, but theres a certain old school metal, out and out rockin' feel to this album that is, if not as "pure" as on previous albums, still very much there. Of course Saxon, with this album, take things in a slightly different direction, with some songs (such as the title track) seemingly having a more Iron Maiden like melodic metal feel rather than the hard rock-on-speed of the previous three albums. I Like that. I like the fact that they tried something a little different with this album. Okay, this does not have the same energy as the previous albums, but damn if it isn't an album that gets you rocking out - because it is. To me at least.
But anyway, disregarding style and evolution of the band's sound for a moment, what are the actual songs like? A Lot of people say because of the production the songs don't have the same impact. To me, this is nonsense. Yes, there has been better (much better) production, but the slightly iffy production, in my opinion, simply gives it a rather charming, old fashioned metal sound, harking back to the days before every metal band alive had the ability to overproduce albums til any edge was lost. But anyway, the songs, disregarding the production, quality level in my opinion is equal to what came before. The opening melodic metal slice of "Power and the Glory" is fantastic, containing an excellently powerful little riff refrain and has great, not to mention powerful vocal melodies going on. Very typical power/melodic metal type song, and like I have said before, different for them (at this stage in their career). But for me at least it worked, and it's one of my all time favorite Saxon songs. Other stand-out songs include the fantastic "Warrior" - another slightly more melodic metal
song, which has a classic melody, some more great riffs and more stand-out vocals. There is also "The Eagle Has Landed", which some may find as a diversion too far, with a heavily prog-leaning sound. I personally love this song, i think it is an admirable experimentation for the band, and it sure as hell works well, giving this album a great finishing track.
So to sum things up, this album may not have the energy of the previous three albums but it makes up for it in sheer song quality. At eight songs long there are no fillers and although "Redline" and "This Town Rocks" I consider rather average, they don't spoil the momentum of the greater songs on the album. Slightly iffy production aside, this is a seriously enjoyable metal album, evolving Saxon's sound whilst still retaining what made them special before. Again - not a perfect album, but a great listen if you are a fan of this type of music or especially if you like the band.
But anyway, disregarding style and evolution of the band's sound for a moment, what are the actual songs like? A Lot of people say because of the production the songs don't have the same impact. To me, this is nonsense. Yes, there has been better (much better) production, but the slightly iffy production, in my opinion, simply gives it a rather charming, old fashioned metal sound, harking back to the days before every metal band alive had the ability to overproduce albums til any edge was lost. But anyway, the songs, disregarding the production, quality level in my opinion is equal to what came before. The opening melodic metal slice of "Power and the Glory" is fantastic, containing an excellently powerful little riff refrain and has great, not to mention powerful vocal melodies going on. Very typical power/melodic metal type song, and like I have said before, different for them (at this stage in their career). But for me at least it worked, and it's one of my all time favorite Saxon songs. Other stand-out songs include the fantastic "Warrior" - another slightly more melodic metal
song, which has a classic melody, some more great riffs and more stand-out vocals. There is also "The Eagle Has Landed", which some may find as a diversion too far, with a heavily prog-leaning sound. I personally love this song, i think it is an admirable experimentation for the band, and it sure as hell works well, giving this album a great finishing track.
So to sum things up, this album may not have the energy of the previous three albums but it makes up for it in sheer song quality. At eight songs long there are no fillers and although "Redline" and "This Town Rocks" I consider rather average, they don't spoil the momentum of the greater songs on the album. Slightly iffy production aside, this is a seriously enjoyable metal album, evolving Saxon's sound whilst still retaining what made them special before. Again - not a perfect album, but a great listen if you are a fan of this type of music or especially if you like the band.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I bought this one on vinyl when it first came out and was very disappointed, mind you not as as disappointed as I was with the offerings that came after. This album came out at the time when Saxon, and their contemporaries, were suffering from the "Jovi-effect", when bascially they were told to soften what they did or be damned, sadly this meant we got albums like Power and the Glory and sadly most of their other albums after this continued along a similar vein, so very sad really as Saxon were a brilliant band. This album tries to be more American AOR and radio friendly, which it is, but sadly this alienated a lot of British Metal fans of the time who then began to get out of Saxon, or Metal altogether, as a result of what was happening around this time, read some of the other reviewers comments about Saxon at this time which seem to back this up. A nail in the coffin of a truly great band, the albums that followed this buried the band even further and were never a match for what the band produced previously.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
