Stallions Of The Highway

Look, I've been to see Saxon play live twice this year, and both times they have knocked me on my ass. To see them play twice in a small and intimate setting, and regardless of the size of the crowd, they gave everything they had to their set. Even with only around 75 people at the show in Portland Maine, Saxon looked like they were genuinely having a fun time on that stage.

On top of that, the band just released a new album recently. With all this going on, it has been a fucking breeding ground for a Saxon obsession in my head, and I've been listening to them like crazy this year.

I thought that by picking up the Saxon Chronicles and the Warriors Of The Road DVDs, it would have helped scratch that Saxon itch, but all it did was stoke the flames even higher. I'd already spent more than I should have these past couple of months on new vinyl releases, and I'd talked myself into finishing out the year by taking it easy on record shopping. However, after watching those Saxon movies, the desire to own some original Carrere UK pressings for them was simply too much to ignore.

Typically when I set out to start a collection for a band, I usually just jump in somewhere in the middle. With Saxon, I wanted to start at the beginning with their first album.

The 1979 self titled is a bit of a tentative start for Saxon, before they became one of the bigger names within the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but there are still some great songs on here with Stallions Of The Highway and Backs To The Wall building upon Saxon's classic sound that they would use as their formula for their next few albums.

Saxon's second album, Wheels Of Steel from 1980, really sees them hanging with the best of the NWOBHM scene, next to debuts from Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Diamond Head, and Def Leppard.

The good news in Saxon shopping is that you can pick up this shit relatively cheap. For about $14.00, I was able to grab the first two Saxon LPs from a UK seller through the discogs marketplace. Solid deal for these classics.