Saxon – The Eagle Has Landed III

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SPV
Produced by Saxon

The title says it all (to those who know). This is the third live album from the ’80s metal legends and in the spirit of the previous two Wheels of Steel is included for the third time amongst a huge collection of other great songs that haven’t been on a live album before. Divided into two halves (’80s and ’90s/’00s) this one provides an almost comprehensive look at the career of the band to date.

I’ve got to admit, as unfashionable as it may be, I was very much looking forward to this release. Saxon’s last four studio albums have been nothing short of outstanding, as have their live shows, but the first disc of this live album (mostly recorded in 2005) makes them sound about as heavy and powerful as Sting. The guitar tone is so thin it’s barely possible to tell that there are in fact two guitarists playing. The mix is all snare drum and vocals. The snare drum in particular is high in the mix in an intrusive and irritating way, as opposed to a powerful way. And the fact that the album was recorded at a total of nine different shows doesn’t appear to have made any difference. The same weak, thin mix has been applied to all of them. The opening track (This Town Rocks) is the only track from Stockholm, and for good reason. The mix is atrocious. Onto to Nuremburg for Backs To The Wall and this get a little better, with the guitars sounding slightly meatier, but not much. The Hamburg, Berlin and Fulda recordings do little to rectify things, meaning by the time we get to the two closing tracks recorded in Wacken 2004 the first disc has already proven to be very poor in terms of sound. The songs and performances are obviously excellent as Saxon rarely, if ever, deliver anything else.

On the second disc, for the newer, heavier songs, the different recordings from different shows becomes more apparent. The mix on the songs recorded in Paris is appalling. There’s so much additional bass that the guitar just sounds buried (along with Biff Byford’s vocals). The solos really cut through though. For the tracks recorded in London in 2004 (that would be this show) things start to come together! The guitars are heavy, there’s loads of bass and Biff’s vocals are up there. Still a little too much snare drum, but it’s nearly there. If the whole album had been culled from this recording, much of the problems above would have been solved. On a side note, listening to these tracks really does bring back memories of the show. The acoustics of the Astoria are strongly evident in the recording.

The quality steps up again with the songs recorded in Kiel, Germany. The mix on these songs is absolutely perfect, so for five consecutive tracks (including awesome versions of Court of The Crimson King and Broken Heroes) we can hear Saxon how we should be hearing them. Between London and Kiel 20 of the 32 songs on this album were played. All this album therefore needed was one more good show from 2005 to account for all the older tracks that have made a return to the live set and we could have had a top-drawer release. I can only assume there were problems with other parts of the recordings from London and Kiel, as there’s no way the Paris and Wacken recordings from the same year are in the same class (although Wacken is much better than Paris and accounts for a further two songs not played in either London or Kiel).

Complaints have been leveled at the song selection, citing the omission of many classic songs including 747 (Strangers In The Night), Denim & Leather, Power And The Glory, 20,000 Feet, The Eagle Has Landed, Dallas 1PM, Heavy Metal Thunder, Strong Arm of The Law and Princess of The Night as reasons for not purchasing the album. In actual fact, the non-inclusion of such obvious tracks as these, which are all present on at least one of the two live albums before this one (except Dallas 1PM), is a good thing. It leaves more room for tracks that have not been on a live album before, including many old songs rarely played until recent years (Suzie Hold On, Warrior and Frozen Rainbow for example) and lots of newer, and far superior, songs that are often ignored by bands of the age of Saxon (no less than nine songs from most recent studio album Lionheart are included on disc two). In fact, apart from Wheels of Steel, only Solid Ball of Rock, Crusader and Never Surrender have appeared on a previous live album.

To a big fan of the newer, heavier Saxon the first disc is a disappointment. The heavy sound the band have adopted since Unleash The Beast, a sound that even prompted them to rerecord their greatest hits in the new mould on Heavy Metal Thunder, has been completely lost on the majority of the disc. I don’t know who’s responsible for mixing it, but they’ve obviously put about as much effort and thought into the process as the cover artist did into the uninspiring artwork. The second disc is a huge improvement, but even then the Paris tracks sound terrible. Thankfully the London and Kiel tracks sound great. I suspect fans of old will be less disappointed with the sound, but may object slightly more to the omission of so many fan-favourite ’80s tracks in favour of an entire disc of late material. For my money, with this setlist this should have been the ultimate showcase for Saxon in the 21st Century. Unfortunately the mix means it falls way short.

“ very poor in terms of sound ”

Tracklist:
CD1 – This Town Rocks / Backs To The Wall / Redline / Stand Up And Be Counted / Never Surrender / Frozen Rainbow / Suzie Hold On / Play It Loud / Warrior / See The Lights Shining / To Hell And Back Again / Stallions of The Highway / Wheels of Steel / And The Bands Played On / Crusader
CD2 – The Return / Lionheart / Man & Machine / Beyond The Grave / Searching For Atlantis / To Live By The Sword Pt.1 / Unleash The Beast / To Live By The Sword Pt.2 / Flying On The Edge / Jack Tars / English Man ‘O’ War / Court of The Crimson King / Broken Heroes / Dragon’s Lair / Rock Is Our Life / Travellers In Time / Solid Ball of Rock

Written by Andy Lye
More: Heavy Metal, Live Albums, Saxon