Saxon – To Hell And Back Again

artist website

publisher

impulse buy

SPV (Germany)
Produced by SPV

The popular play on the KISS moniker, “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, should be obeyed a lot more often than it is. Saxon should certainly have employed that ideal when concocting their second DVD as they have made a slight error in judgment, trying to get a little too clever and put too much into something that could have been much better than it is.

Vocalist Biff Byford and director Ronald Matthes admirably admit liability, listing themselves under “Idea” on the credits for the central piece of this double DVD, “The Movie”. What this is, essentially, is a very long documentary of sorts. It follows the band through the period between albums, from the recording sessions of Lionheart in 2003 through the 2004 and 2005 tours, ending before the writing and recording of what would become The Inner Sanctum.

Mixed in with the amateur documentary footage are live songs from various stops on the tours, including the Graspop and Wacken Festivals in 2004 and several cities on the Lionheart European tour. Way back at the London 2004 show I remember writing that there were cameras there, but only two. This clearly wasn’t enough to produce good footage, and this is born out with To Live By The Sword and Unleash The Beast during the chapter “UK Invasion”. The grainy nature is perhaps intentional to give it that intimate bootleg quality, but this adds nothing to the enjoyment.

The Movie is a patchy affair with very little in the way of continuity and is largely uninteresting. Thankfully there’s an option to watch just “The Soundtrack”, which is the full-length versions of all of the songs used in the movie. This includes the live songs from the movie, plus some songs used in other places, like the credits. Given the piece-meal nature of this though, there is again a severe lack of continuity.

Disc two is much more enjoyable experience, and anyone who buys this is likely to return to the second disc far more often than the first. The centre-piece is most of (but not likely all) of Saxon’s set from the 2006 Rocksound Festival in Huttwil, Switzerland. It’s taken directly from the Swiss TV broadcast, which are never complete sets, but this means it’s good quality. This is backed by all five videos for the Lionheart and The Inner Sanctum singles, including the new one for I’ve Got To Rock To Stay Alive, and three bonus live songs – two from Rock For Asia and a cover of Judas Priest‘s You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ with Doro Pesch. These are all professionally shot by other sources (TV, most likely), and are again good quality.

For anyone who’s not seen the video for the new version of I’ve Got To Rock To Stay Alive, which features Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead, Angry Anderson from Rose Tattoo and Andi Deris from Helloween, only footage of Angry Anderson actually performing the song (in the studio) is included. Although footage of Deris and Lemmy is in the video, it is carefully selected and edited shots of them performing with their own bands, not with Saxon. This isn’t surprising as this seems to be how Saxon make most of their own videos (see Witchfinder General and Let Me Feel Your Power).

Given that Saxon’s only other DVD release, The Saxon Chronicles, contains just one, rather short concert (Wacken 2001) plus a lot of extra stuff, they are lacking, especially for a band who have been going over 25 years, a real top-quality live DVD. To Hell And Back Again could have been it. There was no need to construct the misguided tour movie. Or try to cram in sub-parr live footage from as many shows as possible. One show would have been enough, in it’s entirety, in the best possible quality. Or, given that multi-cam shoots are expensive, why not just cut a deal with the TV companies and include the whole of the Wacken 2004 and Rocksound 2006 shows? Or go really current and release Wacken 2007? Graspop 2006 was also recorded by TV.

For a decent price this should be added to a Saxon fan’s collection. Disc two is probably worth it on its own. Anyone new to the band should look elsewhere, at albums like Lionheart, Dogs of War and The Eagle Has Landed.

“ patchy ”

Tracklist:
DVD1 – The Movie: Intro / Lionheart Recordings / The Artwork / Back To Live (Graspop 2004 Crusader) / The Videos (Making of Beyond The Grave & Witchfinder General) / Bring Lioneheart On The Streets / Wacken Rocks (Wacken 2004 Backs to The Wall & Dragon’s Lair) / Saxon Over Russia (Princess of The Night) / Release Party (Hamburg) / The Tour Begins (Kiel Jack Tars) / UK Invasion (To Live By The Sword & Unleash The Beast) / Cardiff (Beyond The Grave) / Wolverhampton (Dogs of War) / Glasgow (Court of The Crimson King) / South Europe / Best Crew In The World / The Tour Comes To An End (Pratteln Wheels of Steel) / Grand Finale (Prague 747 (Strangers In The Night)) / Circle of Life / Outro
The Soundtrack: The Return / Lionheart / Dragon’s Lair / Backs To The Wall / Princess of The Night / Jack Tars / English Man O’War / To Live By The Sword/Unleash The Beast / Court of The Crimson King / Wheels of Steel Dogs of War / Crusader / 747 (Strangers In The Night) / Flying On The Edge
DVD2 – The Video Clips: Beyond The Grave / Witchfinder General / If I Was You / Let Me Feel Your Power / I’ve Got To Rock To Stay Alive (Saxon feat. Lemmy Kilmister, Angry Anderson & Andi Deris)
Rocksound Festival 2006: Heavy Metal Thunder / Dogs of War / Strong Arm of The Law / Witchfinder General / Backs To The Wall / Solid Ball of Rock / Motorcycle Man / Dragon’s Lair / To Hell And Back Again / Princess of The Night / Wheels of Steel / Crusader
Bonus Features: You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (Saxon feat. Doro Pesch) / Man And Machine (Rock For Asia) / Requiem (We Will Remember) (Rock For Asia)

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