I know, generally, that people look down their noses and criticise bands for covers albums. But you know what? I like them. They are fun, and sneering about them, it seems to me, is a bit like asking comedy to be “challenging”.
How about its funny instead, yeah?
The point is that sometimes you just want to hear someone you love, doing a song you know. Crikey, Planet Rock has literally built a business on that premise.
So, that’s why, basically Biff and the chaps decamped themselves to a studio in York, armed with a load of songs that they – and this is all it is really – wanted to make sound a bit more like Saxon.
So they did,
There’s some good stabs at it “Inspirations” too. “Paint It Black” isn’t one of my favourite Stones songs, but it sounds like a rocker here and if nothing else, it sounds like it would take the original out for a scrap. And win.
The interesting thing for me personally about this album is that whilst I know every song on it, some of them – in all honesty – are from the sort of bands that I SHOULD like given my tastes, but by and large I can take or leave.
To that end “Immigrant Song”. Like I know Led Zep’s legacy, but it’s ok. That’s sort of how I feel about Led Zep in general. Similarly, I’ve made my views on The Beatles clear in other reviews, what I’ll say here is that if the so-called “Fab Four” had sounded more like this version of “Paperback Writer”, I might have liked them more.
There are some artists on here I adore, though (before anyone thinks I am a complete philistine). “Evil Woman” would be superb anyway, but add in Biff Byford’s Ozzy impression and we’ve got something special.
“Stone Free” takes Hendrix and makes him a proper Saxon song – and as a result is one of the best things here – but probably the pinnacle is “Bomber”. Given that I am actually wearing a Motorhead T-shirt as I type this, that might give you a clue as to my thoughts on the band (and the first time I saw Saxon was when they opened for Lem and the lads one year in Wolves). The beauty of this, though, is that right down to the trademark whistle, Saxon have made this theirs.
They’ve done the same with Deep Purple’s “Speed King”. An obvious choice perhaps, but they’ve nailed the thing. And Thin Lizzy’s “The Rocker”? Well in contrast to the likes of Zeppelin and The Beatles, Thin Lizzy are the greatest hard rock band of all time, and Saxon knew they couldn’t match them, so added their own flavour.
As I’d said when I reviewed Steve Lukather’s album the other week, Toto aren’t a band I am massively familiar with, but nonetheless, this take on “Hold The Line” is particularly sparkling, and if “Problem Child” is more like the stuff you’d expect, then its still superb.
Ending with The Kinks “See My Friends” is something of a left turn, but it shows a lightness of touch that you don’t always perhaps associate with Saxon, but in the end, doesn’t it come down to something Biff himself said: “We didn’t want to change any of the songs too much, just play them more like Saxon,” concludes Byford, “and we also think it’s very important to have -and share with the fans- some fun in these dark times.”
That’s it. That’s “Inspirations” and job done.
Rating 8/10
