"Crusader of Destiny"

[Candlemass]

Seems from Crusader to Destiny are the albums that fans have balked at, which ones do you consider to be the worst, the best, and why...?

[Candlemass]

Well, here's my take; "Innocence is no Excuse" is the best of the lot, great production, solid tunes and one classic; "Broken Heroes." Next up is "Destiny", a lot better than I gave it credit for back in the day, just wasn't what I was looking for from Saxon at the time. Even then though, there were a few tracks that I liked, but even now, it lacks the killer track. Which brings us to one that does have the killer track, but not a whole lot else, that being "Crusader." "Sailing to America" is another fine cut, but after that it's rather pedestrian. Biff said a lot of people mistakenly thought it was going to be a conceptual album, too bad it wasn't, may have been a monster of an lp! Lastly is "Rock the Nations", horrid production, and not much in the way of good songs anyway. Then you have the great Elton John appearing on the worst song ever recorded by Saxon!

[Fellhammer]

I remember being so disappointed with Crusader. The title track itself was great but the sound was so watered down. The rest of the songs were pretty weak. I remember buying 'Sailing to America' on 12" purely for the artwork.... it looked great on my wall!

Innocence was the same. It tried to be too radio friendly and for me it was like they were turning their back on their fans. As for the songs, it was as though they had run out of ideas or were too high on their success to be bothered. I so wanted this album to be a good comeback but, for me it was horrible. Broken Heroes is a classic live.

I thought Nations started off well. The first three songs were a return to form i thought. It went downhill from there however and you are right, the sound isn't great.

Destiny... Well after being faithful and sticking with the band, i'm afraid this album was the final straw. I think i have only listened through its entirety once! I lost all patience and didn't buy another release by the band until this year!

I think i shall give these albums a listen through again soon. Its been a long long time since i have and maybe now i have mellowed enough to bear them!

[roddy]

Crusader is my fave saxon LP - every song is killer in my opinion!

the other 3 have moments.

the worst stuff from Saxon for me has to be some of the cuts from Forever Free and some of the more 'modern metal stuff' stuff that appears from time to time

and dont forget 'standing in a queue' closing an otherwise spotless LP

[Liquid Drum Theater]

I like all these albums and I don't think of them as poor at all. Yes, they are different (softer, more pop rock than heavy metal) but the song writing is mostly still great. I could see how people reacted to them when they originally came out though, considering what came before.

[Candlemass]

Originally Posted by roddy

and dont forget 'standing in a queue' closing an otherwise spotless LP

What? That is a great AC/DC cover!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM_WXKrK-iY

[Candlemass]

Originally Posted by roddy

the worst stuff from Saxon for me has to be some of the cuts from Forever Free and some of the more 'modern metal stuff' stuff that appears from time to time

LP

A case could be made for that, but I don't hear a modern metal vibe, more of a "back woods red-neck biker ten keg pig roast party rock!" A few of the cuts having an AC/DC vibe w/Biff sounding a lot like Bon Scott. Every time I think of that album I think of these two blokes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eGWW8KOQio

[PunkTexas]

I like how Saxon fans can't agree on which albums are good or not so good. I'm not going to say bad because I don't think Saxon has a bad album (there was a time when I thought otherwise).

In my truck I usually have the hard drive shuffling ALL the studio tracks. Hearing all the songs randomly really works. Makes them more interesting. Geez if all the albums had the same "genre" (?) I'd get bored.

FWIW the Dogs Of War album sounds like a full on southern rock album to me.

Hey Candlemass, I enjoy your honest posts. Keep'em comin'.

[Candlemass]

I think both "Forever Free" and "Dogs of War" have a southern rock vibe to them...

[coventry1]

My first was crusader got it from my dad in maybe 85/86...which puts it high on my list naturally, solid ball was brilliant, great production. Destiny is just horrible. Another thing I never liked was the "rock" themes they insisted on.
Does this town know how to rock, Just let me rock, rockin again, rock the nations, i´ve got to rock, rock city, bad boys like to rocknroll, cant stop rockin, rock is our life, live to rock...the only ones that passes the test are Bad boys like to rocknroll and Rock the Nations, the rest is cheese extraordinaire.

On the last couple of records they have left the rockcheese behind and put out some stellar metal albums, that is the way forward for the band!

Always felt their rock thing was a remnant of the 70´s music, and as Saxons members are a bit older than for example maiden, it tagged along in their musical psyche. Never liked that, too cheesy. They were supposed to be heavy metal not rock.

Anyways.

Didn´t like the production on Denim n leather, with great production it would have been their no1 album in the UK, The eagle has landed would have followed as no1 a year later, but Nigel Thomas and carrere fucked up the production on both.

Strong Arm has the best flow, great album, love the "garage" production suits it well. Especially with the reverb on the vocals. If they would have kept the same sound production for Denim n Leather it would have been a revelation.
Just imagine...