Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Saxon
Label: UDR
Release: 2013
Length: 67:55
Rating: 4/5
Long-lived veterans and standard-bearers of the primordial heavy metal school, Saxon know no rest. Between the regular studio albums and the stretches in between, which are thoroughly packed with touring, we get a fresh live album from Saxon quite often too. The latest was »Heavy Metal Thunder – Live: Eagles Over Wacken« (2012), recorded at the band’s forever-beloved live home away from home. In Wacken, of course.
Saxon have always flirted with orchestrations. Crusader, which gets the treatment on this release, came out in that very form on the expanded edition of the band’s current studio album »Sacrifice« (2013), along with Requiem and Frozen Rainbow, both recorded in acoustic arrangements, and then the newly re-recorded classics Forever Free and Just Let Me Rock, in a properly distorted, which is to say heavy metal, manner. On the compilation »Unplugged and Strung Up« you’ll also find the »bottleneck« version of the »Killing Ground« track Coming Home, which came out as a bonus track on the limited edition of the album »Into the Labyrinth« (2009). On top of these six tracks come eight more of the kind, which luckily can only be found on the compilation »Unplugged And Strung Up« and nowhere else.
The move described in the paragraph above is nothing new for Saxon. They did something similar back when they were recording the album »Killing Grond« (2001). Back then the expanded (limited-quantity) edition of the album had a bonus disc with eight freshly re-played classic Saxon pieces. That is, played by the 2002 Saxon lineup, which differed from the current one only in that Fritz Randow (Eloy, Sinner, Victory) sat behind the drums instead of Nigel Glockler. A year after the release of »Killing Grond«, we got a compilation called »Heavy Metal Thunder (2002), which once again rounded up the very same »Killing Ground bonus disc« tracks, and the band added a few new »vampirically wound-up« reworkings of the marching anthems from their iron repertoire. »Unplugged Ann Strung Up« follows this method, except the emphasis here is on an orchestral makeover of classic Saxon material. Even though Crusader, The Eagle Has Landed, Broken Heroes, Call To Arms and Red Star Falling sustain an outstanding dialogue between the collision of metal punch and neoclassical seasoning, which delivers a whole new level of quality and a distinctive mood of solemnity and pomp while also upgrading the reach of the epic, the newly played Saxon tracks in a classic metal arrangement are by no means left in the shadows on this compilation! These are the opener Stallions on the Highway, just under a minute longer than the original, then the »Rock the Nations« (1985) sweetie Battle Cry and, especially, the first-class surprise of the compilation, Militia Guard (album »Saxon« 1979), which in its »updated« version leaves the previous two far behind. These three tracks carry an enriched rhythmic backbone with double bass drum pedal work, reworked transitional passages, extended solo acrobatics from both guitars. The acoustic versions of Frozen Rainbow and Requiem (We will Remember) sound exceptionally good too, and a special moment of the album is the beautiful live acoustic version of the »Forever Free« classic Iron Wheels, which those of you who attended Saxon’s June show in Ljubljana in 2013 had the chance to hear »live«! It’s one of the strongest ballads in the band’s story, and sadly it has also remained unjustly overlooked.
The compilation doesn’t have a bad moment. The renovated, updated revision of the classics fully paid off for the band. The orchestrations fuse seamlessly with the classic Saxon riff, and the band is already so seasoned that it does its job in the more demanding »unplugged« variety with feather-light ease. The lads simply have too many miles on the clock for anything to go wrong. Biff’s vocal keeps that unique expressive power of an evergreen, instantly recognizable character!
Let me also throw in that there’s a limited edition of this release, which contains the entire compilation called »Heavy Metal Thunder« on a bonus CD, meaning a reissue of the compilation first released in 2002. That will be especially welcome for all the younger and new Saxon fans who want to enjoy the eighties classics, which in their reworked versions blaze with all the traits of the time-upgraded richness of stormy, bloodthirsty metal punch, riding on a firmly staked harness of double bass drum pedals. But as said, this is an experiment by the band that’s eleven years old today. And since the »Heavy Metal Thunder« compilation can’t be found in shops anywhere anymore, it’s worth tracking down the version of »Unpluggred And Strung Up« in the expanded edition, the one with two CDs, so you get the »Heavy Metal Thunder« compilation too.
»Unpluggerd Adn Strung up« is a release the band had been planning in their heads for quite a while, but they decided that now was the right time for its physical release. Saxon went about refreshing the material masterfully, just as is expected and demanded of them. The compilation is a must for every untamed Saxon fan and, as a harmonious musical experiment, an extremely bold enrichment of the rich Saxon discography!
Lineup
Biff Byford – vocals
Paul Quinn – guitar
Doug Scarratt – guitar
Nibbs Carter – bass
Nigel Glockler – drums
Fritz Randow – drums (CD 2. – bonus CD)
Production
Andy Sneap
Track list
CD 1. “Unplugged and Strung Up”:
01 Stallions Of The Highway (remixed version)
02 Crusader (orchestral version)
03 Battle Cry (remixed version)
04 The Eagle Has Landed (orchestral version)
05 Red Star Falling (orchestral version)
06 Broken Heroes (orchestral version)
07 Call To Arms (orchestral version)
08 Militia Guard (remixed version)
09 Forever Free (re-recorded version)
10 Just Let Me Rock (re-recorded version)
11 Frozen Rainbow (acoustic version)
12 Iron Wheels (live acoustic version)
13 Requiem (acoustic version)
14 Coming Home (acoustic version)
CD 2. “Heavy Metal Thunder” (bonus disc):
01 Heavy Metal Thunder
02 Strong Arm Of The Law
03 Power & The Glory
04 And The Bands Played On
05 Crusader
06 Dallas 1PM
07 Princess Of The Night
08 Wheels Of Steel
09 747 (Strangers In The Night)
10 Motorcycle Man
11 Never Surrender
12 Denim & Leather
13 Backs To The Wall
