Artist: Saxon
Label: EMI Records
Released: year
Length: 76:58
Rating: 4.8/5
Without exaggeration, Wheels of steel could be counted among the famous trilogy of records that, in 1980, firmly staked out a genre for which Geoff Barton, a journalist at the weekly Sounds, had come up with a perfectly fitting coinage at the time – New Wave of British Heavy Metal. There’s probably no need to point out that the other two albums of the triplet that left such a mark on modern rock music were British steel and Ace of spades. And it really was Motorhead who took the then little-known Saxon under their wing and, with a few joint tours around the island, shot them like a rocket up among the stars. Wheels of steel took care of the rest, and by the end of 1980, when their third record Strong arm of the law came out, Biff and the gang were eyeing the very top of British rock.
At a time when Iron maiden were still a little-known club band, Saxon, with their blend of Sabbath-style rhythms and the interweaving guitar wizardry of a twin-guitar duo modeled on Thin Lizzy, were already packing London’s Hammersmith and other big halls. “I definitely think we were the band to beat in the early 80’s”, Biff explained in the liner notes of the album’s remastered edition. The Maiden lads stayed in their shadow right up until the enormous success of The number of the beast, when things shifted noticeably. Iron maiden kept climbing higher and higher, while Saxon, with every album that followed their last big work Denim and leather, seemed to sink deeper into oblivion. But let’s stay in the golden years instead. On April 5, 1980, Wheels of steel vaulted into the UK top 5 albums, while the title track and 747 (Strangers in the night) were threatening the top of the singles chart over there. A lot of the credit for that goes to producer Pete Hinton, who had earlier helped the band sign with Carrere, a label Biff later claimed held them back quite a bit in their assault on America. Visits to Top of the pops followed, along with a slot at the first Monsters of rock festival, headlined by Rainbow and with heavyweights Judas Priest and Scorpions on the bill. The tide was turning, and NWOBHM conquered England and started looking across the pond, where Ulrich and Hetfield soon after built a real little revolution on its legacy. In many cases that was less a tribute to the old masters than plain copying, as shown, for instance, by the odd similarity between the riffs of The eagle has landed and Fade to black. But this example, certainly not an isolated one, merely testifies to the powerful and practically global influence of the new English genre.
Wheels of steel therefore undoubtedly belongs among the groundbreaking albums. With its radio-friendly hits like Strangers in the night, and the merciless guitar bombardment served up by Motorcycle man (for which the indestructible Paul Quinn deserves more credit than Oliver), it boldly stepped toward new horizons of modern music. Biff surely deserves some credit here too, as his vocals, despite the aggressive backing, always gravitated toward melody, which was rather unusual for this style but, as he admitted himself, highly effective. It was precisely this dynamic combination that let Saxon rule on the home side of the Atlantic right up until the albums Power and the glory and Crusader, after which too much bowing to American trends, plus trouble with management and labels, slowly buried them.
Recently, though, in light of the band’s resurrection, EMI put out remasters of all their studio albums up to Destiny, and Wheels naturally holds a place of honor among them. Besides the original nine tracks, the remastered edition offers demo versions of Suzie hold on and Wheels of steel, plus the rare “B-side” Stallions of the highway. There’s also a batch of live tracks from the first, now legendary Donington festival, where on August 16, 1980, in front of 35,000 listeners, rock history was written in a “magical atmosphere” and under a “bright rainbow”. In his liner notes Biff talks about 60,000 heads, but that number was only reached and (considerably) exceeded by the later Monsters of rock festivals. “And the bands played on”.
Lineup
Biff Byford – vocals
Paul Quinn – guitar
Graham Oliver – guitar
Steve Dawson – bass
Pete Gill – drums
Production
Saxon and Pete Hinton
Track list
1. Motorcycle man
2. Stand up and be counted
3. 747 (Strangers in the night)
4. Wheels of steel
5. Freeway mad
6. See the light shining
7. Street fighting gang
8. Suzie hold on
9. Machine gun
Bonus tracks
10. Suzie hold on (demo)
11. Wheels of steel (demo)
12. Stallions of the highway (live B-side)
13. Motorcycle man
14. Freeway mad
15. Wheels of steel
16. 747 (Strangers in the night)
17. Machine gun
