Saxon - Strong Arm of the Law
#349
by Paul Zickler
Saxon
Strong Arm of the Law
Genre: More British Metal!
Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Paul’s Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Highlightes:
To Hell and Back Again
Strong Arm of the Law
20,000 Ft
Sixth Form Girls
OK, I admit it. I honestly cannot listen to ‘80’s British Heavy Metal without picturing Spinal Tap. It doesn’t matter that the blokes in Saxon are obviously quite good at playing their instruments, all I can picture is Nigel turning his amp up to 11. It also makes no difference that the lead singer’s voice is only a couple degrees of grime away from Roger Daltrey, I still imagine David St. Hubbins head banging ridiculously to Sex Farm Woman. It’s my fault, metal fans. I was ruined on your genre forever by Christopher Guest and Michael McKean. That being said, this is a WAY better album than that other one I reviewed a few weeks ago by (checks notes) Samson. See, the band names are almost identical, so you can’t really blame me, right?
I do know people who took this music extremely seriously, and for all I know they still do, but I just can’t. When the singer sings “I’m on my final journey To Hell and Back Again,” and the guitarist plays that power chord super fast over and over, it’s all I can do not to smirk. But yeah, these guys aren’t bad at all. I can totally picture them cursing Margaret Thatcher as they get pulled over by the “motorway cop” in “Strong Arm of The Law.” The solo that follows that story is actually melodic and semi-creative for awhile. And at the end, when the cop has to let them go, and they drive off triumphantly remembering “the gig we played that night,” I’m all like, “You go, British rockers! Stick it to the man!” I can even type that without giggling. Really.
These songs are basically blueprints for parody, though. “20,000 Ft” describes the thrill of flying in an aeroplane. “It’s just like making love / When you’re up above / Riding in my bird of silver steel,” he sings over a double bass drum barrage of speed. And of course the song ends with airplane sound effects. What else would it end with?
There’s also the requisite “I like to bang teenage girls” tune, “Sixth Form Girls,” which contains the immortal/immoral lines, “Just sixteen, teenage dream / Sixth form can’t get out at night / They keep them in, it’s an awful sin / Should set them free and let them roam.” I should add that the song in question is actually pretty fun and catchy, with one of those riffs you could learn to play on guitar and sound half impressive.
OK, so it turns out Harry Shearer met and hung out with these guys before he co-wrote Spinal Tap. I just read that on Wikipedia. I honestly did not read that before I started this review. I feel totally vindicated now. I should add that Saxon’s bass player said, “[When] we all went to see This Is Spinal Tap, I didn't recognise Harry. I was too busy laughing my head off. But some of the other guys didn't see the funny side.” So yeah, it makes sense that I would find the band that inspired Spinal Tap both ridiculous and very listenable.
Rock on, Saxon! We salute you!
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