From the start, Album opinions, Wheels Of Steel

macc189

macc189

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Sep 9, 2002
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Macclesfield, UK


The breakthrough album, well, this was one of the albums I was given on my 10th Birthday, and as stated before, I never really liked any of them very much until much listening later. This album I could never fully get to grips with, for one I couldnt grasp why the world and his dog thought of it as 'The One', and it was only some considerable time later that a few of the tracks started to stand out, these being 747 and Suzie Hold On (Still today, if I do a compilation tape for the car these will still be the only ones off that album that make it on it), the others just didnt strike a chord with me, so all in all I wasnt THAT impressed by it but I now see why it was heralded like it was back then, there simply wasnt anything else quite like it and it opened the doors for NWOBHM.:rock:
 
Ahhh... 'Wheels OF Steel' the purveyor of many a drunken filled head banging summer nights, what can you say from the opening chords to Motorcycle man it just relentless the one that started it all for me. Favorites Motorcycle Man, See the light, of coures Wheels, Machine Gun.

I feel one of the defining moments in the so called.... NWOBHM :rock: :rock: :rock:


macc189 said:


The breakthrough album, well, this was one of the albums I was given on my 10th Birthday, and as stated before, I never really liked any of them very much until much listening later. This album I could never fully get to grips with, for one I couldnt grasp why the world and his dog thought of it as 'The One', and it was only some considerable time later that a few of the tracks started to stand out, these being 747 and Suzie Hold On (Still today, if I do a compilation tape for the car these will still be the only ones off that album that make it on it), the others just didnt strike a chord with me, so all in all I wasnt THAT impressed by it but I now see why it was heralded like it was back then, there simply wasnt anything else quite like it and it opened the doors for NWOBHM.:rock:
Click to expand...
 
Not much to say really. I bought it in 1991 and i thought it had some very good songs on it, and some fairly good songs. Having younger ears than some of the other people on this board, i find the sound quality and production of the very early Saxon albums a bit poor compaired to the mid 80s albums. I would rather listern to songs like Motorcycle Man on the album Heavy Metal Thunder (2002), rather than the orignal version on Wheels Of Steel (1980). Back to the point, my favourite song on the album is Motorcycle Man, but i think ALL the songs are quite good.
 
Saxon never did top this.Yes Ilove just about everything they do.But lets be honest Motorcycle man,747,street fighting,Freeway Mad and the mighty Wheels Of Steel.Oh you say how good the new stuff is but when you see them live all wanna do is scream wheeeeeeeeeeeels wheels of steel!!!!!!!!!! If I had to pick one song then this week its the tittle track.Did I mention Suzie,Machine Gun..............................
 
The mighty Wheels Of Steel. Saxon have released many a good album, but they can't top Wheels Of Steel in my opinion. Wilks has summed it up, every track is blistering, there is no let up. Every track is a cracker. It still sounds good now, but how good it sounded when it was released! My favourite track is See The Light Shining.
 
Heres a good story, when my cousin actually owned the records before giving them to me I had the occasion to stay at his house (our parents were on the piss together basically), so what he did was get this old record player and wire it up to the light fitting (dont try this at home kids!!) in his dads room with one of those really old adapters you used to be able to get, anyway, he cued up machine gun right at the end when the explosion hits and cranked it up full. We waited in his room next door for the piss heads to return, then waited a bit more for them to start going to bed. His dad were last up the stairs and I can remember that we nearly pissed ourselves when he stumbled into his room and flicked on the 'light', the noise was deafening, nearly gave him a heart attack! he came in our kids room and wailed seven bells out of us two, but it were worth it!! (you really had to be there!!) great memories!
 
A cracking album this. Even now it's mainly this that Saxon are known for, especially among non-metalheads. Several times I've told someone I like Saxon only to get a blank look. Then I've gone on to mention Wheels of Steel and suddenly they know what I'm talking about.

There aren't really any weak songs on here, although a couple of songs are quite similar to each other. As another person with "younger ears" I don't think the production hurts the album much at all, and I prefer the version of Motorcycle Man on here to the HMT one (though the live version at the start of Saxon Chronicles is my favourite of all).

The album definitely benefits from being played LOUD though -- flying down the M1 with Motorcycle Man belting out is always good fun. Another good aspect of the album is how short some of the songs are, simple ideas nicely executed with no need to pad it out, an attitude possibly inspired by some of the punk bands.

As for favourites, well it's a tough choice and I nearly plumped for Machine Gun, See the Light Shining or Freeway Mad, but I think in the end 747 just pips it.
 
Yeah! A very good album, the music as well as the lyrics (very important for a heavy metal band) What is music without lyrics and what are lyrics without music?
My favourites onthis album Motorcycle man, Stand up and be counted, freeway mad, see the light shining, suzie hold on and Machinegun. In fact the first time I got in contact with saxon was on the dutch radio program called "Beton-uur" (= concrete-hour) back in de eighty's, Djs Hanneke Kappen and Alfred Lagarde (RIP) I heard the song Machine Gun, intro on the radio and I was sold from then on..but my first album I received was Eagle Has Landed part one on my birthday (I still do'nt know what biff shout's at the audience at the end, somebody else does?)

747-number is to slow on this album, just like wheels of steel, but the later albums wich contain this 2 songs do listen better and they sound quicker on those ones. Wheels of steel Eagle 1 sounds the best to me.. and the 747 the same.. but the guitar of Paul sounds very clear on Greatest Hits alive 747-variant .

But to be short : very good album, like a god :worship:
 
mmurnau said:
As another person with "younger ears" I don't think the production hurts the album much at all, and I prefer the version of Motorcycle Man on here to the HMT one
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I have the same feeling about that, for example I do like, prefer, the heavy metal thunder version on Strong Arm of the Law much more than on HMT, even the rain and the thundering in the intro of that songs sounds more like sounds in real nature! :cool: And to the britisch people I must say: I, as someone from the Netherlands , am very jalouse that you britisch have such a good and fine band, but I think you people do not support them enough, I mean they deserve it... How is it possible that people in europe support them more than their native-fans in the U.K.? Be more proud on them, please.. The only band from this shore that sounds like Saxon are a band called Venguence, I always call them the dutch-variant of Saxon..
 
The reason why a lot of brits dont support them is described on the dvd interview with Biff, he gets it spot on, Britain is a faddy place, people will go with whatevers new and trendy and instantly forget them a minute later, its sad really but apart from a hardcore few, we live in a nation of sheep forever herded by assholes who think they know music!
 
As everyone has already said...what an album!!

Filled to the brim with Classic tracks. Unlike everyone else here it's not my fav Saxon album, but it is right up there with the best.
First time I heard it was just a jaw dropping experiance. I was in my bedroom with my brother and he had just bought it (this is about 1984 as we are mere youngsters!), and we put it on cranked right up. Stuff like Machine Gun was just fast as hell, Suzie Hold on was a quality ballad and the rest of the album was just filled with big chorus's and grerat riffs.
I can remember us both thinking..... Iron who? afterwards. At the time it was cool to like Maiden, but Saxon were always a band that were left slightly in there shadow, and I still to this day don't understand why as they are just far superior!!:worship: :worship:
 
It just occurred to me that Wheels Of Steel and 747 were the first two Heavy Metal singles that I bought, (well that my mum bought for me!). With these two singles, my singles collection started to change from the likes of Boney M, The Darts and Jilted John, to a collection filled with the likes of Saxon, AC/DC, Iron Maiden etc.

If Saxon never released the Wheels of Steel album, christ, I might still be a Boney M fan! :lol:

Thank you Biff!!! :worship:
 
Wheels of Steel - In the words of Biff "Fookin' Brilliant"

This album launched nay propelled me in to METAL, a month after I heard this for the first time, I went to my first Metal gig........... "The monsters of Rock 1984" with a bill like this I was never going to look back:

Motley Crue
Accept
Y&T
Ozzy Osbourne
Van Halen
AC/DC

Yeah like Pax I owe Saxon a lot, it wasn't Boney M for me though, my first two gigs where Adam and the Ants and The Damned!
 
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