Metal Sludge Gossip Board

A little better than good.

how far away is "a little better than good" form "Almost excellent"?

About a mile.

Call of the Wild or Back In the Streets really could have been mid-80s Sunset Strip kind of hits, but not from that band with the NWOBHM image. Those weren't great songs, but I suspect we'd be praising them if they came from Poison or such. I thought they had pretty good melodic sense, but the whole album just didn't measure up. And I was wanting something more metal from them, more like Armored Saint.

Innocence Is No Excuse is my favorite Saxon album.

complete dogshit album.
They had a really good-to-great run of albums, wheels of steel, denim and leather, and their apex, Power and the Glory. Even Crusader has some redeemable moments
But this was the moment when the record company got them to bite at an image and sound change -- and it was a disaster.
They were never a radio friendly much less image friendly band

veritas wrote: ↑Tue May 13, 2025 7:16 am complete dogshit album.
They had a really good-to-great run of albums, wheels of steel, denim and leather, and their apex, Power and the Glory. Even Crusader has some redeemable moments
But this was the moment when the record company got them to bite at an image and sound change -- and it was a disaster.
They were never a radio friendly much less image friendly band

100% this. Seems to be almost universal love for this album, and I just don't get it. They had their "let's write a hit" album with Crusader, which was ok. They should have gone back to their original sound.
It's kinda grown on me over the years, but was a huge mistake at the time