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Generally when the original members of a group start to fighting amongst themselves it is the fans of said group’s music that generally suffer, SAXON, legends of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, is a wonderful anomaly to the general rule. As it stands there are two SAXON’s recording and touring the first, led by origional vocalist Biff Byford, is currently recording a follow up to the incredible, “METAL HEAD” while the second, operating under the name OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON, is also recording and releasing material from the vaults that would never have seen the light of day had this little tiff not occurred. Both bands are exceptional with top notch players and both hold true to the SAXON sound with Byford’s group going a bit more for the Heavier side of things.
Live records are relatively easy to produce not to mention infinitely cheaper than all the studio time involved in recording a new record and so it isn’t surprising that OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON would want to put out a live record as they attempt to establish the new band. What comes as a bit of a surprise is just how good this recording truly is. “RE://LANDED” is a classic SAXON live performance completely eliminating any pining for Byford that one might feel by its end. Of course the songs are familiar and the playing brilliant but there is that special “something” that raises this above other live fair but I haven’t been able to put my thumb on it yet. Perhaps it is in the hearing of a voice other than Byford’s and not having it fail the material as one might expect. It could also be that, as the jacket exclaims, “it is a warts ‘n’ all record” with stray tones and feedback transporting the listeners mind to front row center for one of these shows. Don’t know and I have begun not to care for no other reason than it rocks and that is what SAXON was always about anyway so not only is there no harm done the band may only now have based its half life.
Going straight back to the origional source Graham Oliver tore apart his attic and shook a full discs worth of previously unknown goodies loose, now to be known as “DIAMONDS AND NUGGETS.” Of course this is a live and unreleased package with none of the contents available in this particular form anywhere else. Of the nineteen tracks only three are live and come from the group’s early eighties performing height. “Stallions of the Highway,” “Midnight Rider” and “Frozen Rainbow” show the band was more than able to kick it out on a level far above the competition whereas the remaining sixteen tracks give great insight into the creative process behind some of SAXON’s most well known material. The biggest nugget/diamond has to be the version of “Frozen Rainbow,” a number destined to be a classic regardless of who would record it, with Rod Argent playing keyboards on it. SAXON fans will have much to rejoice beyond all the music as Angel Air products are always packaged with plenty of rare photos and extensive liner notes.
SON OF A BITCH, as any hardcore fan will tell you, was SAXON’s origional name until a bit of record company pressure resulted in the moniker being changed. Most of the early material that SON OF A BITCH did ended up on SAXON albums but there had always been a certain segment of the SAXON fan base that would ask when they might hear some of that early SOB material that hadn’t been released. When the mid nineties saw two camps of origional SAXON/SON OF A BITCH members squaring up against each other Oliver, Dawson and origional drummer Pete Gill decided the time was right to revive the SON OF A BITCH name with a couple new guys while the SAXON thing worked itself out. The result was the album “VICTIM YOU” originally released in 1996 and containing all new material done exactly as it would have been done had it been recorded back in ’79. Cuts like “Bitch of a Place to Be” and “Old School” could have just as easily been found on “WHEELS OF STEEL” or “DENIM AND LEATHER” and lay much credible foundation for what eventually became OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON. There are four bonus tracks including still another version of “747/Strangers in the Night” recorded live at the Isle of Man in ’96. Of the three albums just reviewed I find this one to be the best though the first and the last are basically the same band and closer in time than the middle disc.
Hell, all three are quite good and necessary for true SAXON collectors but SON OF A BITCH has quite a life left to it in my CD player.

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