Saxon - The Eagle Has Landed: Live (1982)^{Release ID: 3978}

By 1982, Saxon were riding high at the pinnacle of the NWOBHM juggernaut along with contemporaries Iron Maiden & Def Leppard. They’d released three critically & commercially acclaimed studio albums in just two years & their live shows were regarded as being amongst the hottest tickets in town. So predictably it would seem that now was the perfect time for the Saxon’s record label to cash in with a live album containing most of the band’s most popular songs. And it’s hard to argue with that way of thinking when you hear “The Eagle Has Landed: Live”.

What we have here is a testament to a band that’s right on top of their game. The production is excellent with the guitars sounding bright & incisive & the rhythm section maintaining a full & powerful backbone throughout. Bif Byford’s vocals soar overhead & his performance is the epitome of professionalism. He barely puts a foot wrong & reinforces my opinion that he's one of the all-time great heavy metal front men. The guitar solos sound really exciting & the virtuosity on display is undeniable. It’s worth noting that long-time drummer Pete Gill had only recently left the band after injuring his hand but his very fresh replacement Nigel Glockler does an excellent job here given the short time he’d had to prepare.

The tracklisting has been the source of much debate online but I don’t think you can please everyone when Saxon has such a strong back-catalogue of material to choose from. Live favourite “Princess Of The Night” has never sounded better than it does here even though I still struggle with it a bit. It certainly sounds a bit more metal here which can only be positive though. “20,000 Feet” still doesn’t do a lot for me either but the rest of the album is of a very high quality & includes a procession of  metal anthems with “Heavy Metal Thunder” & the immense closer “Machine Gun” being my personal favourites. It’s notable that the debut self-titled album has been completely overlooked which probably shouldn’t be such a surprise as it’s not nearly as popular as the rest of Saxon’s back-catalogue. There are some pretty solid songs on there though so I think it could have been catered for with a token track here or there. Anyway, of the ten tracks on offer we have four from 1980’s “Wheels Of Steel” record & three each from 1980’s “Strong Arm Of The Law” & 1981’s “Denim & Leather”. Probably the most notable exclusions for me are “Dallas 1 PM” from “Strong Arm Of The Law” & the title track from “Denim & Leather” which are real favourites of mine & I would have thought would have been deserving of inclusion but it’s not a major concern because “The Eagle Has Landed: Live” is still a very fine example of the heavy metal live album & it’s my probably favourite Saxon album to that time if I’m honest.