In the early 2000’s, Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson, both having been founding and long serving members and songwriters of the legendary Saxon and performing on the bands most classic early albums, launched Oliver/Dawson Saxon.

Beginning a journey to not only showcase in a live setting their years as songwriters and key members of the main group, but to record new music and add a new chapter or two to their formidable legacy. The result was a band that toured consistently until 2020, along the way they also found time to release the fantastic Motorbiker studio album and issue several potent and exciting live releases, where these classic compositions took on a new lease of life.

Including the pre-Oliver/Dawson Saxon album Victim You that the pair (along with original Saxon drummer Pete Gill) issued in 1996 under the name Son Of A Bitch (prior to adopting the ODS moniker), it also comes with additional bonus solo selections from both Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson to further illustrate their role as first class songwriters in their own right.

CD 1: Motorbiker (2012)
1. Chemical Romance 2. Motorbiker 3. Whippin’ Boy 4. No Way Out 5. Just Another Suicide 6. Sinternet 7. Ghost 8. Nevada Beach 9. Screaming Eagles 10. World’s Gone Crazy 11. Hell In Helsinki 12. Nursery Crimes Bonus Tracks: 13. Denim And Leather (Live At WinterStorm, Troon) 14. Crusader (Live At WinterStorm, Troon).

An explosion of heavy metal, melodic guitar riffs and thunderously sung songs from start to finish, Motorbiker is a grandstanding musical experience of the highest order.

A metal sound verging on contemporary, everything you hope to expect to get from this album explodes at you from the off on the very first track Chemical Romance and never backs down.

Tracks that follow are such quality as the foot to the floor title track (albeit a Judas Priest-esque cut), the AOR of Ghost, the drum-led thumper Hell In Helsinki and others such as the double bass and drum attack within Whippin’ Boy, the pulsating guitar moves of World’s Gone Crazy and even the rocking metal sound of the ballad Just Another Suicide (itself complete with a sax backdrop!).

Now added are two live cuts in the form of a couple of classic Saxon tracks, both recorded at Winterstorm 2018 in Troon, Scotland, the always brilliant to hear Denim And Leather and their monster opus Crusader.

CD 2: Relanded - Live (2000)
1. Power And The Glory 2. Rock N Roll Gypsy 3. Strong Arm Of The Law 4. And The Bands Played On 5. Past The Point 6. Dallas 1pm / 7. Rockin’ Again 8. 747 Strangers In The Night / 9. The Eagle Has Landed 10. Motorcycle Man / 11. Wheels Of Steel Bonus Tracks: 12. One Sour Krout 13. World’s Gone Crazy 14. Nursery Crimes.

The first of three live recordings in this 6 CD set is Relanded from 2000 and which is, as one would fully expect, chock full of everything Saxon put out, the nostalgic trip in full effect here, my friends.

Inclusive of a shed load of the classics, such as Power And The Glory, Strong Arm Of The Law, Rock N Roll Gypsy, the gripping Dallas 1pm, the propellant 747 Strangers In The Night, a magnificently-hued The Eagle Has Landed, Motorcycle Man and, of course, the hit makers And The Bands Played On and Wheels Of Steel.

CD 3: It’s Alive (2003)
1. Power And The Glory 2. Rock N Roll Gypsy 3. Strong Arm Of The Law 4. Past The Point 5. Dallas 1pm 6. 747 (Strangers In The Night) 7. The Eagle Has Landed 8. Bitch Of A Place To Be 9. One More For The Road 10. Motorcycle Man 11. Medley: Wheels Of Steel/Devil Rides Out 12. Strong Arm Of The Law.

The second of the live trilogy is from 2003 and as much as it ropes together all the usual musical suspects, as expected, it still manages to bring forth an urgency that is desperately found so lacking in live bands today.

Featuring the duo alongside Nigel Durham on drums, Hayden Conway on guitar along with ex-Shy/Madam X vocalist John ‘Wardi’ Ward, alongside the expected we also get another Saxon classic in the form of the rocking Son Of A Bitch and the KISS-esque Past The Point.

CD 4: Blood & Thunder Live (2014)
1. Schwermetal Fur Immer 2. Past The Point 3. Everybody Up 4. Crusader 5. Whippin’ Boy 6. Redline 7. Motorcycle Man 8. Denim And Leather 9. Dallas 1pm 10. Fetzen Fliegen V 11. Princess Of The Night 12. Rock N Roll Gypsy 13. Strong Arm Of The Law 14. And The Bands Played On.

The third of the live concerts is Blood & Thunder, which was recorded in Germany in 2013 and finds Ward replaced by Seventh Son’s Brian Shaughnessy and also features Paul Oliver on drums. Again, the musical usual suspects are on offer here, but now we get to hear some rarer tracks in the form of a blistering Crusader, Power & The Glory‘s Redline, and the best of the bunch for me, Denim & Leather‘s gripping Princess Of The Night.

CD 5: Son Of A Bitch - Victim You (Studio Album) (1995)
1.Bitch Of A Place To Be 2. Drivin’ Sideways 3. Past The Point 4. No-ones Gettin’ Over 5. Treacherous Times 6. Love Your Misery 7. I Still Care 8. Old School 9. More For Me 10. Evil Sweet Evil 11. Victim You 12. Running Away (From You) Bonus Tracks: 13. 747 Strangers In The Night (Live At Winter Storm, Troon) 14. Wheels Of Steel (Live At Winter Storm, Troon) 15. Devil Rides Out (Live At WinterStorm, Troon).

Along next is a flashback to 1995 when the only album released by the Son Of A Bitch configuration (Oliver/Dawson/Gill), Victim You was presented. Also featuring Conway and Thunderhead’s Ted Bullet on vocals, the album has a distinct leaning toward Dio and even Ozzy, at times, but is nonetheless a scorchingly magnificent rock-metal album.

Stand out tracks for me are Drivin’ Sideways, the rocker Past The Point and both the brilliant Evil Sweet Evil and even the ferocious titular Victim You.

CD 6: Solo Selections
1. She 2. Step Inside Love 3. All We Dream Of 4. 2Late 5. Answer To My Prayer 6. Wings At Dawn 7. Born To Rock And Roll 8. End Of An Era 9. Goodbye To Yesterday 10. Never Surrender 11. Ride Like The Wind 12. Wamita 13. Golden Shred Jam.

The sixth and final disc is the aptly-titled Solo Selections and includes tracks from Dawson’s 2002 Pandemonium Circus and Oliver’s End Of An Era 2001 solo releases. Dawson opens the disc with six, the immediate stand out being his weirdly excellent cover of Cilla Black’s Step In Side Love (which was actually written by Lennon/McCartney), another being the pop-rock-metal of Answer My Prayer.

Then comes seven from Oliver, the highlights being the excellent glam ballad vibe of Goodbye To Yesterday, the Saxon belters Never Surrender and Ride Like The Wind, and even one of the two final instrumentals, Golden Shred Jam is a soaring success.

Amazon 6CD Purchase Link

www.grahamoliversarmy.co.uk