''Innocence Is No Excuse'' is the seventh studio album by heavy metal band

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

released in 1985. It was the group's first album for

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

after a falling-out with their previous label,

Carrere Records Carrere Records (french: Disques Carrère, link=no, ) was a French record label which specialized in Euro disco and rock music. The record company was sold to Warner Music Group in the early 1990s. Early days Claude Carrere started working with ...

, and their last with original bassist

Steve Dawson ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

Release and reception

The song "Everybody Up" was used in the 1985 Italian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, '' Demoni''. The album was given a generally positive review by Eduardo Rivadavia of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, who awarded it four out of five stars. Although he commented in his review for the band's previous album '' Crusader'' that this album "would only lead to greater extremes of personality disorder and leave the group's fan base confused and utterly divided", he praised it for being "their strongest collective set of songs since 1981's ''

Denim and Leather ''Denim and Leather'' is the fourth studio album by English heavy metal band Saxon released in 1981. The album was certified Gold status in the U.K. This was the last album with the classic line up of Saxon, as drummer Pete Gill would leave the ...

''" although acknowledged that some of the songs "rubbed many fans the wrong way". He singled out the songs "Back on the Streets", "Rock 'n' Roll Gypsy" and "Broken Heroes" for praise, the latter of which he described as an "excellent ballad". He also pondered the question of what price the album had to the band's "street-level credibility" and said that "the answer will never be agreed upon". Jon Hotten in ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

'' magazine wrote that the album was "not a huge misstep" and a "response to a glimmer of interest from the US", although "the glossy production lay at odds with Saxons's belt-and-braces take on heavy metal."

Martin Popoff Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist, critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'', he has additionally ...

, author of ''The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal'', reviewed negatively the album which represents for Saxon the return "full-steam to the bastions of metal, without an idea in their dust-clouded heads", as shown in the clichéd titles and in the "old age ineptness on this rule-book headbanging fare."

Track listing

;Notes *"The Medley" consists of "Heavy Metal Thunder", "Stand Up and Be Counted", "Taking Your Chances" and "Warrior." ;Notes *Tracks 13-17: Chapel Studio, Thoresby Demos

Personnel

Biff Byford Peter Rodney "Biff" Byford (born 15 January 1951) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Saxon. Early life Byford was born in Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire, the youngest of four children to Ernest Cha ...

– vocals *Graham Oliver – guitar *Paul Quinn – guitar *

– bass guitar *

Nigel Glockler Nigel Glockler (born 24 January 1953) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer for the heavy metal band Saxon, which he first joined in 1981. Career Glockler began his musical career in 1980 as the drummer for the British band ...

– drums

Production

*Arranged by Saxon *Produced and Recorded by Simon Hanhart; additional recording by Keith Nixon *Recorded at Union Studios,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany *Mixed by Saxon and Simon Hanhart at

Wisseloord Studios The Wisseloord Studio is a recording studio in Hilversum, Netherlands. It was officially opened on 19 January 1978 by Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Prince Claus. The studios were founded by electronics company Philips, to enable their PolyGram ...

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

*All titles published by Saxsongs/

Carlin Music Carlin America is an American music publisher with a catalog of over 100,000 titles. The company, created under its current name in 1995 by its founder Freddy Bienstock, is headquartered on East 38th Street in Manhattan. Bienstock died on Septemb ...

Release and reception

Track listing

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album

Singles

References