''Inspirations'' is the first cover album by the English heavy metal band Saxon, released on 19 March 2021 by Silver Lining Music. Consisting entirely of covers, it was recorded at Brockfield Hall and The Big Silver Barn in York, UK and produced by

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 Ch ...

Background

''Inspirations'' consists of covers of songs of various artists from the 1960s and 1970s that influenced Saxon over the years.

Byford Byford is a village and civil parish on the River Wye in Herefordshire, England, about west of Hereford. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 119, increasing to 201 at the 2011 census. Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke ( cy, Cla ...

said ″We wanted to do an album based on our influences, the songs and bands that inspired us to write what we did and still do, and it was also interesting to see what my voice could do as I haven't sung many of these songs before.″ The songs are mostly from the hard rock, Psychedelic rock, Blues rock, and heavy metal genres. The band played close to the musical styles of the bands they covered, but also added some of their own heavier sound. To record the album the band travelled to historic Brockfield Hall in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, where they played and recorded the songs live.

recorded his vocals at The Big Silver Barn, also in

. Three music videos were released from this album. The first video was released on 11 December 2020 for the song ″Paint It Black″. The video features a behind-the-scenes look Saxon performing the song at Brockfield Hall, where the album was recorded. The second video was released on 15 January 2021 for the song ″Speed King″. The video features clips of rally cars speeding down various tracks. The third video is a lyric video for the song ″Paperback Writer″. The video consists of a digital animation of a quill writing out the lyrics of the songs on paper as they are sung, cut with shots of the album art during instrumental portions.

Reception

The album is generally well received. It managed to chart in several countries, reaching a peak of 10 on the

German music charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustr ...

. It was described as ″vibrant and brashly entertaining″ by Dom Lawson in his review for Blabbermouth. He also described being able to hear

sing several of the tracks as "an absolute joy".

Track listing

Personnel

Saxon *

– Lead Vocals * Paul Quinn – Guitars * Doug Scarratt – Guitars * Nibbs Carter – Bass *

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 ...

Background

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

References

External links