Album review : OLIVER / DAWSON SAXON – Screaming Eagles – The Complete Works (6 CD boxset)

Cherry Red [Release date: 25.08.23]

CD1 : Motorbiker (studio album 2012)
CD2 : ReLanded (Live 2000)
CD3 : It’s Alive Pt 1 (2003)
CD4 : It’s Alive pt2 (2003)
CD5 : Victim You (Son Of A Bitch, pre OD studio album 1995)
CD6 : Solo Selections

What’s in a name?

In the case of Oliver/Dawson Saxon at least one full Wikipedia page. A more succinct version appears on their website.

If nothing else, the legal shenanigans proved just how valuable a brand name is in the entertainment business.

And so, vocalist Bill Byford went one way. Steve Dawson (bass) and Graham Oliver (guitar) went the other.

This “mammoth 6 CD boxset” chronicles the path carved out by the latter pair, now known as Oliver Dawson Saxon. Each CD a milestone on their journey. Each recording adding distance from the rancour of the split.

The live stuff immediately immerses us in the re-invigorated heavy metal sound of the new band. ReLanded and It’s Alive are monsters, bursting out of immensely powerful PA systems into a noisy, enthusiastic crowd, taking no prisoners. John Ward wasn’t everybody’s pick as vocalist, but he knew how to deliver.

In the raw, barbaric logic of post NWOBHM metal, the material reclaimed from the band’s past sounds positively brand spanking new when production values are boosted. ‘Motorcycle Man’, ‘747, Strangers In The Night’ and ‘Princess Of Night’ go down a storm. The band has always enjoyed a discerning audience, who don’t let their exquisite taste get the in the way making a loud, loud noise.

Arguably the duo peaked with 2012’s studio album, Motorbiker. The most definitely post NWBHM tracks ‘Chemical Romance’ and the classy ‘Just Another Suicide’ are the highlights.

The sound of the past and the future are present and correct in the pre O/D album release, Victim You.

The long lasting artistic worth of the killer old school metal on show seems slightly devalued by the ambitions of the more contemporary sounding material, but it’s good to hear this stuff, 27 years on.

The sixth CD is something of a departure from the boxset norm, providing us with choice solo cuts, from Steve Dawson’s 2002 album Pandemonium Circus and from Graham Oliver’s 2007 recording, End Of An Era.

Over 6 CDs, with half a dozen bonus cuts, you won’t fall in love with every track, but there’s a lot here to form a relationship with. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

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ERJA LYYTINEN Abyss (Tuohi Records)
SKY VALLEY MISTRESS Too Many Ghosts (New Heavy Sounds)
RED GIANT Free Me (indie)

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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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