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![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/gillan2.jpg)
Without Speed King there would be no Motorcycle Man
Saxon is putting out an album of covers called Inspirations. Here they cover the bands that influenced them in the early years, from The Beatles, to Motörhead, and everything in between. One of the tracks (and a newly released single for the album) is Speed King.
Bill Byford explains:
Without ‘Speed King’ there would be no Motorcycle Man. I love the attitude, energy and driving speed of this song, not to mention those screaming vocals! I’d never sung it before, and I had great fun with it!
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.
We didn’t want to change any of the songs too much, just play them more like Saxon. And we also think it’s very important to have – and share with the fans – some fun in these dark times.
Inspirations will be released on March 19, 2021 via Silver Lining Music and is available for pre-order.
Thanks to Classic Rock and Gary Poronovich for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
My favorite band is NWOBHM (era Steve Dawson ). Good job guys. Happy birthday Biff
January 16th, 2021 at 08:09How to ruin a good song…..
January 16th, 2021 at 12:07Some DP fan once said and I quote ‘A day that passes without DP music in it is like a day without the Sun’
January 16th, 2021 at 12:31I could not agree more.
If I heard this played live in a biker’s pub, it would be OK. And don’t get me wrong, right now that would make me very happy! But with no organ, not even any keyboard, no real dynamics, no jazzy interplay, no final bass drum thud, this is like comparing 8mm monochrome with CinemaScope
January 16th, 2021 at 13:46Nice video, shame about the song.
January 16th, 2021 at 14:08Barely related but I recently found this cover of Fireball by Wargasm – someone might be interested, if only the lawyers for close copy of the Fireball sleeve! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtGcd3qzxBc
January 16th, 2021 at 14:15(I was being a bit of a perv and looking for the bass player of the UK band of the same name. Blimey O’Reilly!! First time in ages there’s been a reason not to skip the song at the end of the Graham Norton Show.)
BELLA!
January 16th, 2021 at 14:22At 2 …well said Null ….absolutely awful …almost made me feel sick …I can just imagine Gillan cringing!
January 16th, 2021 at 23:18This is a classic 50 years old piece of music.
Outrageous. This is an outrage. Imagine the royal philarmonic playing or a tenor singing . If they don’t play mozart, or beethoven the right way what is going to happen??? Same here please don’t make a massacre with beautiful classic like that.
Cheers.
Long live Deep Purple family ( saxon excluded of the family please).
Richard Legris.
January 17th, 2021 at 05:00Hi Guys I am sorry to feel your pain about how they ruined the song. But to be honest it’s a f***ing so difficult to get it right and it does shows how great DP Mk2 line up was. Rejoice knowing that the copy song didn’t ruin the original they just come short in doing it right.
January 17th, 2021 at 13:17You think that this rendition is bad?…
January 17th, 2021 at 13:19Oh man, you haven’t heard my awful attempts at it on my old Strat!.
RB & & SM aren’t the only ones with sore joints y’know… 🙌 🎸💔
Believe me, if you down enough booze then you’ll be crooning along with Biff & the boys like it’s still Christmas!. 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
I like it! But then I have a soft spot for Biff & his boys. Saxon were never the most refined NWOBHM peddlers, but they’re good fun with their working class charm. More entertaining than AC/DC, but no comparison to Judas Priest or Iron Maiden (though I like Saxon better, there is no doubt that even Iron Maiden are more cerebral). They make it sound like Nazareth’s Razamanaz (which I always liked as well).
January 17th, 2021 at 17:56Don’t hate it. Don’t love it either.
January 18th, 2021 at 23:59Saxon have paid tribute to a great song.
Biff has a great voice, barely affected by his years
January 19th, 2021 at 09:37Nice cover but they miss out the grande interplay between organ and guitar, which was (in my point of view) an important part of the song.
January 20th, 2021 at 01:10Well, Saxon were never about instrumental virtuosity! They did with the song what they could reasonably do.
Not a knock, I always enjoy them live.
January 22nd, 2021 at 04:14