| Inspirations | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 19 March 2021 (2021-03-19) | |||
| Recorded | 2020 | |||
| Studio | Brockfield Hall, The Big Silver Barn | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 40:12 | |||
| Label | Silver Lining Music | |||
| Producer | Biff Byford | |||
| Saxon chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Inspirations | ||||
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Inspirations is the first cover album by the English heavy metal bandSaxon, released on 19 March 2021 by Silver Lining Music. Consisting entirely of covers, it was recorded atBrockfield Hall and The Big Silver Barn inYork and produced byBiff Byford.
Inspirations consists of covers of songs of various artists from the 1960s and 1970s that influencedSaxon over the years.Byford 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.″[1] The songs are mostly from thehard rock,psychedelic rock,blues rock, andheavy metal genres. The band played close to the musical styles of the bands they covered, but also added some of their own heavier sound.[citation needed]
To record the album the band travelled to historic Brockfield Hall inYork, where they played and recorded the songs live.[2]Byford recorded his vocals at The Big Silver Barn, also inYork.[citation needed]
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 lookSaxon performing the song at Brockfield Hall, where the album was recorded.[3] 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.[1] 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.[4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Blabbermouth | 7.5/10[5] |
| The Rockpit | 8/10[6] |
| Metal Injection | 7/10[2] |
The album is generally well received. It managed to chart in several countries, reaching a peak of 10 on theGerman music charts. It was described as ″vibrant and brashly entertaining″ by Dom Lawson in his review forBlabbermouth. He also described being able to hearBiff Byford sing several of the tracks as "an absolute joy".[5]
| No. | Title | Music | Original artist (date) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Paint It Black" | Mick Jagger,Keith Richards | The Rolling Stones, 1966 | 3:18 |
| 2. | "Immigrant Song" | Jimmy Page,Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin, 1970 | 2:05 |
| 3. | "Paperback Writer" | Lennon–McCartney | The Beatles, 1966 | 2:19 |
| 4. | "Evil Woman" | Dave Wagner, Dick Wiegand, Larry Wiegand | Crow, 1969 | 3:29 |
| 5. | "Stone Free" | Jimi Hendrix | Jimi Hendrix, 1966 | 3:44 |
| 6. | "Bomber" | Eddie Clarke,Ian Kilmister,Phil Taylor | Motörhead, 1979 | 3:22 |
| 7. | "Speed King" | Ritchie Blackmore,Ian Gillan,Roger Glover,Jon Lord andIan Paice | Deep Purple, 1970 | 3:31 |
| 8. | "The Rocker" | Phil Lynott,Brian Downey,Eric Bell | Thin Lizzy, 1973 | 3:46 |
| 9. | "Hold the Line" | David Paich | Toto, 1978 | 3:47 |
| 10. | "Problem Child" | Angus Young,Malcolm Young,Bon Scott | AC/DC, 1976 | 4:09 |
| 11. | "See My Friends" | Ray Davies | The Kinks, 1965 | 2:55 |
| 12. | "Shoot Shoot" | Michael Schenker,Phil Mogg,Pete Way,Andy Parker | UFO, 1975 | 3:47 |
Saxon
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8] | 27 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[9] | 102 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[10] | 34 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[11] | 154 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[12] | 10 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[13] | 6 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] | 12 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[15] | 56 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC)[16] | 2 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[17] | 1 |