OLIVER / DAWNSON SAXON – Screaming Eagles: The Complete Works [Box Set] (2023)

Back in the mid-Nineties legendary metal act Saxon almost split up with three members going one way, and two or three others going the other. For a while we had two Saxon’s tromping around the planet. Naturally, money and egos were on the line so the lawyers got involved. In the end Biff Byford’s version walked away with the name but the Oliver Dawson Saxon left a bit of a legacy.
In the early 2000’s Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson – both having been founding and long serving members and songwriters of the legendary Saxon and performing on the band’s most classic early albums – launched their own band OLIVER / DAWNSON SAXON. Beginning a journey to not only showcase in a live setting their years as songwriters and key members of Saxon, but to record new music and add a new chapter or two to their legacy.
The result was a band that toured consistently until 2020, along the way they also found time to release the fantastic ‘Motorbiker’ studio album and issue several potent and exciting live releases, where these classic compositions took on a new lease of life.
Now Global Rock and Cherry Red Records have collected all the scraps and there all a lot of them and issued this six-CD box-set titled “Screaming Eagles The Complete Works“. And a marvelous classic metal listen it is.

The pair’s first post Saxon project was a resurrection of the name Son Of A Bitch (the ’70s pre-Saxon band name), who released the album ‘Victim You’ in 1996, which is disc 5 here. It has been remastered, with extra tracks. Alongside Graham and Steve were guitarist Haydn Conway, vocalist Ted Bullet and original Saxon (and onetime Motorhead) drummer Pete Gill. An album full of riffs and some seriously rocking (and rough’n’ready in places) metal.
And nice that here the album includes Running Away, the original Japanese bonus track.

Then, after a court case over the band name (about as unnecessary as the bad blood that followed), the band went out as Oliver / Dawson Saxon in 2000. The band featured vocalist John Ward and former Saxon drummer Nigel Durham alongside Oliver, Conway and Dawson, and the band released two live sets, both here. And wonderful and a great listen, if you’re a Saxon fan.
One is titled ReLanded (2000), the other It’s Alive (2003). Both sets concentrate on the early Saxon material, up to and including Innocence Is No Excuse (Dawson’s last album with the band).

With vocalist Bri Shaughness and drummer Paul (Graham’s son) Oliver, the band released the new album ‘Motorbiker’ in 2012 which sees a change in direction. Opening track Chemical Romance is a vert heavy, crunchy 90s metal track. A modern update to trad metal comes over in the title track. Things get heavier, then the power ballad (if you can call it that) of Just Another Suicide, a deep, sad and meaningful song. Nice contrast.
Much more embracing of their contemporaries than previous releases, and a strong album too. There’s a couple of riffs reminiscent to Black Album era Metallica, beefed up to 11.

The band then released one more live album ‘Blood & Thunder Live’ (2014) with a couple of new tracks but still reliant on the early Saxon material.
The last disc is a compilation of the two solo albums issued by Graham and Steve (one each). Again, both great listens and well worth searching out in full.

The solo and two studio albums are proof that this band were too good to be over reliant on covers on stage.
We love Saxon, always have done, and we love Oliver / Dawson Saxon too. Both Graham and Steve are great players, and it shows here. This is a great and nicely packaged (6 discs in card sleeves, clamshell box) round up of (almost) all of it.
Fans of classic metal era, traditional hard rock and of course Saxon will enjoy this box-set from start to finish.
Highly Recommended

CD 1: Motorbiker (2012)
1. Chemical Romance
2. Motorbiker
3. Whippin Boy
4. No Way Out
5. Just Another Suicide
6. Sinternet
7. Ghost
8. Nevada Beach
9. Screaming Eagles
10. World’s Gone Crazy
11. Hell In Helsinki
12. Nursery Crimes
Bonus Tracks:
13. Denim And Leather (Live At WinterStorm, Troon)
14. Crusader (Live At WinterStorm, Troon)

CD 2: ReLanded – Live (2000)
1. Power And The Glory
2. Rock N Roll Gypsy
3. Strong Arm Of The Law
4. And The Bands Played On
5. Past The Point
6. Dallas 1pm
7. Rockin’ Again
8. 747 Strangers In The Night
9. The Eagle Has Landed
10. Motorcycle Man
11. Wheels Of Steel
Bonus Tracks:
12 One Sour Krout
13 World’s Gone Crazy
14 Nursery Crimes

CD 3: It’s Alive (2003)
1. Power And The Glory
2. Rock N Roll Gypsy
3. Strong Arm Of The Law
4. Past The Point
5. Dallas 1pm
6. 747 (Strangers In The Night)
7. The Eagle Has Landed
8. Bitch Of A Place To Be
9. One More For The Road
10. Motorcycle Man
11. Medley: Wheels Of Steel/ Devil Rides Out
12 Strong Arm Of The Law

CD 4: Blood & Thunder Live (2014)
1. Schwermetal Fur Immer
2. Past The Point
3. Everybody Up
4. Crusader
5. Whippin Boy
6. Redline
7. Motorcycle Man
8. Denim And Leather
9. Dallas 1pm
10. Fetzen Fliegen V
11. Princess Of The Night
12. Rock N Roll Gypsy
13. Strong Arm Of The Law
14. And The Bands Played On

CD 5: Son Of A Bitch (Oliver/ Dawson/Gill) – Victim You (1995)
1. Bitch Of A Place To Be
2. Drivin Sideways
3. Past The Point
4. No-ones Gettin’ Over
5. Treacherous Times
6. Love Your Misery
7. I Still Care
8. Old School
9. More For Me
10. Evil Sweet Evil
11. Victim You
12. Running Away (From You) [Japan bonus track]
Bonus Tracks:
13. 747 Strangers In The Night (Live At WinterStorm, Troon)
14. Wheels Of Steel (Live At WinterStorm, Troon)
15. Devil Rides Out (Live At WinterStorm, Troon)

CD 6: Solo Selections
Steve Dawson
1. She
2. Step Inside Love
3. All We Dream Of
4. 2Late
5. Answer To My Prayer
6. Wings At Dawn
Graham Oliver
7. Born To Rock And Roll
8. End Of An Era
9. Goodbye To Yesterday
10. Never Surrender
11. Ride Like The Wind
12. Wamita
13. Golden Shred Jam

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