Wheels Of Steel

Doesn’t require three guesses to figure out where Saxon hail from. After an uneven debut (they were inventing a sound, it took some trial and error), they got their engines tuned up and dialed in and hit the pavement running on their sophomore record. Taking notes from their tourmates Motörhead helped. “Motorcycle Man” and the title track proved their mettle, but “747 (Strangers in the Night)” really allowed their balance of punk muscle and prog complexity to take flight.