Really? Do we need another Saxon covers album less than two years after they foisted the first one on us?

The answer to that question is obviously no, but it’s here and we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t give it a listen, so here goes…

Looking beyond the spartan, bare-bones production, which should expose Biff Byford‘s ageing vocal chords but actually just prove what a great singer the man actually is, there’s a little bit to enjoy here; The cover of Alice Cooper‘s From The Inside is especially great, whilst Alex Harvey‘s Faith Healer – seemingly covered by the world and his wife over the years – is handled with reverence and respect. Similarly Nazareth‘s Razamanaz is given a rambunctious going over – it’s not difficult to imagine a young Byford and Paul Quinn synthesising the best of what Dunfermline’s finest had to offer in the seventies for their own use on the first couple of Saxon album. In the same way it’s not difficult to see how a band that enjoyed ZZ Top’s Chevrolewt might later come up with pulsing blues-metal like Stand Up And Be Counted from 1980’s Wheels of Steel.

On the debit side Man On The Silver Mountain shouldn’t really ever be taken on by any band who doesn’t have Ronnie James Dio behind the mic, but the band’s take on Kiss klassik Detroit Rock City doesn’t work at all; However it’s really the only bona fide stinker here, and personal taste alone will dictate your levels of interest in hearing what Biff and company make on competent versions of household name tunes like The Who‘s Substitute, Cream‘s Tales of Brave Ulysses or The Animals‘ We Gotta Get Out of This Place.

The album’s been out for a week already, so completists will doubtless already own More Inspirations; I can’t imagine many others taking the plunge in these times of financial stress, but this isn’t the clunker I feared it would be and if you do have a few pennies lying around then obviously any Saxon is better than no Saxon at all…

More Inspirations is out now.