Saxon – Wheels Of Steel

First off, my pressing sounds great! The live album I've had for tears on a bootleg cd. I'm guessing it recorded on cassette off the soundboard so no chance of a remix. I wonder what Roger Glover did with the masters? All in all about what I expected.

I totally agree to both previous posts. This release isn't worth the money. The reason for buying this release was that I thought that the Donington show would be some kind of restored version, but I was completely wrong. It sounds like a bootleg. Maybe the Saxon guys released it in a "Frank Zappa Beat The Boots" manner.
What's even worse in my opinion - the pressing is absolute crappy. Surface noise throughout the whole vinyls, record 1 warped. Absolutely inacceptable. If you plan on buying this release, go save the money and go for a original Carrere pressing.

The live album is a let down. It sounds lifeless and dull and from other official versions of Saxon at Donington 1980 I have, this has been screwed up. What a wasted opportunity.

kind of a shit press. lots of surface noise, and lots of pops. maybe will sound better after a cleaning but brand new out of the sleeve its kinda jank.

This would probably be my favorite Heavy Metal album of all time if Mercyful Fate/King Diamond did not exist! Holy hell is this amazing. Ok so, this pressing is basically perfect to me. The sound, dynamic, volume, lack of distortion, everything! I used to own a 80’s pressing which was nice, but this totally stomps it through and through! This includes an amazing color variant along with a never before seen inner sleeve that contains photos and lyrics that are so beautiful! The originals came with nothing! Get this version as I truly think it is the ultimate edition!

This is not Sky Saxon of the Seeds But Saxon the hard rock group!

Great issue in my opinion. The sound is very good. No ticks or something like that. I also find all these Saxon reissues very good quality, the cd’s also.

Bowl-warped vinyl. Exchanged in the store for another copy, and still bowl-warped vinyl. Giving up wasting my time for another one. Two words: GZ Media.

[Reviewing '80 German pressing on Carrere label]

Your favorite working man's rockers have returned to take on any band who ever palm muted an open A string. Highlights here are "Wheels Of Steel", "747", and "Motorcycle Man". Most notably, the dual bluesy guitars are emblematic of the Saxon sound.

Mixwise, both guitars occupy exactly the same frequency range, so they are panned hard left and right. Additionally, the '80s albums have a liberal sprinkling of reverb, and Biff has slapback on his voice. All this adds a little extra chaos at times.

This early pressing is super loud, with reasonable clarity, despite the sheer saturation on the loud parts. The eq is not as crispy as the 2018 Strong Arm[BMG] remaster I have, definitely more mids here.

3.5 stars. You need this in your collection.

My very 1st record purchase back in 1980. I've always loved it, so decided to update my worn out Carrere original.
I don't have audiophile equipment to make a forensic comparison with that original, but I do notice a difference when I play them back-to-back.
This reissue sounds pretty good, with a nice clean sound (and certainly looks cool). However, it's definitely not as loud as the original and the guitar and bass aren't quite as 'in your face'.
A couple more random observations: I'm not sure if the speeding bike intro to Motorcycle Man was recorded at a racetrack but a commentator's p.a. voice was audible at the start. There was also a weird sound effect in the runout groove of side 2. Both are missing here.
This is still a good version and I'm more than happy with it. So happy in fact that I bought the equivalent reissue of Strong Arm Of The Law as well.