There are those who say that coincidences do not exist, I do not know ..... but coincidence or not here is a "curious coincidence" although first I will tell some history of this album.
I have always been to buy Saxon compilations because I always look for official material and bottleg rarities, limited editions, memorabilia, etc ... unless it was a couple years ago that Ana gave me Decade OF The Eagle (1979 - 1978 ), a compilation of the first years of the history of Saxon and Baptism Of Fire (The Collection 1991 - 2009).
But if there was one that I did not like and found particularly out of place and also hated its cover, designed by Peter Keller for finding it mediocre and childish due to its drawing and coloring, that was Strong Arm Metal (1984) the first compilation released by the Carrere record company. of Saxon.
Strong Arm Metal contains songs from the first four Saxon albums. Saxon, Wheels Of Steel, Strong Arm Of The Law and Denim And Leather, therefore it is a great pitch of great songs and Metal hymns for any listener.
Saxon had already had bad relations with Claude Carrere's small French record label for years, from the scant support and distribution of his records worldwide and the impossible leap to the US, to the suspicions of fraud in the number of sales of his records by part of the company to the group and it was not a good decision for Saxon to sign for so many years and also with Carrere, but at the beginning of the NWBOHM that all the groups took off in contracts, it was a career of "Tonto the last !!! " Iron Maiden with Emi, Def Leppard with Vertigo and .... Saxon with Carrere.
His seventh album "Crusader" (1984) was released under the Carrere label although the band and record company had already broken relations, signing Saxon with the multinational Emi and the record label Carrere being absorbed and remaining as a sub-label also of Emi Records and disappearing. Completely in 1993, curiously this long-awaited contract with Emi would give rise to the decline and worst period in popularity of the band and is that money is not everything, bands must have control over their artistic careers, but as Conan's father said, that's another story ...
The fact is that Carrere with Saxon fresh out of his portfolio of groups and taking advantage of the success of his recently released album Crusader, released in the same year (1984) this compilation that I despised so much, but that now over time has become a mythical compilation of the band and I understand that it is also part of their true history and relationship with the record company, not like many other Saxon compilations out there.
And here comes the coincidence of which I spoke, that since it was published in 1984 I had not decided to buy it until now 37 years after its edition, I have bought it from a private individual in impeccable condition and the same day it arrives by mail at home, I find a Facebook post from my friend José Carmona who makes logos and real works of art in metal with Numerical Control machinery that make people freak out when he publishes them, in which he has built the sword on the cover and poses with She like on the cover and titled that post Strong Arm Metal, and she tells me "Javí knew that you would like it" .... and I was hallucinating between how good it turned out and that she told me that the day the album arrived in 37 years lost in time.
To also say as a curiosity that the "Guardian Cross" of the sword with the Saxon eagle, José gave it to us to Biff Byford, leader of Saxon, to Didac Metallian López "The Director" of Bathory Zine and to me who has been wearing it as a buckle since the day you gave it to me, great José !!!!
NEVER SURRENDER !!!!
JAVIER BARBA VALLEJO
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