Crusader (Saxon album)

Crusader is the sixth studio album by the heavy metal band Saxon released in 1984. The album sold over 2 million copies so far.

Crusader
Cover art by Paul R. Gregory
Studio album by
Saxon
ReleasedFebruary 1984
Recorded1984
StudioSound City Studios, Los Angeles, California, US
GenreHeavy metal
Length39:10
LabelCarrere
ProducerKevin Beamish
Saxon chronology
Power & the Glory
(1983)		 Crusader
(1984)		 Innocence Is No Excuse
(1985)
Singles from Crusader
  1. "Sailing to America / A Little Bit of What You Fancy"
    Released: January 1984
  2. "Do It All for You / Just Let Me Rock"
    Released: March 1984

Songs

Of the title of the album and the title track, bassist Steve Dawson has said that "In England, there's a paper called the Daily Express, and on the logo at the top of the paper, there's a crusader, and there was a car made by Ford called a Cortina Crusader. That's what started it off. We just liked the name "Crusader". We didn't have any connotations of what it meant as far as history goes, but we just liked the name "Crusader", so we just wrote the lyrics to fit the title, really."[1]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal6/10[3]

Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic said that although by the time they released the album, "the band had obviously stopped leading the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with its aggressive, blue-collar biker anthems", the album "as a whole offers a slight improvement over the previous year's Power & the Glory from an overall songwriting perspective".[2] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considered Saxon's turn to "a low-cal, kinder, gentler metal... a well-conceived experiment" and denied those who called Crusader "a failure" and "a bald-faced commercial maneuver", finding the album "refreshing if more than occasionally flawed."[3]

The album reached No. 1 in the metal charts in Sweden, France and Germany. It peaked at #18 in the UK Albums Chart.[4][5] It also charted in the U.S. Billboard chart.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Saxon, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Crusader Prelude" 1:05
2."Crusader" 6:33
3."A Little Bit of What You Fancy" 3:50
4."Sailing to America" 5:03
5."Set Me Free" (Sweet cover)Andy Scott3:13
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Just Let Me Rock" 4:11
7."Bad Boys (Like to Rock N' Roll)" 3:24
8."Do It All for You"Biff Byford, Paul Quinn, Graham Oliver, Steve Dawson, Kevin Beamish4:42
9."Rock City"Byford, Quinn, Oliver, Dawson3:16
10."Run for Your Lives" 3:53
2009 remaster bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Borderline" (Kaley Studio demo 1983) 2:42
12."Helter Skelter" (Kaley Studio demo 1983) 3:35
13."Crusader" (Kaley Studio demo 1983) 6:21
14."Do It All for You" (Kaley Studio demo 1983)Byford, Quinn, Oliver, Dawson, Beamish4:46
15."A Little Bit of What You Fancy" (Kaley Studio demo 1983) 3:10
16."Sailing to America" (Kaley Studio demo 1983) 5:11
17."Set Me Free" (Kaley Studio demo 1983)Scott3:22
18."Just Let Me Rock" (Kaley Studio demo 1983) 4:01
19."Do It All for You (intro)/Run for Your Lives" (Kaley Studio demo 1983)Byford, Quinn, Oliver, Dawson, Beamish4:59

Personnel
Production
  • Kevin Beamish - producer
  • Kevin Beamish - engineer
  • Bruce Barris - engineer
  • Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, California - recording location
  • George Marino - mastering
  • Sterling Sound, New York City - mastering location
  • Paul R. Gregory - artwork

References
  1. "Interview with Graham Oliver and Steve Dawson (OLIVER DAWSON SAXON) - Aero Rock Starz Festival". YouTube. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  2. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Saxon Crusader". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  3. Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 315. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  4. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 483. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. "Saxon | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
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