Solid Ball of Rock is the tenth studio album by heavy metal band Saxon released in 1991 on Virgin Records. Five of its 11 tracks were written by new bassist Nibbs Carter, who co-wrote another three songs.
| Solid Ball of Rock | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 1991[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1990 | |||
| Studio | Karo Studios, Hamburg, Germany | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 44:49 | |||
| Label | CBH/Virgin | |||
| Producer | Kalle Trapp, Saxon | |||
| Saxon chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Solid Ball of Rock | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 4/10[3] |
| Kerrang! | [4] |
| Q | [5] |
| Rock Hard | 9.5/10[6] |
"For our audience – and without an audience there is no band – our focus returned on Solid Ball of Rock…" noted singer Biff Byford. "Since then we've been right on it."[7] Phil Sutcliffe in Q Magazine referred to the album as "a modicum of celebratory rock 'n' roll chest beating".[5]
Track listing edit
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Solid Ball of Rock" | Bram Tchaikovsky, Micki Broadbent | 4:35 |
| 2. | "Altar of the Gods" | Timothy "Nibbs" Carter | 3:30 |
| 3. | "Requiem (We Will Remember)" | Biff Byford, Graham Oliver, Carter, Nigel Glockler | 5:16 |
| 4. | "Lights in the Sky" | Byford, Paul Quinn, Paul Johnson | 4:03 |
| 5. | "I Just Can't Get Enough" | Byford, Oliver, Quinn | 4:34 |
| 6. | "Baptism of Fire" | Carter | 3:08 |
| 7. | "Ain't Gonna Take It" | Byford, Oliver, Carter, Glockler | 4:47 |
| 8. | "I'm on Fire" | Carter | 4:24 |
| 9. | "Overture in B-Minor / Refugee" | Byford, Carter | 5:42 |
| 10. | "Bavarian Beaver" (Instrumental) | Carter | 1:17 |
| 11. | "Crash Dive" | Carter | 3:07 |
| 12. | "Reeperbahn Stomp" (Japanese only bonus track) | Carter | 3:26 |
Personnel edit
- Saxon
- Biff Byford – vocals, engineer
- Graham Oliver – guitar
- Paul Quinn – guitar
- Nibbs Carter – bass guitar
- Nigel Glockler – drums
- Production
Charts edit
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[8] | 23 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[9] | 28 |
References edit
- ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 719. ISBN 9780862415419.
- ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Saxon Solid Ball of Rock". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- ^ Zell, Ray (19 January 1991). "The great rock and ball swindle". Kerrang!. No. 324. p. 25. ISSN 0262-6624. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
- ^ a b Sutcliffe, Phil (5 March 1991). "Solid Ball of Rock review". Q. No. 55. p. 76.
- ^ Albrecht, Frank (1990). "Review Album: Saxon – Solid Ball of Rock". Rock Hard (in German). No. 47. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ Elliott, Paul (August 2016). "The gospel according to Biff Byford". Classic Rock #226. p. 54.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Saxon – Solid Ball of Rock" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Saxon – Solid Ball of Rock". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2018.