(SPV Records)
If any band stood as a model for Spinal Tap (aside from, let’s be real, early Pink Floyd with all the unintentionally hilarious interviews) it has to be Saxon, although compared to the cookie-cut state of present-day nu-metal this live disk (apparently the 3rd in a series, meaning that somewhere on earth there’s a crazed demand for live Saxon albums) borders on the experimental. Recorded over the course of several European gigs in 2004 and 2005, you’ll be treated to such hard-kickin monkeyshines as “This Town Rocks,” “Warrior,” “Suzie Hold On” and “Never Surrender” (no, not that awful Corey Hart disaster). The songs, if you’re non-old, are sort of like generic soundtrack tunes you’d imagine a Nameless Hard Rock Band playing during a scene in an 80s movie; imagine a European headbang-o-maniac making stretchy faces while shoving a Flying V into the camera’s face and you’re pretty much there.