Losimba
Rock The Nations Was The First Saxon album I got and is still, together with Strong Arm Of The Law and Solid Ball Of Rock, the one I listened to most often. Interestingly, there is not much of a difference in my liking of those three albums, so they all get the same ratings.
Rock The Nations is a solid album with most of the nine songs being just what you can expect from Saxon. There is no real crap song on the album, though You Ain't No Angel is a wee bit below the standard of the other songs. But this little weakness is easily compensated by the two really good songs, namely the title track and the closing ballad Northern Lady, and the one excellent song, in fact my second favourite Saxon song, the funny party track Party Til You Puke. If you want to find out my favourite, watch out at this place!
The production is solid, but not extraordinary. The same can be said about the musicians' work, though especially the quality of Biff Byford's singing is not the most consistent feature on the album. The reason may be that he had to play the bass guitar, too, though this part shows much less of a drop. The total running time of just under 41 minutes is ok for the time of release.
I guess that I might have awarded this album four and a half stars some 25 years ago. Now I prefer more complex sounds and song structures, but Rock The Nations is still above average, which earns it three and a half stars.