Part 33 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!…and CONGRATS TO MAIDEN on your Grammy nomination!
IRON MAIDEN – No More Lies EP (2004, enhanced)
Don’t ask me what qualifies this as an EP and not a single. I don’t know. Anyway, “No More Lies” was from the Dance of Death album, and this EP comes handsomely packed in a cool box with a Maiden wristband. Collectors will want to keep that clean — not for working out in!
The tunes, however, are why you should be buying this, and it is worth buying for the orchestral version of “Paschendale”. One of the best war epics ever written by Iron Maiden (please, bring it back live?), it paints a vivid picture of the trenches during WWI. Guitar melodies dance, and the song is in your head after only one listen. You also get an electric version of “Journeyman”, which was acoustic on the album. I’m not a huge fan of the song “No More Lies” itself. It’s fine but would have been better two minutes shorter.
But what’s this? A hidden track? Yes it is! Nicko McBrain takes lead vocals (!) on a comedic rendering of “Age of Innocence”! We all know Maiden enjoy their joke tunes (“Sheriff of Huddersfield”, “Black Bart Blues”) and it is great to see that they still have a sense of humour.
If you can find it at a decent price (might be hard today), do it.
Dance of Death (Iron Maiden’s 13th studio album and 2nd since the triumphant return of Bruce and Adrian) is yet another monster filled with dramatic metal. Yes, I do find it slightly inferior to the previous album, Brave New World, which was near-perfect for its time. However, Dance of Death should not be dismissed. There are Iron Maiden classics here to rival material from the glory days, plus deep album tracks worth listening to.
First I want to mention the album cover — for the second time, Iron Maiden have done what I consider to be a terrible cover! (I consider the original No Prayer cover to be almost as bad.) I’d never wear this on a T-shirt! This is awful, awful, awful! This is, by far, the worst album cover Maiden have ever used. If you look carefully there are mistakes all over the place, such as the baby’s foot going through the wolf! Fortunately, the inner booklet is much better. Like a ghostly version of the orgy scene in Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, the indifferent band are surround by masked, topless, phantom women.
Onto the music!
I found Bruce Dickinson’s voice on this album to be weaker than Brave New World. My personal feeling at the time (and this is just my opinion) was that the band rushed into recording too soon after touring. As such, Bruce’s voice sounds more worn out, similar to the way it did on No Prayer. The rest of the band is as strong as ever, and all six members write. Even Nicko McBrain, who gets his first-ever writing credit…”Mission From ‘Arry” notwithstanding!
The album starts with the first single, and unfortunately one of the weakest songs. It is the brief Smith/Harris rocker, “Wildest Dreams”. This ain’t a “Wicker Man” nor a “Tailgunner”. It’s lacklustre, and I have no idea why it was chosen as the first single.
The second single “Rainmaker” follows, a much better song. Bruce’s voice seems stronger here. The vocal and guitar melodies are excellent and memorable. Great chorus, great guitar lines, good choice for a single.
“No More Lies” is next, and the only weak thing about the song is that it follows the same formula as the Brave New World tunes — too much repetition in the chorus. There’s only so many times you want to hear, “No more lies, no more lies, no more lies, no more lies!” Alright! I get it already! Bizarrely, this was the third single (technically an EP) even though it’s over 7 minutes long.
Next is the first historical epic of the album, “Montségur”. One of the fastest and heaviest songs on the album, it is lyrically better than it is musically. Musically, it stumbles a bit, with the vocal melodies not fitting quite right and the lyrics sung too fast.
Finally the album really picks up steam with the centerpiece, “Dance of Death”. Beginning slow with some nice clean picked guitar and ‘Arry’s bass, Bruce sings of a strange night when he’d “had one drink, but no more.” This is a classic, a fantastic song lyrically similar to “Number of the Beast” but musically a beast of its own. Some critics likened it a bit too much to “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap. Well, fair enough. It does share some similarities, especially when the dwarves start dancing! But admit it to me: You liked “Stonehenge”, didn’t you? I did!
“Gates of Tomorrow” and “New Frontier” (co-written by McBrain) are up next. Both are strong rockers, typical Maiden album fare. Perhaps nothing that needs to be performed live when your canon is as strong as Maiden’s, but nothing skip-worthy.
“Paschendale” is arguably the best song on the entire album. Another historical war epic, this one was written by Adrian Smth and Steve Harris. It is pure, classic Iron Maiden. Clocking in at 8:28, there is not one dull moment in the entire song. Often I find myself skipping back to hear it again. Lyrically it is very powerful, bringing to mind the muddy stinking conditions of the trenches in World War I. Musically this is among the very best songs Maiden have ever composed. This was also released in an orchestral version but I’ll discuss that later on. (How did they do that eagle screaming sound? Is that a guitar?)
It’s hard to follow a song like that, but “Face In The Sand” is another great album track, memorable and heavy. Again, not really worthy of the live set, but certainly not a bad song by any stretch.
I have always been partial to the rare songs that Dave Murray writes, such as “Deja Vu” or “Still Life”. “Age of Innocence” has a powerful memorable chorus and is a personal favourite. If I had been in charge at EMI, this would have been a single instead of “No More Lies”. After hearing it once, you cannot get the chorus out of your head.
So we only get one chance, can we take it?
And we only get one life, can’t exchange it
Can we hold on to what we have? Don’t replace it
The age of innocence is fading…Like an old dream
The album ends with one of most unique Iron Maiden songs ever written. “Journeyman”, which sounds to me like a Dickinson baby, is a quiet acoustic number with orchestral backing. Don’t call it a ballad! This is a quiet epic, a new kind of Maiden sound that they were able to expand upon in later albums. The choruses are powerfully sung by Bruce. It’s certainly one of the most adventurous tunes Maiden have done, simply because it is so different from anything in their past.
And that’s the album. It is easy to see why Dance of Death does not sit will with some fans. Some of the early songs suffer from repetition again. Bruce’s voice is not as strong as the previous album (to my ears). You have to listen to it multiple times to get into some of the tracks. I can see some fans, whose tastes are more narrow and specific, not wanting to give Dance of Death another chance. That’s a shame because this is a good Iron Maiden album. Not among their top three, or even the top five, but Iron Maiden do not have very many weak albums.
I mentioned the orchestral version of “Paschendale”. There are three singles to be collected from this album:
1. “Wildest Dreams”: B-side was a very funny and rare jam session by Iron Maiden called (ha ha!) “Pass the Jam”. There are also other tunes on the different editions. The CD has an orchestral mix of “Blood Brothers” from Brave New World, while the DVD has a “rock mix” of both “The Nomad” and “Blood Brothers” from the same album. I do not have the DVD single, and Christmas is coming if you feel generous! The orchestral version has, unsurprisingly, more orchestration. The rock mixes are very similar to the album versions, perhaps the rhythm guitars are louder in the mix.
2. “Rainmaker” contained a dramatic orchestral version of “Dance of Death” and a second jam session called “More Tea Vicar”. This is another jokey tune featuring Bruce rapping! The Japanese single, which I recently acquired from eBay (so recently that it actually arrived TODAY) at an excellent price has two exclusive live tracks! It even had the obi strip intact.
The live tracks are 2002 live recordings of “The Wicker Man” and “Children of the Damned” at Brixton, but the vocals on “Wicker Man” aren’t mixed high enough. “Children of the Damned” is in the only live version available featuring the six-man lineup, and my God does it smoke! It really benefits from the three guitars, and Bruce nails that scream at the end. The domestic single lacks these two live tracks. Who wants my old copy of the domestic? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
3. No More Lies: Technically an EP, I’ll do a full review of this one next.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 147: Cassettes Part III – Aaron’s Tale
I first met Aaron in 1996, when I was given my own store to manage. Aaron came in, and as he’s mentioned in his previous guest shots under his pen name Statham, he likes to befriend the local Record Store Guy. That is an excellent way to get the inside scoop on cool new arrivals. But Aaron isn’t a shallow person and this is a friendship that has lasted since then, across many provinces and many years.
Aaron also made sure it was a give and take relationship. I made sure he got good discs at a good price, and he repaid me in kind. But before he made me discs…he made me a cassette.
Foamfoot was a cover band side project featuring Chris Robinson and Marc Ford from the Black Crowes. Back then, Aaron was my Crowes guru. He knew everything, and was eager to share. He made me this cassette, live at the Troubadour. The exact date seems to be a matter of conjecture. Aaron wrote 11/??/94 on the J-card spine. The link above states the show is both 1/08/1994 AND November 1994. So, either a mistake or Chris Robinson is capable of time travel as well as rock n’ roll. Another site states the January date as the correct one.
The setlist features a heady mix of The Band, the Dead, CSNY and many more. Needless to say this is now a legendary concert, and I had the chance to hear it way back in the day of the tape traders!
The concert is now widely available online, making the cassette redundant. Except as a momento of a friendship and good times a long time ago. I’d never part with it for that reason alone. Aaron even provided his own liner notes — that’s David Crosby guesting on “Long Time Gone”.
Plus, if you take a look inside the J-card, you can see what Aaron was listening to before he recorded Foamfoot over this cassette! Apparently Iggy Pop, Gene, Limblifter, Deep Blue Something, Bad Religion and Aimee Mann among others!
Thanks Aaron, I’m glad I found this again.
And this concludes my trip down the memory lane of cassettes from the record store days. Hope you enjoyed!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 146: Cassettes Part II – The Indi Years
Back in the days of the record store and M.E.A.T Magazine, I was into every indi band I could get my hands on. M.E.A.T released a series of discs, four volumes total, called Raw M.E.A.T, showcasing the best in up and coming unsigned Canadian bands. In addition, their magazine featured numerous ads from dozens of bands hawking their demo tapes. Harem Scarem, who later went on to get signed by WEA and had great success in Japan, was one. Unfortunately I never got their demo tape. Just missed it.
One band that I was heavily into was called Russian Blue, from Toronto. They were edgy hard rock. 1/4 Guns N’ Roses, 1/4 Zeppelin, 1/4 Coverdale, and 1/4 their own style. Digging their two demo tapes up (both dated 1991) I was surprised how good this band was. Not only were they good musicians with a truly great singer in Jo E. Donner, but some of the songs were exceptional. They later changed their name to Deadmoon and finally Feel, before finally releasing their own alterna-rock CD called This. (Feel This, get it?) I was seriously into this CD during my first year at the store, as it combined the hard rock vocals that I loved from the past with a current grungier sound. I gave it significant store play, since it was a current hip sound.
Two of their songs that made it onto the Raw M.E.A.T discs were standouts: “Once A Madman” and “Mama’s Love”. But ripping these tapes to disc, I re-discovered two more. The unfortunately titled “Likkin’ Dog” was a great hard rock groover. By the second tape, they were incorporating more experimental alternative sounds (ahead of their game back in 1991) and a track like “Bleed” showcases an angry riffy side.
Donner later formed a band called Ledgend with ex-Slik Toxik drummer Neal Busby, but I don’t know what happened to them after that.
Attitude were a glam rock band from Toronto who scored some video play with their song “Break The Walls Down”. Their cassette looked pro all the way, printed on heavy card stock and even featuring a separate lyric sheet. Their weakness was in the lead vocals department. By 1994 they had abandoned the hard rock stylings and gone for a thrash alternative hybrid and changed their named to Jesus Christ. Probably not a smart move. The CD (released on the major label A&M) looked terribly low budget with awful indi cover art. I recall trying to sell this in our store for 99 cents. (I unfortunately paid $20 for it brand new when it was first released in 1994! Little did I know that we would later see dozens of copies thanks liquidators. They were impossible to sell, even though it boasted a throat-wrenching cover of “Ace of Spades”.)
Lastly, Gypsy Jayne were a very talented group from Oakville Ontario. They released a song under the generic name Wildside on a Raw M.E.A.T CD first. Then they changed their name and put out a cassette. This cassette got a lot of car play back in the record store days, and when we had a tape deck in the store I even gave it some store play. Gypsy Jayne were very much in the mold of Illusions-era Guns N’ Roses. Not terribly original, but their ace in the hole was their classically trained guitarist Johannes Linstead. His talent speaks for itself today, as a nominee for a Juno award and winner of several other prestigious awards. He has several flamenco albums out today, but to me I’ll always remember him as the shredder in Gypsy Jayne, playing alongside the Axl Rose clone Andy Law. (The Gypsy Jayne cassette, Alive and Wandering, has an early flamenco piece called “Romanza”!)
The songwriting on this cassette is really excellent for what it is. Every song is different, but memorable, catchy, and with a distinct direction. If they had come out a year or two earlier, they could have been as big as L.A. Guns, Cinderella, or any of those bands.
Unfortunately, this cassette was well loved and well worn, and is barely listenable today. Hey Johannes…any chance of a reissue?
RECORD STORE TALES Part 145: Cassettes Part I – T-Rev’s Tapes
I’m sure this comes as no surprise, but back in the day, us Record Store Dudes were expert mix tape makers. I’ve been making mix tapes since I got my first dual cassette deck, back in 1985. It was a Sanyo. Thanks mom & dad.
I made all sorts of mix tapes. I made mixes of whatever tunes I was into at the time. I made mix tapes for girls that I liked, sneaking in the odd commercial Judas Priest tune like “Parental Guidance” in order to sway them to the dark side. I made greatest hits tapes. I distinctly remember an Ace Frehley greatest hits tape I made, 90 minutes. The first 5 songs were classic Kiss hits that he sang. The next 5 were from his first solo album. Then on side two, 5 songs from Frehley’s Comet and 5 from Second Sighting. I also made a Kiss hits tape from the post-Double Platinum period, basically all the singles from Dynasty through to Asylum.
When I first met T-Rev almost a decade later (1994), I had met a kindred spirit. He was doing the same thing! He made hits mixes for Guns N’ Roses. The Four Horsemen. Van Halen. And so on and so forth. But in a lot of ways, he had taken it to the next level.
Trevor had an artistic ability above and beyond me, he was really really good at art. That’s why we used to get him to make all our store signage. So it probably should have been no surprise to me that he put equal effort into his cover art. He did a beautiful job on the Guns and Van Halen mixes!
Somehow these ended up in my possession. I don’t even remember how anymore, but here they are. It looks to me like not only did T-Rev did awesome cover art, but he numbered all his mixes and must have had a numerical filing system. The Guns mix appears to be a Part II, and is #34 in his library. Van Halen must have followed shortly behind at #38. I also ended up with an early mix of his, number #14, called What De Hell!!
I’m really glad that I found these! It brings back a lot of memories of the early days at the record store. There was no such thing as blank CD’s yet, and even if there was, T-Rev didn’t have a computer to burn one on yet. Tapes were our canvas, and they even had a longer running time than a CD. 90 minutes was our standard, but you could even go as high as 100 without losing too much sound quality.
Not that there was much sound quality!
Thanks for loaning these to me T-Rev! If you still have something to play them on, I’ll send ’em back to ya if you want them!
EUROPE – Prisoners In Paradise (1991, 2001 reissue)
Ugh.
I know people who love this album, and admittedly it has a couple good songs on it. However, by this time Europe had lost their identity. They were now openly pursuing a commercial American sound, and it shows. The regality of old Europe was now only audible on a handful of tracks. On some, they were attempting to milk the ZZ Top cow. This is by their own admission. On other songs, you can mistake them for Roxette!
I had always loved Europe, and could not wait for the fifth album. Three years in the waiting, when Prisoners of Paradise finally dropped I snapped it up. Produced by Beau Hill (one of my least favourite metal producers of all time, ruining almost every band he touched, hello Twisted Sister!) and mixed in “Q Sound” (remember that?) I was immediately taken aback. Europe did promise a “heavier” album, and in a sense, this has more guitars. However, heavy is not the word I would have chosen. The album is overproduced, overpolished, and contrived. With a few notable exceptions, the riffs don’t stand out and the songs just drown in a morass of gang vocals courtesy of Hill’s horrendous production.
“All Or Nothing” (co-written by Mr. Big’s Eric Martin), the opening track, is a great example of this. Yeah, sure, it’s based on guitars rather than keys. However, this is a pop song! Track two, “Halfway to Heaven”, co-written by Jim Vallance sounds exactly like Roxette. My Roxette-loving sister adored this song. “I’ll Cry For You” is a way, way, way overproduced ballad. No wonder the band preferred their later acoustic rendering of it. “Little Bit Of Loving” is just a bad song, too American sounding for this band, not worthy of the name Europe. “Talk To Me” isn’t bad, and “The Seventh Sign” is at least heavier, but not a particularly memorable song.
That ended side one of the original album. Side two began with the first really good song, “Prisoners in Paradise”. This ballad-like anthem is still overproduced, but it at least breathes and is irresistibly catchy. I just don’t get that dumb, spoken word opening. “Man, I just wanna be somebody!” Come on, guys. Let’s not write down to “the kids”. (Why did bands always refer to their fans as “the kids”?)
“Bad Blood” sucks. “Homeland” is not bad, and could have fit in on the previous album Out Of This World. It’s a decent song, and the lyrics at least sound heartfelt rather than contrived. This however is followed by the absolute worst song on an already dreadful album: The ZZ Top inspired “Got Your Mind In The Gutter”. The lyrics: dumb. The riff: stale. The chorus: awful. Terrible song. We’re almost near the end, and “Til My Heart Beats Down Your Door”, although a bit too soft, has a pulse.
Europe at least had the class to write one classic great song and end the album with it: “Girl From Lebanon”. It grooves, but not in a cheesy contrived way like the rest of the album. The chorus is irresistible It’s a great song, and the only truly 100% great song on the album. This one has the regal Europe sound that I missed. They still play it live.
Remastered versions of the album throw on two bonus tracks, both nondescript and not memorable: “Mr. Government Man” and “Long Time Comin'”. No matter how many times I’ve played the CD, these two songs refuse to stick to my brain.
Commercially, Europe’s fifth album was a complete dud, and sounded that much more stupid in the wake of its competition. Not that Europe could have foreseen this, but Nevermind, Ten, and Badmotorfinger drove this album into the dirt. Fans were eager to soak up something more heavy, heartfelt and real. While Europe’s goal here was to “heavy up” their sound (this is the direction that metal was going in previous months anyway) they were completely lapped by the new kids on the block. And then came a decade-long hiatus.
The good news is that Europe came back with original member John Norum on guitar for 2003’s excellent Start From The Dark, one of their best records.
2/5 stars
Lineup – Joey Tempest, vocals. Kee Marcello, guitars. Mic Michaeli, keys. Ian Haugland, drums. John Levén , bass.
“If you have purchased this then you have no doubt heard of Iron Maiden at some point during the band’s career over the last two-and-a-half decades.” – from the liner notes by Steve Harris
Clearly this CD (released simultaneous with the Eddie’s Archive box set) was not designed for the existing Iron Maiden fans. The die hards were not the intended target market, they got the box set to satisfy them.
In fact, Maiden wisely made the cover art (a ho-hum piece by someone named Tom Adams) available for free download. They knew some fans would just want it, and didn’t to force them to shell out for an album full of songs they already had. Again.
Yes, this was Maiden’s third compilation CD since 1996’s Best of the Beast. To keep things interesting, at least they shook up the format a bit. Unlike Beast, this is not a career spanning anthology. Unlike Ed Hunter, the fans did not vote on the tracks. Edward the Great was a simple chronological compilation of singles from 1982 to Brave To World. It ends with a recent track, a live version of “Fear of the Dark” from 2001’s Rock In Rio disc. I don’t understand the lack of Di’Anno tracks while still including two Bayley songs.
(NOTE: Maiden have also re-released the disc with an updated tracklist. I don’t have that, so I can’t really talk about it. Except to say it still has Blaze stuff on it!)
There’s an attractive booklet but not enough pictures. For a CD called Edward the Great, I think a few Eddies from the past would be in order. Oh well.
With the exception of the Blaze material, which simply breaks up the flow of the disc, every song belongs here. You could argue about exclusions, certainly. Most conspicuous by its absence is “Aces High”. You could also make a case for including the original studio version of “Fear of the Dark”. Playing Devil’s advocate, perhaps Maiden included the live version to demonstrate the power of an Iron Maiden concert to the initiated.
Whatever the case may be, as a greatest hits set I find this one lacking a bit. Considering the format, I would have chosen to call it the “Bruce years” and remove the Blaze tracks. Then you’d have room for two more classic singles (perhaps “Aces High”, “Tailgunner”, or “Be Quick of Be Dead”. As it stands I don’t understand excluding Di’Anno classics in favour of more recent Blaze material (two songs that they weren’t playing live anymore anyway).
Next in line of my reviews from Record Store Excursion 2012! Check out the video below if you missed it. This one bought at Sonic Boom Music for a measly $7.99! Thanks, Sonic Boom!
MIKE AND AARON GO TO TORONTO
ALICE COOPER – Lace and Whiskey (1977)
I’m a big fan of some of these “lost” Alice records, the ones that might not be considered the big hits, from his late 70’s alcoholidaze. Alice Cooper Goes To Hell was a really cool record, one I like a lot despite its disco tendencies. Lace and Whiskey followed it a year later. This is actually Alice’s third solo record, post-Alice Cooper Band. (I talked about the disintegration of that band in a previous Record Store Tale, see the video blog below!)
Alice tends to write his albums in terms of themes: Alice in school, Alice having a nightmare, Alice horror. This time, Alice takes the guise of a heavy drinking detective!
It’s another diverse platter, from honky-tonk (“Damned if You Do”) to more disco and flamboyant balladry that Alice had become known for. I don’t find there to be a weak track on the whole album. I’m not a huge fan of the ballad “You And Me”, as it’s hard to compete with a tune like “Only Women Bleed” or even “I Never Cry”. But it was a hit for Alice, and it’s certainly not bad. It even made the Muppet Show. Who can forget Alice dueting with a peacock? Or whatever that is.
The whole album drips of Ezrin-isms, you can hear his touch on every track. From rich orchestras, horns, choirs, and the well-honed arrangements he was known for, this album could not have happened without Ezrin. Indeed, he co-wrote all but two songs.
“King of the Silver Screen” is a great example of a Cooper/Ezrin/Dick Wagner composition. It has that dramatic Ezrin touch, Alice’s Hollywood-homage lyrics, with a rock guitar riff that serves to anchor the whole thing. And what’s with those little musical segues there? I love when Ezrin does stuff like that!
I love “Ubangi Stomp” too. It’s a 1950’s boogie with Alice doing his best Elvis. Just great! Plus who else could possibly utilize the word “Ubangi” in popular music? Alice, that’s who.
Lace and Whiskey is surely one of the most diverse Alice records, and that is one thing I love about Alice. I even like the disco song. Yes, I like the disco song! No genre is sacred, nothing safe from his sabre. But it’s all in good fun. Nobody gets hurt.
Nobody but Alice, who checked into a mental institution shortly after this tour, to deal with his alcohol problems. But that’s another story.
The tendency from many mainstream music critics is to rate these mid-period Alice albums poorly. But why? The songs are good, they just don’t rock as hard. Disco? So what? One of Kiss’ best albums was a disco album.
So a middle finger to the mainstream critics. I like Lace and Whiskey and I’m glad I found it at a cheap price. Thanks, Sonic Boom!
Ahh, December. Christmas! Traditionally, it’s a time when people used to come in, by the masses, looking for whatever that season’s one hit wonder was. I was just thinking today about this goof that’s out right now, this Psy person. I was thinking about how people are probably buying his song like there’s no tomorrow this season. Then in the new year, when his 15 minutes are up, he’ll be in every bargain bin across the nation.
A similar thing happened in 1999. You might remember a one hit flash in the pan called Lou Bega. A little number called “Mambo #5”.
I had the unfortunate experience of having to hear his album over and over that season. Y’see, it’s not just the general public that was going for that one hit wonder crap, there were also a couple record store people too. (For shame!) I won’t say who subjected us to this album, numerous times, but she knows who she is.
It’s because of her that I know there’s also another song on Lou Bega’s album called “1+2=2”, which is basically the exact same song as “Mambo #5”, just with different words.
As is always the case, in the new year, we couldn’t give that sucker away. As it sat collecting dust on our shelves, one of our customers put it succinctly:
“Lou Bega? Huh huh huh…more like Lou Beggin’ for Change!”
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