IRON MAIDEN – “The Number of the Beast” (2005 CD/vinyl single)
I’ve decided, much like my idol Martin Popoff, to stick pretty much to audio releases when it comes to this series of Maiden reviews. To get into video just opens a big can of worms that I don’t think I can handle. However worth mentioning is the excellent Maiden DVD The Early Days.
A two-disc set, The Early Days combines an excellent documentary with lots of rare early Maiden footage featuring Di’Anno and Dickinson. Live At The Rainbow, Beast Over Hammersmith (audio available on Eddie’s Archive), Live In Dortmund, and Live at the Ruskin Arms are all a part of this, as well as some videos and Top of the Pops performances. The documentary chronicles the early days and features interviews with ex members Paul Di’Anno, Clive Burr, Dennis Stratton, Dave Sullivan, Terry Rance, Doug Sampson, Ron “Rebel” Matthews, Terry Wapram and Bob Sawyer. There are very few members missing from this documentary; most notably singers Paul Day and Den Wilcock, and drummer Thunderstick.
The following year, Maiden re-released “The Number of the Beast” as a CD single, with an advertisement promoting The Early Days on the back. Therefore I’ve decided to consider this single as promotional to The Early Days, which also contains the video for “Beast”.
The tracklisting is as follows:
“The Number of the Beast” (original version)
“The Number of the Beast” (live at Brixton ’02)
“Hallowed Be That Name” (live at Brixton ’02)
plus videos:
“The Number of the Beast” (Camp Chaos version — essentially has added animations)
“The Number of the Beast” (live at Brixton ’02)
I also have a red vinyl 7″ single with a lovely poster. This one just contains the two versions of “Beast”.
These live tracks being ’02, they featuring the six-man lineup of Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Adrian Smith, and Nicko McBrain.
So what can I say as far as an actual review goes? Well, it’s Maiden live in ’02, two of their all time best tracks. “Hallowed” in particular smokes with fiery solos by Dave and Janick. Janick simply burns up the fretboard with the kind of speedy fingerwork that the fans love him for. Bruce is in top voice.
As a nice little extra bonus single for the fans, I have no complaints.
We had a staff Halloween party in the late 1990’s. T-Rev had this cool “alien head” — he got it back in ’97 or ’98 from a convenience store. It had alien head suckers inside. He asked the guy at the store, “how much for the alien head?” The guy answered, “If you buy all the suckers in it, you can have it.” So he did.
The candy was awful by the way. I did my share, trying to help him consume it all.
But he got this alien head out of it, and with it, made a cool alien costume. And for the Halloween party that year, I wore the costume.
We had one girl at the store who had a phobia of aliens. I’d never heard of that before. We found it amusing, so after she got to the party, I came up the stairs wearing the alien costume. Well, she was just terrified. We thought it would be funny, but it wasn’t funny. If I could go back and change that, I would. It was a dick move on our part.
I don’t know the story behind the alien phobia, but back then I didn’t believe in aliens. I subscribed to Carl Sagan’s theories. I was a big fan of his book The Demon Haunted World. I simply didn’t think there was any evidence for alien visitation, nor did I think it was possible. Speed of light and all that.
Since that time I’ve read a lot of books. Stanton T. Friedman was the most convincing. A nuclear physicist has credentials that are difficult to dismiss, and he makes convincing cases. I’ve also read Whitley Strieber, Jenny Randles, and many others. I’ve come to the undeniable conclusion that some UFO sightings are real. Most are hoaxes. I’m not interested in those.
But what the hell does this have to do with music?
Aliens and UFO’s have provided subject matter for numerous classic rock and metal songs. Sammy Hagar’s a believer, and he’s incorporated that into some of his lyrics. Mick Mars is a hardcore believer. Blue Oyster Cult’s “Take Me Away” is a great example. Fu Manchu’s “King of the Road”. There’s many more.
In my years of collecting though, I have never found a better set of lyrics on the subject than side 1 of Bruce Dickinson’s excellent Tyranny of Souls album. Kevin, an employee, picked me up a copy at HMV Toronto back when they still sold Japanese imports. That was the cool thing about working in a record store. We helped each other out.
Bruce Dickinson is clearly a believer. I suspect he’s read his share of Von Daniken. Witness the lyrics to “Mars Within”:
Mankind returns to the stars But sometimes, the stars return to mankind… Didn’t you come this way before, a million years ago?
Although there’s also a reference to Professor Bernard Quatermass in the same piece, it’s easy to associate these lines with Von Daniken’s theories on ancient aliens.
But there’s so much more on the same album. “Abduction”:
Are you the truth to sit in judgement on my sins Evil laser gadgets come to penetrate my skin
The next song, “Soul Intruders”, is more abstract but contains clear space references about the “solar wind” and “cosmic streams of time”. But one really cool lyric is “Kill Devil Hill” which combines these themes with the Wright Brothers and first flight. Everyone knows Bruce is a pilot and is interested in the history of aviation. The Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, is where the Wrights were the first to achieve heavier than air powered flight. But the lyrics hint at more:
Blood brothers of angels, now hear us We earthbound your offspring, don’t fear us God willing, we’ll raise up, be near you So open your arms now and take us
To me, Bruce is referring to the aliens as the “blood brothers of angels”, and mankind as its offspring. This too is a common theme in UFO lore. Some believe that, at minimum, aliens have manipulated our DNA and directly interfered with our evolution. There’s no proof of course, but that’s not my point. I’m just looking at the lyrics and their inspirations.
The final song of these sci-fi themes on the album is “Navigate the Seas of the Sun”. Bruce even paraphrases Albert Einstein:
If God is throwing dice, And Einstein doesn’t mind the chance We’ll navigate the seas of the sun
Einstein once said, “As I have said so many times, God doesn’t play dice with the world.” Einstein was talking about quantum mechanics and its seemingly random predictions. But what Bruce seems to be saying is, if Einstein’s wrong about the universe, then there’s a chance we can break the speed of light and journey to the stars.
Later on in the same song, Bruce changes up the wordplay:
If Einstein’s throwing dice, and God, he doesn’t mind the chance We’ll navigate the seas of the sun
I love this.
The song is loaded with all sorts of beautiful sci-fi wordplay. The song is clearly about leaving Earth behind:
So we go and will not return To navigate the seas of the sun Our children will go on and on To navigate the seas of the sun
This conjures up the image of multi-generational ships that may be necessary to colonize other worlds. The song in general brings to mind the Arthur C. Clark novel The Songs of Distant Earth. Eventually, our sun will use up all its fuel. This is inevitable. It’s physics. If humanity is to survive (if we even last that long) we will have no choice but to find another world to live on. Earth will be fried to a cinder when it goes nova and turns into a red giant.
We can’t go on tomorrow Living death by gravity Couldn’t stand it anymore We’ll sail our ships to distant shores
Death by gravity is another theme that Clarke explored in his books. He felt that we could extend our lives by leaving this cradle and living in zero gravity. Now we know that living in zero gravity deteriorates our bones, possibly to the point of no return. So should we go on to explore the stars, this is an obstacle that must be overcome.
I’m grateful to Kevin for supplying the Japanese version of Tyranny of Souls, but I’m really, really sorry to the girl that we scared with the alien costume! With the benefit of hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it if I knew then what I believe today.
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.
“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).
IRON MAIDEN – Eddie’s Archive (2002, limited edition)
Eddie’s Archive was released simultaneously with another (!) greatest hits compilation called Edward The Great. We’ll talk about that one next. This is the real meat of it all!
This box set defines limited edition. I’m not sure how many copies were made, but the first printing with blue inlay was sold out nearly immediately. That’s the version I have. It was soon reissued with a red inlay to differentiate it, but even it is long out of print.
Inside you will find three individually packaged jewel cases, each containing 2 CDs for a total of 6 discs. These three “double albums” (for lack of a better term) are:
BBC Archives Beast Over Hammersmith Best of the B’Sides
The main reason to buy this set are the first two albums, BBC Archives and Beast Over Hammersmith. To me, the Best of the B’Sides only scratches the surface of the treasures to be found on the numerous Iron Maiden singles and EP’s. And as loyal LeBrain readers know, I’ve talked about ’em all.
BBC Archives contains numerous goodies. It starts off with a rare four song session by an ealy version of Maiden featuring Doug Sampson (drums) and Tony Parsons (guitar). Listening to “Sanctuary” as an example, you can tell it’s a guitar player you’re not familiar with. This is Parsons’ only recording with Maiden, but “Sanctuary” was previously released on the very rare NWOBHM compilation that Lars Ulrich put together. I love the pure fire and raw youth of these early recordings. “Transylvania” feels very different from its album incarnation. You can tell it’s a different drummer. And of course since it is the BBC, they are expertly recorded.
From there it’s a scorching ’82 set with Dickinson at Reading. Then back to 1980 for a Di’Anno Reading set, and finally to 1988 for a Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour (Donington) recording. All of these are pure smoke and it’s great to hear Bruce in peak voice. Unfortunately, on this album alone, you will hear “Iron Maiden” four times! It is what it is. You wouldn’t want them to leave any tracks out, would you?
Next disc has the ’82 Hammersmith show. A couple tracks from these were issued as B-sides on the “Run To The Hills” single from Rock In Rio. Anyway, like the BBC discs, this is pure smoke. It is a pleasure to finally have a full concert with Clive Burr on drums and Bruce in top form. Of course you will hear “Iron Maiden” and numerous others again. With a box set of this nature it’s inevitable. If you’re a Maiden fan, you don’t care. Do you?
Finally, the B’Sides. Everything here has been made available before on singles. There is nothing truly “unreleased” here as far as Maiden goes. There’s also nothing that is previously unreleased on CD unfortunately, like Maiden Japan or “I Live My Way” from the “Man On The Edge” 12″ single. For me, these discs are more just a “best of”. There are some cool tracks here such as the Montrose cover “I’ve Got The Fire”. (Maiden chose Dickinson’s version rather than Di’Anno’s, which is fine.) Other highlights include the pop metal goodness of “That Girl” and “Reach Out”, as well as originals such as “Burning Ambition” and “Invasion”. The covers that Maiden selects are mostly obscure enough (Nektar? Marshall Fury?) that they may as well be originals.
Then you get some of Maiden’s little-known jokey material: “Sheriff of Huddersfield” for example. I’m not sure how well it works as an overall listen. I prefer the singles in their original context, personally. As I mentioned, this is far from a complete set, and you can argue all you like for what you would have included. Certainly you can make solid arguments in favour of the Thin Lizzy cover “Massacre” or the rare “I Live My Way”.
Each CD jewel case features its own extensive booklet with photos, Derek Riggs cover art, and liner notes, with the exception of Beast Over Hammersmith. That one contains a booklet which is a reproduction of the original tour programme! Works for me! Otherwise, there is no book for the box set itself.
What you do get includes a neat scroll with the Iron Maiden family tree on it, wrapped inside a metal ring. (I’m sure this family tree is loaded with errors like the previous one included inside A Real Dead One, I’ve never bothered to check.) You also get this cool shot glass with Eddie’s face in the bottom. A cool treat. The box itself is a shiny tin masterpiece. It snaps shut securely and it is very detailed and cool looking.
What are you willing to pay for this set? That’s entirely up to you, but if you don’t have it, expect to pay through the teeth. Personally, to me it’s all about the music. Decide how much you’re willing to pay for approximately four discs of previously unreleased Maiden and purchase accordingly.
With Bruce coming back and all, you just knew Maiden had to do a live album. It would have been a great disservice not to do one.
Almost everyone and their pet Schnauzers will agree that Live After Death is the greatest live Maiden album of all time. Some might even argue it’s the greatest live metal album of all time. I would gladly invite any of those people over for perogies and conversation.
Where we start to differ is, what is the second best live Maiden album?
This is just LeBrain’s opinion, but I say it’s Rock In Rio.
I do remember carrying this in store when it was released in March 2002. I also remember some customers saying, “Yeah, I’m not buying this one. I don’t know any of these songs!”
Maybe they’d been living under a rock and missed the awesome Brave New World CD? Whatever the case may be, I’m not the type that likes to buy the same live album over and over again. Give me tracks that have never been released in live versions before. Let me hear the new stuff, when it’s good enough to be on a live album. And having enough good new stuff was not a problem for Maiden after Brave New World.
Maiden bravely started with an opening salvo of fresh music: the first three songs from Brave New World: “The Wicker Man”, “Ghost of the Navigator”, and the title track itself. And the Brazilians went nuts. Singing along at the top of their lungs, they clearly didn’t have the problem of not knowing the songs like my customers did!
Then, wisely, Maiden dug way back and pulled “Wrathchild” and Adrian’s classic “2 Minutes To Midnight” out of the hat. And it sure is great finally hearing the old stuff played by the Three Amigos. The three guitar lineup works so well, that I definitely never want Maiden to go back to two.
Another newbie is up next, “Blood Brothers”. Once again, the crowd goes crazy singing along. It must have been an incredibly loud night.
“Sign of the Cross” is the one I had been waiting for. Anybody who felt that all the Blaze Bayley material would have been about 150 times better with Bruce singing will be happy campers. “Sign of the Cross” is a brilliant song that finally reached it full potential with Bruce at the mic. There is simply no comparison.
“The Mercenary” from Brave New World, and “The Trooper” provide a much needed fast-paced adrenaline boost after spending 10 minutes on the epic “Sign of the Cross”. Bruce begins “The Trooper” with a stanza from Tennyson’s poem, but once he starts singing the crowd follows every word! It’s hard to imagine how you could have even heard the band if you were in that crowd that night.
A couple more songs of recent vintage kick off disc 2. “Dream of Mirrors” is one I personally could have done without, as its 10 minute length could have been taken up by two shorter songs. But the crowd doesn’t seem to mind, clapping and screaming along with Bruce’s nightmare. And then, “The Clansman”. Once again, if anybody felt that the song never came to life with Blaze singing, then listen up. This is a song that was built for performing live.
“Freedom!” And once again, Rio goes wild.
And that’s it for the new stuff. It’s nothing but back to back hits on the home stretch: “The Evil That Men Do”, “Fear of the Dark”, “Iron Maiden”, “Number”, “Hallowed”, “Sanctuary”, and of course “Run to the Hills”.
Production by Kevin Shirley is crisp, clear, with great separation of the three guitars in the stereo field. Absolutely no complaints. And if that’s not good enough for ya, you can get the whole thing on a nice (5.1 surround) DVD package too. The DVD in fact has some cool behind the scenes footage of all six Maiden members killing time. Adrian likes to fish, for example. It’s a chance to get to know all six members as people.
The single was “Run to the Hills” (again — third time this song was chosen as a single!) but I’m not going to bother discussing the B-sides too much. While they are great, great vintage live recordings from 1982 with Clive Burr on drums, all of them were issued later on the massive Eddie’s Archive box set, as part of a live disc (and that happens to be our next stop anyway). Check out the photos below for the tracklists. “Total Eclipse”! I like the painting of Bruce as Eddie.
“Scream for me Brazil!” And scream they did. And unless you’re stuck in the 1980’s like many of my old customers, you will too.
Ed Hunter tour complete, the returned Bruce Dickinson and the boys hit the studio. Steve had already begun writing several new songs while Blaze was still in the band. Several of these made it onto the new album, with Bruce singing them instead.
Brave New World features the brand new three guitar lineup of Gers, Murray and Smith (aka “The Three Amigos”) for the first time in the studio. Steve Harris had flirted with a three guitar lineup very early in Maiden’s career. The original Iron Maiden lineup consisted of two guitar players named Terry Rance and Dave Sullivan. Neither were standout solists, but Dave Murray was. Harris’ concept was to bring in Murray as a third guitarist to solo over the other two. The other two didn’t like that idea and they split. Since then, fans have wondered what Maiden would sound like with three guitars. Wonder no more.
Brave New World is also the first full Maiden album produced by Kevin “Caveman” Shirley (he did the “Wraithchild” promo single prior to this), and features cover art partially done by original Maiden artist Derek “Dr. Death” Riggs. Anticipation ran high!
I was not disappointed.
Starting off with “The Wicker Man”, the first single, you can instantly hear all of Adrian’s style and substance. It’s such a welcome sound. “The Wicker Man” has a slightly-“Two Minutes To Midnight”-styled riff, which leads into this short catchy blast of awesome. “Your time will come!”
From there, it’s the slow and heavier “Ghost of the Navigator”, an equally strong song. Then, the title track “Brave New World” has chiming guitars, and soft verses with heavy choruses. It suffers from Repetive Chorus Syndrome, something that has really dogged Maiden since The X Factor. Lyrically it seems to be an environmental theme, continuing with the real-world based style of writing from the previous albums.
Steve Harris’ “Blood Brothers” is next, which once again suffers from the repetitive chorus. Otherwise, a strong song. “Side 1” of the vinyl version ended with the lethal “The Mercenary”, fast and deadly.
“Side 2” kicked off with an epic track, “Dream of Mirrors”. Clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, it’s one of Maiden’s greater epics. I would place this one pretty low on the list, especially with the repetitive chorus of “I only dream in black and white, I only dream when I’m alive, I only dream in black & white to save me from myself.” OK then.
“The Fallen Angel” is next, and even though Bruce didn’t write it, I find it somewhat similar to some of the stuff on his Accident of Birth album. Then, another 9 minute epic! “The Nomad” is slightly middle eastern in sound, something they previously explored on “To Tame A Land” and “Powerslave”. It is not, however, a standout track.
Second single “Out of the Silent Planet” is a cool sci-fi track about alien invasion. This is a fast one with one of those Dickinson choruses that you never forget. It was written by Bruce with Janick and Steve. I’m quite fond of this song
The album closes with “The Thin Line Between Love and Hate”, almost 9 minutes in length and an underrated classic. I love the sparse ending to this song. You can really hear the guitars. And Nicko’s outro! “I fucking missed it!”
I love the three guitars. It was a brilliant idea to have Adrian come back, but nobody else have to leave. Adrian Smith is the melodic one who writes his solos out in advance. Janick Gers is the manic, spontaneous one whose solos frequently sound out of control. Dave Murray is somewhere between the two, with melodic, but barely-in-control trademark Maiden guitars. With this mix, the solos are deliciously diverse and you can identify each player.
Shirley did a fine job on production, lending Maiden a powerful modern sound with big, big drums and clear, sparkling guitars.
There were of course singles to collect. And collect them I did. The fine cover art (some of the Maiden’s best in my opinion) was done by Mark Wilkinson, of Marillion/Fish fame.
1. “The Wicker Man” singles, parts 1 & 2 which featured the cool “Wicker Man” video, as well as several live tracks from the reunion “Ed Hunter” tour. Of note were several Blaze era songs with Bruce singing. This is the only place you can hear Bruce belting out “Futureal” and “Man on the Edge”. They are also home to two smokin’ versions of the classics “Powerslave” and the awesome “Killers”.
2. “Out Of The Silent Planet” single, which had that video, and two more tracks from the “Ed Hunter” tour: “Wasted Years” and “Aces High”. With Adrian back in the band, this version of “Wasted Years” is superior to the one on the “Hallowed By Thy Name” single.
Here we go again! Let’s continue. Part 28 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!
IRON MAIDEN – Ed Hunter / “Wrathchild 1999” (1999 video game/compilation)
Blaze Bayley was done. Maybe it was the performances. Maybe it was time for a change. Whatever had happened, Steve Harris decided it was time for Iron Maiden to get a new singer. Manager Rod Smallwood told him to meet with Bruce Dickinson, who wanted to make a return to Maiden and finish his career properly. Harris was skeptical. If Bruce quit once before, why would he want to come back?
After meeting with Bruce, Steve decided it was the right move. But it wasn’t as simple as that. Adrian Smith was in Bruce’s solo band, and Steve wanted him, too.
“Does that mean Janick goes?” asked Adrian, who was very much against the idea of forcing Janick Gers out of the band that he had spent the last decade in.
“No,” said Steve. “I want a three-guitar lineup.”
And thus was formed the guitar trio known to metal fans worldwide as The Three Amigos.
Iron Maiden, with Bayley, had already been working on the Ed Hunter video game. It was Maiden’s second attempt since the aborted Melt game was announced. In fact, in the game, it is Blaze’s head that you must find, not Bruce Dickinson’s. This hardly mattered in light of the massive news of a highly anticipated reunion tour featuring Bruce, Adrian, Steve, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, and Nicko McBrain. This was not a one-off, Steve Harris made it clear that if you’re back in Maiden, you’re back for good. This was timed to coincide with the release of the game which also doubled as a Maiden compilation album — their second, since Best of the Beast.
This time it was a little different. To make it special, fans were permitted to vote for which songs were to appear on the disc, 20 tracks total over two discs. Since the 20 Maiden classics here were voted for online by the hard core fans, there is a fantastic balance of Maiden tunes from every era. There are no other Maiden compilations that feature such a heady brew of Paul Di’Anno, Bruce Dickinson, and Blaze Bayley era material.
It’s nice to hear such underrated classics as “Phantom Of The Opera” alongside semi-forgotten later material like “Tailgunner”. So many personal favourites are on here, including “Stranger In A Strange Land”, that I almost feel as if I put this disc together myself! They kick it off with the immortal Live After Death version of “Iron Maiden”; appropriate given that this compilation supported a greatest hits tour.
But that’s not all folks. Now that Bruce was back, it would be nice to promote that with a single. So, Maiden remixed “Wrathchild” with a brand new Bruce Dickinson lead vocal on it. The remix was done by Kevin Shirley, Maiden’s new producer and the man behind the boards of Journey’s Trial By Fire album. Since the original version of “Wrathchild” is already on the disc, this is a true bonus track, a little extra for the fans dying to get a preview of the reunited Maiden.
But it was a bonus only included on the US version of Ed Hunter, a version that was priced well over $40 in Canada. I found a “Wrathchild 1999” promo CD on eBay as well.
But how’s the game? Well, keep in mind it’s well over a decade old now. I don’t even know if it will run on a modern computer. It’s a first person shooter, with Maiden music in the background. You get to do combat in the environments of Maiden’s formative years in London, within their album covers, and if you’re lucky you might even run into Eddie. Personally, I never got that far. It’s a pretty challenging game and I’ve never made it very far. I enjoy it though, something about plowing through a bunch of monsters while “Phantom Of The Opera” is playing in the background is real fun.
Ed Hunter is not a “Doom” style first person shooter. I do not know the term for this type of game, but you do not have freedom of movement in the environments. It’s like a shooting gallery game.
I personally enjoyed Ed Hunter quite a bit. I used to take the game out to have a go every once in a while, and I still dust off the CDs for a rocking good time in the car. These discs make an excellent road compilation. I remember driving a bunch of people to a Record Store party (I was always the D.D.) with this on, and it went over very well! Overall I think it’s definitely a worthwhile purchase, if you can track one down at a reasonable price.
In the meantime, Maiden had to prove their mettle by making a new studio album…
I’m not sure where I stand on this band. Brittany Paige’s vocals are hit or miss for me. I realize she’s classically trained and all that. Doesn’t mean I have to automatically like it.
Regardless, I think it’s cool that they chose “The Wicker Man” to cover. Check it out below, starting at the 9 minute mark. It’s not a bad cover, but nobody can touch Bruce Dickinson.
A two-disc set, The Early Days combines an excellent documentary with lots of rare early Maiden footage featuring Di’Anno and Dickinson. Live At The Rainbow, Beast Over Hammersmith (audio available on Eddie’s Archive), Live In Dortmund, and Live at the Ruskin Arms are all a part of this, as well as some videos and Top of the Pops performances. The documentary chronicles the early days and features interviews with ex members Paul Di’Anno, Clive Burr, Dennis Stratton, Dave Sullivan, Terry Rance, Doug Sampson, Ron “Rebel” Matthews, Terry Wapram and Bob Sawyer. There are very few members missing from this documentary; most notably singers Paul Day and Den Wilcock, and drummer Thunderstick.
mikeladano.com 