Iron Maiden

Beast Over Hammersmith: Harrison Hosts and Mike Learns!

Episode 6 of 50 Years of Iron Maiden (and episode 93 of Grab A Stack of Rock) was a learning experience as Harrison schooled us on the Beast On the Road Tour.

A fabulous live album recorded in 1982 but not released until 2002, Beast Over Hammersmith rivals Live After Death in metal mastery.  The lively comments section anticipated all of our praise for this album, which you can get on vinyl, but probably not on CD without buying the Eddie’s Archive box set.

Harrison Kopp was the master of ceremonies, and this episode was all his.  Hear about the unusual opener, the instrumental, the guitar solo, the B-side, and much more.  Several things came up multiple times in this episode:  1) Bruce Dickinson’s voice at this point in 1982.  2) Clive Burr’s masterful performances of these songs.  3) The band’s fresh take on the songs that would later be played hundreds of times.

This is episode is certain to go down as a favourite.  Join us next week with Melissa Nee, for Piece of Mind!

 

Past episodes:

 

Show notes:

Recorded 20 March 1982 – 2 days before album was out, released 2 November 2002.

Never released in full on video as the band were unhappy with the quality, but you can see part on the 2004 Early Days DVD.

Opener:  Murders in the Rue Morgue!  Starts slow, showcasing Steve’s bass harmonics.  Then goes breakneck!  What a strange opener!

Wrathchild is another great Steve bass opener.  This one is more along the lines of the album version, but with Bruce singing.

New song Run to the Hills is 3rd in the set!  Not as breakneck speed as some versions.

Another new song, Children of the Damned.  Bruce announces the album will be out March 22.  Tour de force vocals and some nice guitar harmonics added in.

Crowd is very quiet except for a few pockets of cheers to open Number of the Beast.  Bruce mentions the “problems” they had in the studio.

Great version of “Another Life”, with Clive absolutely on fire on the snares and cymbols.  Bruce’s vocals make the lyrics more clear:  “As I lay here lying on my bed.”  Amazing Davey soloing here.

Screaming version of Killers next.  Bruce at peak voice tackling this song.  Otherwise pretty faithful to album cut, especially the guitars and guitar tone.  We also learn Adrian had some bruised up ribs that night.

22 Acacia is introduced as an Adrian co-write.  Another perfect performance.  Bruce’s vocals are biting and growly during the intro.

Bruce says Total Eclipse isn’t really a B-side, but it is.  “Didn’t have enough room on the album.”  This song and Run to the Hills were on a vinyl single already.  The vocals are a little haggard toward the challenging ending high notes.

Leads into instrumental Transylvania, played as it should be by Clive.

Crowd is silent during the Prisoner opening.  Great hearing it like with Clive on drums.  The drums are fast, frenetic and flawless.  Tempo seems a bit faster in the latter part than the album.

Hallowed comes in with no intro from Bruce.  Better live version than Live After Death, as Bruce sings the opening a little more true to album.  Passionate singing from Bruce.

Phantom – Top performance from Bruce, expressive and soaring!  Tempo feels a little faster than album.

Iron Maiden – Breakneck version!

Sanctuary – Same with Sanctuary!

Drifter – Songs tend to flow one into another.  I don’t like when Bruce refers to some in the audience as a “fucking women,” but that was the 80s.  I doubt he’d say this today.

Running Free – A top Bruce version, with impassioned and wild vocals.

Prowler – Crazy to hear this album opener as a closer.

 

 

 

 

🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 6: Beast Over Hammersmith

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 6:  Beast Over Hammersmith

A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #93

Good evening Hammersmith…or wherever you are!  Tonight on 50 Years of Iron Maiden, Harrison and I are appropriately tackling this live album with a live episode!

Beast Over Hammersmith is a double live album recorded just before The Number of the Beast was released.  The band played a rare mix of Di’Anno classics and deep cuts, along with new material, and one B-side!  Bruce explains to the crowd that it’s not “really” a B-side, which it was, but we’ll get into that, as well as “all the lazy bastards from EMI in the back.”

This episode is our sendoff to Clive Burr, and we’ll be talking about him, though not for the last time in this series.

Beast Over Hammersmith was first issued as a 2 CD set within the Eddie’s Archive box set, which we have taken brief looks at in the past.  Today you can get Beast Over Hammersmith on vinyl, so it is a significant enough release to warrant its own episode.

So give us a yo, yo yo yo! and see us tonight, live!

Past episodes:

LIVE on Friday February 28 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 5: The Number of the Beast with Jex Russell

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 5: The Number of the Beast

With Jex Russell 

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #91

Enter:  The Air Raid Siren.  “Bruce Bruce”.  Paul Bruce Dickinson to his mum.  One of the greatest lead vocalists, frontmen, songwriters and lyricists in heavy metal:  Bruce Dickinson.  None of that is hyperbole.

It’s one of the greatest “replacement singer” success stories in heavy metal.  Not just anyone could replace the beloved Paul Di’Anno.  What Iron Maiden did with Bruce took the band to a whole new level.  They tightened the songwriting, sharpened the production and put out one of the best albums of their lives.  The Number of the Beast pushed Maiden to a new level, and hinted at how they would grow album by album in the future.

In this episode, Mike and Harrison discuss the full track listing, including “Total Eclipse” and the live B-side “Remember Tomorrow”.  We’ll talk about the different coloured covers, the different track listings, and of course the tour!  Also included, an interview clip with Bruce Dickinson on assumptions made about heavy metal at that time.  This in-depth episode is our longest to date at just over an hour.  It is filled with praise and critique, but by the end you will understand why this is considered by some to be “the” Maiden classic.

Jex Russell’s favourite Iron Maiden album is The Number of the Beast.  He was thrilled to find that no-one had snagged this slot yet.  Please welcome Jex back to the show!

Past episodes:

Friday February 21 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube.

🅻🅸🆅🅴 Grab A Stack of Chat: A Post-Show Chat with Mike and Harrison

Tonight’s episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden was a shorty, so we’re having a LIVE post-show chat…right now (7:30)!  Forget Valentine’s Day!

Let’s catch up on the latest in Maiden and Grab A Stack of Rock!

 

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 4: Maiden Japan, Live!! + One, Live at the Rainbow

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 4: Maiden Japan, Live!! + One, Live at the Rainbow

 

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #90

Closing out the Di’Anno years, Harrison and I take a deep dive into the live releases that accompanied them.  Live!! + One was an exclusive Japanese EP that featured “Women In Uniform” (covered in Episode 2), and three live tracks, two of which were exclusive (and awesome).  Maiden Japan, of course, was the live EP that you know and love.  Live at the Rainbow was an excellent home video that featured Paul on vocals.  We tackle all this on tonight’s episode.

You will see our copies of these releases (but not Live!! + One since I didn’t buy it the one time I saw it), and hear about them in detail.  This episode is our sendoff to Paul Di’Anno, and we discuss his reasons for leaving.  And in came a young upstart named Bruce Bruce…

This short and energetic episode features just Harrison and myself, but we’ll be back next time with a new special guest, and a new lead singer!

Past episodes:

Friday February 14 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube.

Musical Odds n’ Sods: A Grab A Stack of Rock Collection

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 88: Musical Odds n’ Sods: A Grab A Stack of Rock Collection

We have had our first bump in the road with our 50 Years of Iron Maiden series:  Mike had come down with his second case of Covid.  Fortunately, we have been prepared for occurrences such as this, and we have already pre-recorded an episode to buy us a week if necessary.  This is that week:  Welcome to Musical Odds n’ Sods!

In this episode you will see topics including:

  • Fake KISS Autographs
  • Vertigo Records in Ottawa and Japanese Deep Purple imports
  • Record Store Tales
  • A Day in the Life of a Record Store Guy
  • Tom’s frozen winter beater car
  • Hot Wheels ZZ Top Eliminator car
  • Beat Up in a Mascot Suit
  • Metallica’s Fan Can #4
  • Secret method for unwrapping CDs
  • Record Store Photo Gallery
  • Unboxing 7 Japanese import CDs from Discogs
  • Unboxing Sloan Twice Removed box set
  • Dr. Kathryn Ladano “Evil Kirk” animation attempts
  • Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son MuchMusic interview (1988)
  • Easter eggs

I have to admit, I enjoy watching this episode myself.  There is so much variety here to enjoy.  Join me in the comments tonight!

 

Friday January 31 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube.

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 3: Killers with Martin Popoff

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 3:  Killers (1981)

With Martin Popoff

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #87

Here is the episode we’ve all been waiting for:  Author Martin Popoff (Iron Maiden: Album By Album) joins us to talk about record #2, Killers.

With Adrian Smith now in the fold, Maiden settled into the studio with legendary producer Martin Birch to lay down another series of tracks that the band had been working up for years.  “Wrathchild”, “Killers”, “The Ides of March” and more will be broken down, track by track.

Martin will also be telling us a little bit about his forthcoming book, Hallowed By Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible, currently up for pre-order (released April 28 2025).  This book is sure to be a must-have.

We will also discuss the singles, the B-sides, and the tour.  Once again Harrison goes through the Killers tour and tells us the facts, figures and songs.

Don’t miss this awesome episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden, tonight on Youtube.

Past episodes:

Friday January 24 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube.

Grab A Stack of Chat with Johnny Metal: A Special Post-Show Tribute to Grandmothers and Iron Maiden

A post-show chat with Johnny Metal was in order after our great Iron Maiden (1980) episode on 50 Years of Iron Maiden.  In this special chat, Johnny and I discuss some addition Iron Maiden content not covered in the actual episode, such as an album with Dennis Stratton (Lionheart) and some compilations with almost every Maiden member pre-Killers.  (Even the keyboard player!)

I also unboxed a very cool, very rare CD from Mike Slayen.  Check this out!  A true rarity.

Finally, one reason I wanted to do this post-show chat was that I needed to be social last night.  My 100 year old Grandma is sick again, and I was having such anxiety during the day, that I thought it would do me some good to tell some Grandma stories with Johnny Metal.  I hope you find these as heartfelt and amusing as I do.

Thanks for watching!

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 2: Iron Maiden (1980) and “Women In Uniform” with John Clauser

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 2: Iron Maiden (1980) and “Women In Uniform”

With John Clauser (My Music Corner)

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #86

Welcome to the big leagues, as Iron Maiden are signed to EMI and release their first singles and album!  New members Clive Burr and Dennis Stratton are now on board with Steve Harris, Dave Murray, and Paul Di’Anno.  We cover it all on this second episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

Joining Harrison and I is John Clauser from My Music Corner!  We bid you welcome to this special pre-recorded look at Iron Maiden’s self titled debut album.  Because we always aim to go in depth as possible, we’ll discuss the entire album track by track, the artwork, and all the singles and B-sides.  As an added bonus, we’ll also take a look at the standalone single “Women In Uniform”, a Skyhooks cover that the band have somewhat disowned.

A new feature to the series debuts tonight as well:  Harrison Kopp will take the spotlight every time we talk about a studio album, to go over the tour in detail.  Harrison will provide the facts, the figures, and the dates, while also analysing the setlists.  This segment is a highlight of the show.

This episode premieres at 7 o’clock PM exclusively on YouTube.  (Sorry Facebook – we are trying some new things with this Maiden series.  The live episodes will still be streamed to Facebook, but not these recorded ones.)

One of us will try to be in the comments tonight, so if you want to take part in a discussion, please don’t miss the premiere!

Past episodes:

Friday January 17 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube.

A Successful Launch! 50 Years of Iron Maiden – The Soundhouse Tapes and More – Episode Recap

A huge thank you to everyone who checked out our debut episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden!  In this episode, we covered in detail the early years of the band.  From Steve’s first band Smiler, to a roundabout of guitarists and drummers, we broke everything down.  First we covered the Paul Mario Day years and a great recent live version of “Running Free”.  We moved on to the Dennis Wilcock era and the turmoil that ensued!  From swords to keyboards, Iron Maiden were all but derailed!  Finally we turn to Paul Di’Anno, the first officially recorded lead vocalist of Iron Maiden.

With Di’Anno, there are several official releases to talk about from this era: the legendary Soundhouse Tapes,  BBC Archives, Metal For Muthas, and Axe Attack.  There is a rare, little known demo version of “Running Free” on one edition of Axe Attack, and Harrison will tell you how to get it.

We hope you enjoy this fully immersive look at the early years of Iron Maiden.  See you next week for the EMI debut, the singles, and Johnny Clauser from My Music Corner.

SHOW NOTES:

 

Steve Harris originally formed Smiler.
The first lineup of Iron Maiden:
Steve Harris
Paul Mario Day
Terry Rance
Dave Sulivan
Rob “Rebel” Matthews
Paul Day still performs songs today, with former members of early Maiden.  A strong vocalist.  Powerful voice.  Sounds a bit like Di’Anno, with a growl.  Can sing clean, but can also really growl.  Powerhouse vocals – level 10.  Absolutely awesome version of “Running Free”, as good as any Maiden versions with Paul?
Paul Day left – “not enough on stage charisma”
Replaced by Dennis Wilcock, not a great singer but had the bloody sword trick.
Maiden breaks up so Harris can be rid of Rance and Sulivan.
Got in Dave Murray and Bob Sawyer
1977, Matthews, Murray and Sawyer were all fired
Terry Wapram (guitar) and Tony Moore (keyboards) replace the guitarists.  Barry Purkis/Thunderstick on drums with black leather mask.
This lineup played one show before Harris fired Moore. Keyboards didn’t fit.
There is a very slow, very different version of “Charlotte the Harlot” with this lineup.    A bluesy rock n’ roll version of “Another Life” with a completely different kind of beat.  Sounds more like Aerosmith.
Murray returns.  Wapram leaves, down to one guitar again.  Wilcock and Thunderstick leave and are replaced by Paul Di’Anno and Doug Samson who Steve had played with pre-Iron Maiden.
Rapid turnover of second guitarists:
Paul Cairns joins late 1978, plays on Soundhouse Tapes, lasts 3 months
Paul Todd – June 1979 – lasts one week.  Girlfriend wouldn’t let him play shows.  Later joined Paul Day in a band called More.
Tony Parsons joins Sep 1979 – Dec 1979, plays on BBC sessions.  Fired due to lack of ability compared to Murray.  Joined Dennis Wilcock in Gilbraltar.
Dennis Stratton comes aboard.
Doug Samson can’t handle touring schedule, and is replaced by Clive Burr, a friend of Dennis
– The Soundhouse Tapes
Iron Maiden – different, more straight ahead groove.  Not as driving or ahead of the beat.  Low end is more present.  Vocal is more laid back.
Invasion – less frantic and speedy than the B-side version.  Vocals on the chorus are heavily layered and produced.  Can’t save the song for me.
Prowler – Brilliant version, with the high guitar part laying clean on the top.  Great scream from Paul.  More straightforward than the album version.  Slower groove.
Strange World – Sounds unfinished compared to the other songs, a prototype of the skeleton without the atmosphere.  Slow bluesy solo (Paul Cairns?)
– BBC Archives (four-song radio rock show)
Iron Maiden, Running Free, Transylvania, Sanctuary.
Tony Parsons on second guitar.
Strange to think they bothered with an instrumental for this recording session.
Really well recorded versions, with vocal overdubs.  The drums really cut through and the guitars sound great.   Of all the versions heard so far, these are closest to the final album.
Iron Maiden has really energetic, frantic drums lending it an extra punch.  Vocals are nicely layered as on album.
Running Free is missing that pick scratching sound effect.
– Metal for Muthas (Sanctuary & Wrathchild)
Also with Tony Parsons.
Sanctuary – Very close to final version.  Guitar solo is very different – similar to BBC Archives version.  Tony Parsons lead – a little on the simpler side but very fast and catchy.
Wrathchild – Slower, more “heavy metal” groove.  Vocal is double-tracked throughout.  Nice impactful version, if less powerful.
– Axe Attack Running Free Demo – A really different sounding version.  Doug Sampson on drums, a different feel.  Guitars sound sharper.  The middle section with the pick scratching is much better – a solid chug.  Just overall more groovy.  A little clean.  Vocal harmonies intact.  I love when Paul yelps.  Snare drum could use more beef but it’s a demo.