melvyn grant

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode: The Coolest Iron Maiden Cassette You’ve Ever Seen!

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN bonus episode:
Fear of the Cassette?  The Coolest Iron Maiden Cassette You’ve Ever Seen!

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK bonus episode

Lamentably, sometimes we acquire an Iron Maiden goodie well after the episode for that album airs.  In this case, the aforementioned goodie was acquired because of a specific episode.

In episode 15, Fear of the Dark, I showed Harrison an image of the 1992 Canadian cassette edition, which to our eyes, featured a superior front cover design.  Wanting one for himself, Harrison went shopping on Discogs for cassettes.

What he got wasn’t just Fear of the Dark.  He got more.  Alot more.  But enough of our yackin’!  Go check out the episode, which is live now on YouTube as an Iron Maiden bonus this week.

 

Enjoy on YouTube.

 

Handy YouTube Playlist:

50 Years of Iron Maiden: Updated Playlist

Playlist below has been updated.  All episode dates subject to change.  Tomorrow is our 10th episode, not including bonus shorts!

#1173: I Like Iron Maiden…A Lot

RECORD STORE TALES #1173: I Like Iron Maiden…A Lot

In 1984, I “rebooted” my musical taste and started from ground zero.  Out went Styx for almost two decades.  Out went Joey Scarbury, and Kenny Rogers.  In came KISS, W.A.S.P., and of course, Iron Maiden.  I don’t think there was ever a time that Iron Maiden were my #1 favourite band, because Kiss almost always held that spot.  It is safe to say that Maiden were always in the top five.

In grade school, I rocked Iron Maiden while being scolded by Catholic school teachers for doing so.  It didn’t stop me.  Through highschool, I proudly had their posters in my locker.  It didn’t matter that Maiden weren’t hip with the cool kids.  I was never cool, and never really intended to be.  I was happy to be one of the Children of the Damned, not having to fit my personality into any particular shoebox.

There was a time I wavered, which I shall now admit to you.  There was one Iron Maiden album that I didn’t intend to own.  I reversed my decision within four months, but it was in the fall of 1990 that Iron Maiden may have faltered in my eyes.  The album was the “back to basics” No Prayer For the Dying.  My favourite member, Adrian Smith was out.  I loved Janick Gers’ work with Bruce Dickinson, but I don’t think he quite fit with Maiden immediately.  I also didn’t like the growly, un-melodic way that Bruce Dickinson was singing.  I thought maybe this time, I would just buy the CD singles, and not worry about the album.  I came to my senses.  No Prayer wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the return that we hoped for.  I didn’t really want Maiden to get “back to basics” but was willing to go along for the ride.

My enthusiasm returned in 1992 with Fear of the Dark, a partial return to form with some solid tracks.  It could have been better, but I was happy.  Then the roof fell in.  Suddenly, Bruce Dickinson was out.  Meanwhile, the entire world had been sent into a grunge upheaval.  Bands like Iron Maiden were dismissed as irrelevant in this new angry world.  Bands who played their instruments with seasoned pride were being replaced by groups with punk aesthetics.  Maiden seemingly had no place in this new world, and now the lead singer was gone.  Just like Motley Crue, who were suffering a similar fate.

Blaze Bayley was the audacious name of the new singer, from Wolfsbane, and a different one he was.  A deep baritone, he was little like Bruce.  Immediately, I loved The X Factor.  My girlfriend at the time ridiculed me by telling me that Iron Maiden would “never be cool again”.

Oh, how wrong she was.

By the year 1999, Bruce was back.  And so was Adrian.  Maiden have never been bigger.  They have continued to issue albums, never being shy to play new material and deep cuts live.

That’s why I’m telling you this story.  2025 marks 50 Years of Iron Maiden, and there will be a lot happening.  2025 will launch the Run For Your Lives tour, and Bruce has promised that they will play some songs they’ve never done before.  It will also be the debut of new drummer Simon Dawson, from Steve Harris’ British Lion.  Nicko McBrain, on the drum stool since 1983, has finally taken a bow from the live stage.  It can’t be easy doing what he does.

2025 will also mark the launch of a new Martin Popoff book on Maiden (more on that in the coming weeks) and most importantly…tomorrow, January 10, Harrison Kopp and I will launch our own video series, 50 Years of Iron Maiden.

I have “only” been a fan for 40 years, but I’m all here for it.  Up the Irons.  Let’s give ‘er in 2025!

 

Make An Album Better Vol. 1: Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark (1992)

In 1992, we gave Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark album a generous 3.75/5 star rating.  Fear was the second in a row of underwhelming Iron Maiden albums.  After losing melodic songwriter Adrian Smith, the band struggled to achieve the heights of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.  New member Janick Gers was also a songwriter, but Maiden struggled to match their previous mojo.  Several songs from Fear were never played live:   “Fear Is the Key”, “Childhood’s End”,  “The Fugitive”,  “Chains of Misery”,  “The Apparition”, “Judas Be My Guide”, and “Weekend Warrior”.  Meanwhile, the title track is a concert staple, played on almost every tour since.

What can we do to improve this album?

1. Tone down the keyboards

As the last Maiden album co-produced by Martin Birch, perhaps the metal maven was getting a little tired.  Fear isn’t as punchy as past albums.  Since Somewhere in Time, Maiden had become increasingly reliant on synths or keyboards.  Even the back-to-basics No Prayer for the Dying had keyboards.  Let’s not get rid of all the keyboards, let’s just tone them down.  On some tracks, such as “Afraid to Shoot Strangers”, they are little more than sonic wallpaper.  Let’s mix them a little lower for this experiment, and bring the drums up in the mix.

2. Remix the drums

Something about Nick McBrain’s drums on this album sound a little dead.  A tad too much like they’re in the back of a cave.  We should try making them a little more lively, and maybe just a tad louder in the mix.  Aim for something more like the Piece of Mind era drums sound.

3. Edit the album down, and re-sequence it

Let’s go for a nine track song list.  Clearly, the 12 on Fear were too many since they didn’t play the majority live.  Fear was a long album.  As the CD rose to dominance, albums grew longer.  CDs were initially made to be 74 minutes long so you could put long classical pieces on it without breaks.  74 minutes was never intended to be the standard album length, though Fear is shy of that at 58:34.  Still too long for a single record.  Classic Maiden albums were shorter than this.  We’ll go with nine songs.  Number of the Beast had eight, and Piece of Mind had nine.  Fear already had the perfect openers and closers, so we won’t touch those.

Side one

  1. “Be Quick or Be Dead”
  2. “Chains of Misery”
  3. “From Here to Eternity”
  4. “Judas Be My Guide”
  5. “Wasting Love”

Side two

  1. “Afraid to Shoot Strangers”
  2. “The Fugitive”
  3. “Weekend Warrior”
  4. “Fear of the Dark”

It was a real struggle to include “Weekend Warrior”, as I don’t think this ode to soccer hooliganism is a particularly good song.  However, I committed to nine, and I find “Fear is the Key” and “The Apparition” a tad dull.  “Childhood’s End” is the other deleted song, and really it could have been one or the other.  I went with “Weekend Warrior” because it’s different for Maiden.  (Not that “The Apparition” isn’t, but these songs aren’t really that great.  That’s why they weren’t played live.)

We maintain the kicking opener, high speed and going for the throat of big business.  Then we have anthemic shout-along rock in “Chains of Misery”.  “Wasting Love” acts as a side closer as it does on the proper album.  Kicking off side two with “Afraid to Shoot Strangers” is a bit of a risk, as it is a bit ballady to start, and coming off a ballad gives you two in a row.  However, it would work brilliantly as a side opener.  “Fear of the Dark” of course should close.  That’s what it’s built for.

This makes the album a perfect 44 minutes and 24 seconds!

4. Get rid of the tree Eddie!

Regular Maiden artist Derek Riggs had a falling out with Maiden’s management over his sketches for this album.  Instead, for the first of many times, Maiden went with the legendary sci-fi and fantasty artist Melvyn Grant, who didn’t really understand Eddie yet, or the continuity established on prior album covers.  From Number of the Beast to No Prayer for the Dying, there seemed to be an ongoing story with Eddie being manipulated, captured, and killed.  He is reborn, borgified, and gives birth, only to be reborn again.  Then, suddenly he’s a tree.  The lightning from Eddie’s eyes is gone, replaced by evil red peepers.  For our improved version of this album, the cover has to go.  Cover art is so important to Iron Maiden, and Fear had one of their most disappointing covers to date (with No Prayer by Riggs coming in second).

In Sum

Little can be done to improve some of the actual songs on this album.  Fear had filler, and a lot of it.  Even at nine songs, tracks like “The Fugitive” and “Weekend Warrior” are dangerously close to filler material.  Perhaps our hypothetical remix can liven them up, but shortening the album will do it some wonders.  Maiden rarely record original material for B-sides, and don’t put cover songs on their records.  There is no extra material we can substitute.

Doing the best with what we have at hand, what would you do to improve Fear of the Dark?

REVIEW: Iron Maiden – En Vivo! (2012 CD, blu-ray)

Alas, the end:  Part 45, the final chapter of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!

In case you’re new to LeBrain’s blog, you may as well go back and start here.  I have covered every album, every EP, every single, every rarity that I have had access to.  I don’t know if a more comprehensive review of Maiden material can be found on the web.  Enjoy.

It’s been a slice.  Without further delay, here’s the final part.  En Vivo!

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IRON MAIDEN – En Vivo! (2012 CD, blu-ray, EMI)

Once again, Iron Maiden have followed a studio album with a live album.  Unlike the last one, Flight 666, this time Maiden released a set representing the tour for their last studio platter, the excellent Final Frontier.  For the first time, you will have a chance to own live versions of songs like “El Dorado” and “Coming Home”, mixed with a standard set of Maiden classics, recent and vintage.

The splendid set starts with a pre-recorded version of intro “Satellite 15”, which melds directly into “The Final Frontier”, an excellent Maiden rocker with a chorus built for the live experience.  This version brings to the forefront Maiden’s melodic guitar goodness, along with Bruce’s powerful pipes.  Adrian Smith rips the solo to absolute shreds, only to be followed by an energized Dave Murray.  What a start.  It’s an absolutely flawless start, and the Chilean crowd goes wild.

Just like the album, the band then seamlessly moves into “El Dorado”, which is superior here to its album version.   More guitars, faster pace, more backing vocals, a more lively lead vocal…what more could you want?   Even the most cynical fans, only there to hear “Run to the Hills”, would be blown away if they only opened their ears.

“2 Minutes To Midnight”, which was also available on the Flight 666 and Rock In Rio CD’s, is next.  This one, I probably could have done without, after hearing it on two prior live albums, not to mention A Real Dead One and the immortal Live After Death!  It is a great song, no doubt, and there’s nothing wrong with this version.  But why not throw in something else, like “Icarus” maybe?

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Then back to new material:  a haunting “The Talisman” and the anthemic “Coming Home”.  “Coming Home” in particular seems perfectly designed for the live concert environment.   Both songs bring forth all the complexity and passion of The Final Frontier, with the crowd supplying ample backing vocals.  Clearly, Chilean fans don’t mind new songs.

One of my personal favourites of more recent vintage is next:  “Dance of Death”.  I love Bruce’s Hamlet intro:  “There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”   The vocal is a tad more shaky than the version on Death on the Road, but once the song gets going, Bruce finds his footing.  He has the crowd in the palm of his hands the whole way.

“The Trooper” only makes the ecstatic crowd that more crazy.  Unlike “2 Minutes”, this is a song I never tire of.  The solo just smokes, the Three Amigos blasting through.  Then onto “The Wicker Man”, a song not heard on a live album since Rock In Rio, although some fans (like me!) are lucky enough to own a 2002 version on the Japanese “Rainmaker” single.  “The Wicker Man” is a modern classic, a song that I believe belongs up there with “The Trooper”.   Once again, Adrian performs a flawlessly melodic solo.   One more track from the Brave New World album follows it, “Blood Brothers”.   I was a bit surprised to see this slower one resurrected live, but like the other songs, this one was perfectly built for a live audience.  Bruce wouldn’t even need to sing on the chorus, so loud is the audience.

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The last of the newer songs is next, the amazing “When the Wild Wind Blows”.  Not brief at 10 minutes, this is one of my favourite songs from The Final Frontier.  The crowd is on board for every moment, every riff, every section, every emotional breath from Bruce’s mouth.  Truthfully, if Maiden were not a band with over 30 years of classics in the back catalogue, this song would be considered a standard, never to be missed.  But when you could easily play a 6 hour set of nothing but classics, it’s hard to squeeze them all in.  All I can say is, I hope this song makes future tours, but at 10 minutes, don’t be surprised if it’s left out in favour of older classics.

And speaking of older classics, get ready for a whole slew of them:  “The Evil That Men Do” (so much more powerful with three guitars!), “Fear of the Dark”, “Iron Maiden”, “The Number of the Beast”, “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, and “Running Free”.  “Running Free” contains the usual band intros (Nicko being described as “the indescribable, the inevitable, the inimitable, the uneatable”), and the crowd goes wild once again.

And the listener is exhausted, after over 2 hours of regal metal classics performed by one of the best, if not the best, heavy metal band in history.  The best?  Well, I don’t want to open that debate.  But after revisiting the entire catalogue these past few months, I’ve definitely gained a new respect for a band I already loved.  The growth of this band, not always appreciated, has been steady with integrity.  And the live experience is still one that tops bands less than half their age.  En Vivo! proves this.

A blu-ray release provides the same concert experience with stunning visuals, plenty of space-age Eddies, and a manic Bruce running to-and-fro, while the rest of the band defy age.  There’s also a great bonus feature:  88 minutes of documentary footage called “Behind the Beast”, chronicling the creation of the Iron Maiden live show.

5/5 stars

REVIEW: Iron Maiden – From Fear To Eternity (2011)

Part 44 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!

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IRON MAIDEN – From Fear To Eternity (2011 EMI)

One thing that you need to be aware of:  If you’re a Maiden die-hard, From Fear To Eternity was not designed for you. This, much like Somewhere Back In Time, is for new fans only. (Although a bone was thrown to us die-hards, more on that later.)

This is a decent compilation.  The reason I bought it was to “complete the collection”, and of course the great cover art (by Melvyn Grant once again). The cover pays homage to Maiden album and single covers of the past 20 years. The only one I didn’t see represented in some way was The X Factor, but see if you can spot a clue.

This collection is a joy to listen to from start to finish. I won’t go over the details with a fine-toothed comb, but there are plenty of fan favourites here: “Passchendale”, “Benjamin Breeg”, “The Clansman”…and these are not short songs, folks! Of course there were the hits, all big in Europe if not here in North America: “Bring Your Daughter”, “Wicker Man”, “Different World”, “Man On The Edge”, “Afraid To Shoot Strangers”, “Tailgunner”. There are also a slew of personal favourites such as “Be Quick or Be Dead”, “For The Greater Good of God”, and “Where The Wild Wind Blows”. Really it is very hard to find fault with this collection, or the running order.

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In fact my only beef is the lack of inclusion of the ballad “Wasting Love” which I still have a soft spot for. Also I was surprised that “From Here To Eternity” is not on here, not a personal favourite song, but it did lend its title to this album!

Finally, one touch that I enjoyed was substituting the Blaze Bayley era songs for live versions with Bruce singing. After all, Maiden are out there touring now, and new fans don’t need to be confused by a different singer. This means that you’ll get the live version of “Sign of The Cross” from the Rock In Rio album. But what’s really cool is that the live “Man On The Edge” was only released as a B-side to “The Wicker Man” single, so this is its first album release. A little extra bonus for the Maiden die-hard who may have missed that single a decade or so ago.

I strongly recommend this collection to new Maiden fans, as there is really not a bad song in the bunch, and it’s a great listen from front to back. For die-hards, you already have (most of) these songs, so if you feel like picking it up for the cover art like I did, it’s still an enjoyable listen.

3.5/5 stars.

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REVIEW: Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier (2010)

Part 43 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!

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IRON MAIDEN – The Final Frontier (2010, EMI)

Iron Maiden had a hell of an album to live up to when they recorded The Final Frontier.  2006’s A Matter of Life and Death was a total triumph, a complex driving metal masterpiece.  Witness:  Not one but two 5/5 star reviews here on LeBrain’s Blog alone.

The Final Frontier begins daringly, with an incredible piece of music unlike anything Maiden have ever attempted before.  The rhythmic intro “Satellite 15…” begins sounding like an improvised piece, but knowing Steve Harris and Adrian Smith who wrote it, it was anything but.  It has a looseness that sounds like improvisation, but then Nicko’s persistent drum patterns ground it.  Bruce’s plaintive vocals speak of “drifting way off course now” and trying to contact Earth, without success.    The piece is loaded with tension, which is released only as it breaks into the first actual song, “The Final Frontier”.

Continuing the lyrical theme, Steve writes of drifting through space, alone, unable to bid his family farewell.  Musically this is anthemic Maiden as Steve and Adrian have been known to write before, with a catchy riff and chorus.  Some of the guitar work is reminiscent of 1986’s Somewhere In Time.  I find it daring to team such a catchy metal tune with an abstract intro like “Satellite 15…”

Without letting up for a second, the lead single “El Dorado” gallops through the speakers.  And yes, it’s an actual vintage Maiden galloping start!  Written by the triumvirate of Steve, Adrian, and Bruce (who have written so many classics in the past), “El Dorado” careens through multiple sections all tied together by the effortless playing of the band.  Adrian’s catchy yet exotic solo is a highlight.  It’s not an obvious single at almost 7 minutes long, but this length is necessary to contain all the different riffs and sections.  None of them are extraneous; every bit of this song is as good as the last, although it sounds like Bruce is reaching for notes too high on the chorus.

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The heaviness lets up briefly for the start of “Mother of Mercy”, a brief but epic sounding track that could have fit happily on the Brave New World CD.  Yet it’s even more riff laden than anything on that album, continuing The Final Frontier‘s tendency to cram awesome guitar after awesome guitar into one song.  It’s a mere five minutes long, written again by Steve and Adrian, with another catchy chorus delivered with power by Bruce.  A song like this proves that Maiden can be brief yet still cram all of their power and talent into a catchy five minute number.  The lyrics question the deadly combination of war and religion.

How much more epic can you get?  None more epic than the chorus of “Coming Home”.  A Smith/Dickinson/Harris epic, the lyrics reflect Bruce’s love of aviation within one of the best choruses they’ve ever written.  By any other band this might be considered a “power ballad”, but at no point in its six minute length do I really consider it as such.  This is surely one of the best songs on The Final Frontier.  There’s even a bluesy guitar solo (probably Davey) to fit the melancholy mood of the song.

“The Alchemist” is the shortest song on the album, but the first that is a traditional fast Maiden scorcher.  It has a solid Janick Gers riff (who co-wrote it with Bruce and Steve) and Bruce spits out the quick verses.  Janick’s solo is his typical manic style, but as a song, this is the weakest on the album thus far.  It’s not as memorable or impactful as the four previous, but a fast one is required to balance out the more progressive material elsewhere.

And speaking of more progressive material, “Isle of Avalon”, written by Steve and Adrian, takes us back into that territory.  Nine minutes long, it is very different lyrically from anything Steve’s done before:  Celtic legends and mythology and all that.  And of course, it has multiple riffs, time changes and melodies to keep the listening entranced through the whole length.  It’s an effortless listen despite its complexity, simply because it’s loaded with great guitar parts.

One of my favourite tunes is next:  “Starblind”.  It’s another Bruce/Steve/Adrian masterpiece, and not too brief at almost eight minutes long.  It starts slow, but the main riff kicks in at 50 seconds. Be prepared to be pummeled!  Bruce delivers an epic chorus, while the lyrics seem to be another condemnation of corrupt religious figures (a traditional Maiden topic).  Nicko’s drum patterns are anything but simple; this is one more progressive Maiden masterpiece.

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The heaviness of “Starblind” is replaced by the acoustic intro of “The Talisman”.  Yet another eight minute epic track, “The Talisman” was written by Steve and Janick.  2 1/2 minutes in, you’re assaulted with the next in what seems like an endless stream of  incredible Maiden riffs.  Bruce wails away of a treacherous ocean journey.   Steve has written some of his catchiest melodies yet, with plenty of twists and turns.  Yet another classic.

“The Man Who Would Be King” also starts slow, before moving into a classic sounding Maiden guitar harmony riff.  This one was written by Steve and Dave Murray.  Again, it’s not brief:  Over eight minutes of riffs, melodies and changes.  Lyrically, it doesn’t seem to have any great connection to the book or movie, The Man Who Would Be King.  Musically, it’s another complex amalgam of amazing parts acting as a whole.  Songs like these, there is no way to fully appreciate them after just one listen.  Even now I’m finding new appreciation for “The Man Who Would Be King”.  It has some sections that sound more “vintage” Maiden than anything else on The Final Frontier, but they’re over in a blink and onto the next section!  This is a hell of a song to digest, must like the rest of the album.

Finally, the end of your journey into The Final Frontier:  the epic track “When The Wild Wind Blows”.  This is my personal favourite song, ten minutes of non-stop drama.  This is the Harris album epic; the song that lives up to the legacy set by previous epics such as “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”.  Lyrically, it’s an end-0f-the-world scenario, as they huddle in their bunkers waiting for apocalypse from the sky.  When the world doesn’t end, they are found dead anyway, having consumed poison.  Once again, the song has many different sections, each one more powerful than the last, all wrapped in those trademark Maiden guitar melodies.

There is no denying that The Final Frontier is a challenging listen.  It is also a rewarding listen, a complete journey with a start, middle and ending.  Very few bands can manage an album like this fully 30 years into their recording careers.  Maiden have managed to do so, and not only that, but with their strongest lineup intact strong as ever.  With the production talents of Kevin Shirley, the band managed a crisp sound that strikes a balance between polished and live.

Melvyn Grant has returned to do the cover; easily his best cover with Iron Maiden.  An alien Eddie searches a derelict alien vessel for some kind of key.  I don’t get it, but I don’t care.  I’m a sucker for the alien motif.  Two of my favourite things combined at long last — Iron Maiden, and aliens!

For the first time ever, there are no B-sides to discuss.  There was only one single, which was “El Dorado”.  Dan Slessor from Kerrang! magazine sent me a promotional copy of the single, a really nice collectible in a 7″ sleeve (with even printed “wear marks” to make it look like a vinyl single is inside)!  It can be seen below for your enjoyment.  Disappointingly though, it is merely a CD-R, not an actual factory pressed CD.  I guess the old days have finally passed.  Why send out an expensive promo single when everybody else is simply sending electronic files?

Lastly, there was a deluxe “Mission Edition” of this album made available with interview footage conducted by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen; unfortunately this content was not compatible in Canada so I never bought it.  My copy did come with a cool Final Frontier sticker though.

5/5 stars

promo “El Dorado” single
inside the single