Iron Maiden: The Bruce Years, pt. 2

Once again, here's myself and my friend Marshall listening through the Maiden catalog. Let's wrap up the Bruce years, mk-1. Parts 1 and 2 here and here. Let's pick up where we left off with:

(1988)

Side One:

Moonchild

Bryan: 3.75/5  Like 'Caught Somewhere in Time' it announces the new project with appropriate gusto. Welcome to the show. Unlike that one I think it works a little less once disconnected from the album as a whole. But a lot of people feel the exact opposite of this. I can remember this both as a frequently played single on the jukebox at a local pizzeria in high school as well as a local pub here in Chicago in the internet-jukebox era. The lyrics seem poorly suited to such portability. And yet: the evidence has been around me for decades that this is not the case. 

Marshall: 4/5  This is such a cool song. Very different intro than they've ever done before, with the acoustic guitar, and the "seven deadly sins" bit. Then, whoa!, those synths.

Infinite Dreams

Bryan: 5/5  Some of my favorite Steve Harris bass-playing in this song. One of my faves. Lovely structure. 

Marshall: 5/5  The best song on the album. I love how it builds into "someone chasing, I cannot move." Then it changes again. I absolutely love the changes in this song, and how it keeps building in new directions.

Bryan: Exactly. The intro and first chorus and bridge, you’d think, oh, okay, that’s good enough. But there are like four more parts to the song, and each one works so well together. One of their best. 

Can I Play with Madness

Marshall: 4/5  One of the best choruses of their career. Right up there with "Run to the Hills". This song really brings back memories of Headbanger's Ball!

Bryan: 2.75/ 5  I could even be talked into a 2. Then again, I could be talked into a 3.5 It's one of those type of songs to me. Even back in the day I wasn’t particularly excited by this one. This next single from the album, though: 

The Evil That Men Do

Bryan: 5/5  …I absolutely love. I tried to talk myself out of a 5 for this song, but I really can't, it's just a perfect song. I remember how much MTV played the crap out of this video. That has nothing to do with why I love it, just a memory. "Love is a razor, and I've walked the line of that silver blade" has stuck with me over the years. 

Marshall: 3/5  I like this song, but I always thought the lyrics are weird. "Living on a razor's edge, bouncing on a ledge." What the hell does that mean? I just looked up the lyrics, and it's "balancing" not "bouncing." Forevermore, I will picture Bruce bouncing up and down on a ledge when I hear this song.

Bryan: That is a funny mis-hear. Bruce really emphasizes each syllable, so your ear had to really work for that one to keep up the deception all these years. I have similar stubborn mishears, with Maiden and many others.

Side Two:

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Bryan: 3.75/5  This was probably my favorite Maiden song from when it came out until I caught up with the band in 2000. The whole album felt to my 14 year old self like everything they'd been working towards for years and this song, specifically, the pinnacle of their achievement. I've cooled on it considerably since those days. It’s like a false peak in the Presidentials, if there are any White Mountains hikers out there: still awesome but its height is deceptive from the ground. Some fantastic atmosphere, especially the middle part. I can do without the Bruce incantation these days, but I wouldn't change a thing about it. The funny thing about this whole project is that although it ostensibly tells a story as a concept album there's no actual story, it's just a lot of prophecy and introspection. Navel-gazing, really, but in a totally metal way.    

Marshall: 3/5  The best part of this song is when Bruce holds the "ohhhh." I also like the stop in the middle, and the guitar solos that follow. Reminds me of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" but not as good. There's a part where he sings "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" sixteen times in a row that is another sign of Harris' laziness.

The Prophecy

Bryan: 4/5  Love that ending bit.  Very pretty little tune.

Marshall: 3/5  The best part of this song is how it starts and how it ends. So beautiful. I also like all the different directions this song goes during the solos.

The Clairvoyant

Bryan: 4.3/5   Another one I remember seeing on MTV a lot. The lyrics are all kind of that fake-sounding-wisdom/ fake-epic that was so widely copied, often imitated, seldom improved. Guaranteed to make 14 year olds think they've heard something incredibly profound. (And they weren't wrong)

Marshall: 4/5  One of the better songs on the album. The guitar riff and the chorus are both excellent. When I was first discovering Maiden, I thought this song was called "Live After Death" because I'd seen that album cover, and because of the chorus of this song. I got the album Live After Death and was very confused that it not only was a live album, but that it didn't include the song "Live After Death!"

Only the Good Die Young

Bryan: 4.15/5  Awesome chorus to finish the album. The rest of the song is good, but the chorus is great.

Marshall:  3/5  Every time I hear this song I'm reminded of a conversation I had on my computer bulletin board system (BBS). I wrote some of the lyrics for this song that I thought was funny: "The demon in your mind will rape you in your bed at night." The other kid replied, "is it a girl demon?"

Bryan:  Oh dear. And yet: I know this kid. I have met this kid, at every Maiden concert, at every tabletop event, throughout my life. 

Final Thoughts:

Marshall: Total 29 Average 3.6  A concept album! A first and a last. One of their best. It's all downhill from here, kids.

Bryan : Total 32.95  Average 4.15   I don't know - they've still got Brave New World to come. All in all, how Bruce felt about Somewhere in Time is kind of how I feel about this one. (Actually, I agree with how he feels about this one, too I guess. From the wiki: "it was only half a concept album. There was no attempt to see it all the way through, like we really should have done. (It) has no story. It's about good and evil, heaven and hell, but isn't every Iron Maiden record?" That's funny, too, because Harris was allegedly inspired by an actual story, Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son. I'm always impressed with how Harris can adapt so many things without inspiring in the mind of the listener anything resembling the source matieral.) I say that despite it having two of my favorite Maiden tunes. 

(1990)

Side One:

Tailgunner

Marshall: 4/5  I love the energy of this song.

Bryan: 2.25/5  Parts of it are good. The chorus is awful.

Holy Smoke

Bryan: 2.75/5  Kind of a cool chorus, has some energy, but not so great for me overall.

Marshall: 3/5  This song is all about the lyrics. Some of them are bizarre, some funny, but it's very clever. This was the first song I heard from this album. It was in a music class in high school, a girl played the video for this song for the class. I was like, "WTF? That is not the Maiden I know and love. It's okay song, but it's not pure genius like I expect from Maiden." The song, and the album, has grown on me a bit since then. But I'll never get over that feeling of disappointment.

Bryan:  I keep waiting for this album to grow on me. Still, all these years later. This was the first Maiden album I was content to let my brother own and not bother getting my own copy. 

No Prayer for the Dying

Bryan: 1.5/5  Something starts to get going here and there (like around the two minute mark and that little fast break) but pretty disappointing, especially as a title track.

Marshall: 4/5   My favorite song on the album. I love how this song begins. There's a really good guitar riff like I know and love about Maiden. It was at this point in the album when started hoping it was starting to improve. Sadly, it was also the time when I realized Dickinson was going to insist on having a gravelly voice for the entire album, even the beautiful singing parts.

Bryan:  His voice definitely is out of whack this album.

Public Enema Number One

Bryan: 2/5  The title’s kinda lame for Maiden. Not a fave for me musically either.

Marshall: 4/5   For me, right up there with "No Prayer". I like the chorus and guitar solo.

Fates Warning

Marshall: 3/5   This song has such a cool intro. Classic Maiden sound, there. The rest of the song is pretty good, but the album does start going downhill at this point.

Bryan: 2/5   You like this one (all these, actually) a lot more than me. For me this is the first boring side of music in IM’s history. 

Marshall:  More of this “sides” talk! 

Side Two:

The Assassin

Bryan: 3/5  Everything pre-chorus is great; I like the verses a lot. But that chorus/ "better watch out"s are lame. This is the sort of thing that would be cool to discover as an unreleased track on the box set or something. Not as the side B opener. If that's indeed what this is in this strange sides-less era.

Marshall: 1/5  I agree that this isn't bad until the chorus. But that chorus is horrendous. It was at this point in listening to this album for the first time that I said, "OH NO." The Maiden I knew and loved was gone for good, right after I discovered them!

Run Silent Run Deep

Bryan: 2/5  I was excited to revisit this because I have read the book and seen the movie  since my last spin of this record. But not only does it (like most of their novel/movie tie-in songs) bear only the vaguest resemblance to either, it's boringly written to boot.

Marshall: 3/5  I like how he sings this song, and I like the chorus. The instrumentation is pretty bland. There is a cool riff at the end of the solo, but they don't build on it like they used to.

Hooks In You

Marshall: 2/5  Filler

Bryan: 1/5  This is, for anyone playing along at home, the sort of thing I reserve a 1-out-of-5-star rating for.

Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter

Bryan: 2.5/5 The title is a 5 star for sure; the rest, meh.

Marshall: 2/5  The chorus of this song is nerve wracking, but it's not bad otherwise.

Mother Russia

Bryan: 2.5/5  Some of the instrumental sections are wonderful - they feel helicoptered in from another album, almost, to help this one out. The riff/verses are clunky. 

Marshall: 3/5  This felt like Harris' attempt at another epic album ender. It was good, but it does feel recycled.

Final Thoughts

Marshall: Total 29 Average 2.9   This was a serious disappointment when I first heard it, because I was expecting a sequel to Seventh Son, and this was all I got? I had a bad feeling the band was not headed in a good direction and I was right. Still, I rated these songs much higher than I used to because they grew on me a bit.

Bryan: Total 21.5 Avg 2.15  My least favorite Maiden up to this point. 

And finally, the last of Bruce's first tenure with the band:

(1992)

I just realized I didn't have a picture of the back cover in my Dog Star Omnibus folder. Here's one of my Fear of the Dark pillow, though, under a black light. 

I think starting here I'll dispense with mentioning side one or side two. By 1992 CDs were well-established, and the days of designing your albums to fit on either side of vinyl were done. 

Be Quick or Be Dead

Marshall: 4/5  Say what you will about this era of Maiden, but they could still bring the energy! I love the way this song, and this album, opens.

Bryan: 3/5  Good album opener, but kinda standard, right? Still, nothing objectionable - perfectly respectable Maiden here, even if Bruce is dubiously advising all youth to “pull themselves stupid”. But hey, maybe someone needed to hear it. 

Marshall: Is that a euphemism for masturbation that all the kids are using these days?

Bryan: Who's using it I'm not sure, but it was indeed at least at the time of this album a UK euphemism for masturbation. In case it ever comes up as a crossword clue.

From Hell to Eternity

Marshall: 3/5  I have good memories of hearing this song on the radio and feeling excited to buy the new Maiden album.

Bryan: 2.5/5  I mean, this is an LA Guns tune. And nothing wrong with that, it's a sensible place for Maiden or anyone to have positioned themselves in 1992. At least at this month on the calendar in '92; the era of metal ruling the charts was drawing to a close. This song shows they can pull this kind of AOR-friendly song off, but I'm not sure it was their strongest foot forward.

Afraid to Shoot Strangers

Bryan:  2.75/5  I remembered this as a little better than it is. They're trying a few different things on this record, but I'm not sure they're good things. Album to album, at feels more alive than No Prayer for the Dying, but still nothing's blowing me away. I like everything going on in the chorus, both times it comes around. You can hear the direction Steve Harris would be heading with X Factor and beyond.

Marshall: 4/5  I love how this song builds. I love the guitar melodies on this song. I always thought it was cool how much more melodic the guitar is than the vocals. I'd missed hearing a good anti-war Maiden song. One of my favorite songs on the album.

Fear is the Key

Bryan: 2.5  I like aspects of this one, but I'm pretty sure someone is ripping off Queensryche in a couple spots. Probably not on purpose just as a consequence of arrangement and chords. The "lies and lies and lies" part reminds me: Bruce only did this record if they allowed him to do non-traditional-Maiden-type songs. So that explains some things - not only does it sound more energized because Bruce is more engaged, it sounds somewhat un-Maiden-y here and there because Bruce is more engaged. 

Marshall: 2/5 It’s okay. Filler.

Childhood’s End

Bryan: 2.25/5  This seems like it should be on X-Factor. 

Marshall: 2/5   Whoa! I never noticed that! This sounds EXACTLY like The X Factor. And here I was, thinking The X Factor was a complete departure for Maiden.

Bryan: Also, I can't figure out why they named the song "Childhood's End" if it has nothing to do with the book. Isn't the book of sufficient gravity to own that title? Apparently not.

Wasting Love

Marshall: 4/5  First time I've heard a Maiden ballad since Strange World! This is really good. Good instrumentation, good melodies, good chorus.

Bryan:  2.25/5  It seems like it's a personal thing to both Bruce and Jannick and I feel bad not really loving it. Nice guitar-work, just not one I ever seek out when I feel like listening to Maiden. 

The Fugitive

Marshall: 2/5  Didn't I hear this song before? Oh, that was called "The Assassin". I'm already starting to get tired of their new habit of naming half their songs "The ____'. Anyway, more filler.

Bryan: 1.5/5  I'm not sure if it's referencing the movie (out in theaters in 1993, I guess, so still a year away), or the TV show, or just the concept. If it's Richard Kimball, this is a typically  imprecise way of describing the events of either. It has some little musical pockets I like. 

Chains of Misery

Bryan: 1/5  There are just too damn many songs on this album. I mean, I don't hate it, but it's slight.

Marshall: 1/5  If I hear "he's got your chains of misery" one more time, I'm going to scream. Filler.

The Apparition

Bryan: 2/5  I wonder if the idea with this song and the last one is A Christmas Carol. Marley's chains that he wore in death were forged in life, and there was that great scene in the old Albert Finney version where Alec Guinness (Marley) leads Scrooge to the room where they wrap the chains around his ghost. Apparitions/ chains/ misery - I doubt it, just think-typing out loud. The solos on this one are great, but mostly, seems rather unfocused and the lyrics are crammed in (and kind of silly). They are funny, though.

Marshall:  1/5  Filler.

Judas Be My Guide

Marshall: 2/5  More filler!

Bryan: 2.25/5  The chorus is kind of fun and there's some energy here and there. 

Weekend Warrior

Marshall: 1/5  Ahfdidj1lkkj!!! FILLER!!!!

Bryan:  1.5/5  I don't think "That's Entertainment" by the Jam is any danger of being knocked off its perch as the definitive statement in song about football hooliganism. This reminds me a bit of the Beach Boys' "Student Demonstration Time." 

Fear of the Dark

Bryan: 4.25/5  And then, out of nowhere, there's this, which sounds like it landed from some whole other planet, fully formed, wham. Classic Maiden song. 

Marshall: 4/5  Another epic Harris album finisher! This was a serious step up from "Mother Russia", and a serious step down from "Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Final Thoughts:

Bryan: Total 27.75 (Avg. 2.31)  I like it slightly better than No Prayer, but outside the last track there’s nothing here to make any of my Maiden mixes over the years.

Marshall:  Total 30 (Avg 3.5)  I don't know why everyone says this was such an improvement over No Prayer. Yes, the good songs on this are better than the good songs on that, but this album has more filler. It feels like they only had half an album worth of good material, so the scraped the bottom of the barrel for the rest. Harris' newfound penchant for repeating a phrase (usually the song title) is really on display on this album, ready to come to full fruition on Virtual XI.

~

We'll be back next time with The Blaze Years and then the final post in this series, the Bruce Years, pt. 3. Before we go, two things: (1) The rankings thus far (by Avg):

Bryan:

No Prayer for the Dying  2.15

Fear of the Dark  2.31

Killers  3.8

Iron Maiden  4.03

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son  4.15

Number of the Beast  4.39

Somewhere in Time  4.4

Piece of Mind  4.61

Powerslave  4.75

Marshall:

No Prayer for the Dying  2.9

Iron Maiden  3

Somewhere in Time  3.12

Killers  3.18

Number of the Beast  3.22

Fear of the Dark  3.5

Piece of Mind  3.56

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son  3.6

Powerslave  4.62

and (2) I hope to have the next post up by Halloween but in case I do not: Happy Halloween!

My old bedroom, October 1988

Iron Maiden: The Bruce Years, pt. 1

With the addition of Bruce Dickinson in 1982, Maiden became MAIDEN. Drummer Clive Burr stayed for one album before giving up the kit to Nicko McBrain, who has remained with the band ever since. 

See here for pt. 1. Let’s continue this journey through the Maiden discography with friend and fellow irons-upper Marshall Mason. First up:

1982

Side One

Invaders

Marshall: 3/5  Not exactly the perfect Maiden song, but it is the perfect opener to this album.

Bryan: 3.25/5  Yep, that makes sense to me. I always feel kind of bad for not liking it more than I do. As a kid, I always got it mixed up with “Warrior” by Saxon (which I thought was named “Invaders from Over the Sea.” And I like much better) I don’t know how this confusion persisted for as long as it did; misinformation that got in my head in the early 80s has had a long shelf life, even still.

Children of the Damned

Bryan: "If he had lived he would have crucified us all!"

Marshall: 4/5  This song is where the album declares that it is not fucking around.

Bryan: 4.25/5  If you listen to this song with the events of Children of the Corn in mind, it synchs up agreeably. You have to supply your own “corrrrrr-nnn!” to the chorus, though. Fantastic tune. 

The Prisoner

Marshall: 3/5  I love the chorus for this song. I used to play the intro (the clip from the TV show) on my parents' answering machine at work. I was such a brat.

Bryan: 4/5  That’s awesome. I ended up a big Prisoner fan later in life, but for some reason I compartmentalize that experience from my fandom of this song. Ditto for “Back in the Village.” 

22 Acacia Avenue

Bryan: 3/5  One that others like more than me. Repurposed from Urchin (Adrian's former band)'s "Countdown."

Marshall: 2/5  This one’s okay.

Side Two

The Number of the Beast

Marshall:  3/5  Am I fired for only giving "Number of the Beast" a 3? It's definitely a good song. That shriek at the beginning is pure gold. But it's not one of my favorite Maiden songs.

Bryan: 6(6!6!)/5  No way you’re fired, no, but I can’t agree. This one hits me like a plunger of adrenalin to the heart. 

Run to the Hills

Marshall: 4/5  Of course this is the best song on the album, excluding B sides. It has one of the best choruses I've ever heard!

Bryan: 6/5  Hell yes it does. How can you go wrong with this one? I’ll never forget one particular VHS tape sent to me and my brother in Germany, 6 hours of random MTV programming (and all those American commercials). It had the videos for “Number of the Beast,” “The Trooper,” and this one all on it. Glorious moments for my ten year old self. 

Gangland

Marshall: 1/5 A low point for the band. I heard they sacrificed "Total Eclipse" for this song because the drummer wrote it. What a tragic decision. 

Bryan: 3.5/5 See and I kind of love this song!

Marshall: I do like the part, "Once you were glad to be free for a while. The air tasted good and the world was your friend".

Total Eclipse

Bryan: 3.5/5  I only ever heard this one when I got the CD. The break/guitar solo section of this is pretty cool. 

Marshall: 5/5  Easily one of the best Maiden songs of all time, and yet so few have heard of it! It's all "Gangland"'s fault. "Cold as steel, the darkness waits" is BAD ASS. This song shows Bruce doesn't just have a pretty operatic voice. He gets gritty here.

Bryan:  Your enthusiasm for it definitely makes me reconsider this one. I dropped it on my dishwashing mix, which means I'll be hearing a lot more of it. 

Hallowed Be Thy Name

Bryan: 6/5 Poor Marshall: when I sent him this spreadsheet at the beginning of our listen-through, I had only “six-six-six!” as my notes for this and side B’s other big ones. But what can be said? This is everything re: Maiden all in one song. 

Marshall: 4/5  "The sands of time for me are running lowwwwwwwwwwwww" and then the band jumps in and he's still going, is one of the greatest heavy moments of all time. I remember when my brother pointed that part out to me. 

Bryan: I always sing along with that part – it’s like the harmony to “Africa” by Toto or any number of other examples where I am physically incapable of not doing so whenever it's on – and am always thankful for that little pause for intake of breath Bruce takes before starting the stretch where he sends it all sailing up into “YEAAAAAAAHHH!”

Marshall: When I was a songwriter, I tried to mimic that effect in several of my songs. And the guitar solo is INSANE.

Bryan: Just start to finish perfect.

Final Thoughts

Marshall: Total 29 (Avg. 3.22)  A high point in their career and one of the most classic of classics, but I actually believe their best days still lay ahead.

Bryan: Total 39.5  (Avg.  4.39)   Few bands manage a side two as epic as the one offered up to the world here. And like you say, it’s not even their best work!

~

(1983)

Side One

Where Eagles Dare

Bryan: 5/5  Sound effects so rarely work in songs. Exceptions definitely include when the band is recreating fx through their instruments, as Nicko does here with the rat-tat-tat of the machine guns on the cymbals. Or Iron Maiden in general - they get a permanent use-of-sound-fx waiver.

Marshall: 4/5  I LOVE that intro. I heard that intro was Nicko's audition. Harris heard it in his head, and he looked for a drummer that could do it exactly right.

Bryan: Definitely Nicko’s tune. 

Revelations

Bryan: 4.75/ 5  As textbook metal for me as Judas Priest’s “Victim of Changes” or Demon’s “One Helluva Night.” I think about this list (songs that define metal to me) often enough. Those three are definitely on it, but I go back and forth - over decades, now - on what else should be on it. ("Holy Diver" probably, too. And "Mister Scary." Project for a rainy day.) Anyway, I can't imagine my childhood without Piece of Mind in my walkman, and this song more than most.

Marshall: 4/5  Just as “Where Eagles Dare” is Nicko's spotlight, this one is Dickinson's spotlight. His voice is incredible on this song. I get chills every time I hear, "the eyes of the Nile are opening, you'll see".

Flight of Icarus

Bryan: 5/5  One of my faves. 

Marshall: 3/5 I know this is a classic Maiden song, and it's definitely a good song, with a great chorus, but doesn't quite reach the level of "favorite Maiden song" for me. I think because it gets repetitive.

Die With Your Boots On

Bryan: 3/5 These guys really know how to end a side one.

Marshall: 2/5  I first heard this song on Live After Death and didn't like it at first. The chorus is stupid and repetitive. It's grown on me a little since then.

Bryan:  You just gave me permission to knock my score down a bit to where I think is more honest with me. I remember when this one of their “biggest” songs, like pre-Powerslave. The band expanded beyond this one quite well. 

Marshall:  It's funny how many of your comments talk about "sides." What are these "sides" of which you speak? :) I hadn't dealt with sides since like 1991.

Bryan: Truth. But since they designed those early albums with sides in mind, so that’s part of the pleasure. Maiden's one of those bands, like Rush, that tended to follow a song-placement pattern, album to album. It's part of why Brave New World feels so much like classic Maiden: they followed the classic pattern! All in good time, though.

Side Two

The Trooper

Marshall: 3/5  This song is all about the instrumentation and vocals. The guitar riff is genius. The intro is bad ass. The instruments stop and he yells "he'll take my life but I'll take his too!" But the chorus is pretty lame: "Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh"

Bryan: 6/5 You've got the wrong pronoun there, but close enough. Here’s another one where I feel bad for Marshall getting my original notes, which were these: “What can you say. The scene in Free Enterprise where Robert answers the asteroid/ Alvarez question/ crossword downstreaming of being a Trek and Maiden fan. ” Those were just notes to myself to follow up on - but he must've thought I was writing in code.

Don't know who out there has seen Free Enterprise (1999) – it wasn’t a big hit, or a hit of any kind, really, but if you’re a first or second generation Trekkie, you probably know of it. It was (not including the SNL skit from the episode Shatner hosted) the first meta-Trek, something which later became a genre unto itself. There’s a scene in the movie where one of the leads receives a phone call from a contemptuous ex-girlfriend, who still, despite her ex-status and her contempt, contacts him for crossword answers, which he always knows, the joke being his geekery - particularly his Trek geekery - has instilled him with actual demonstrable knowledge (at least for crosswords). I can relate to this scene, not just for Trek but for Maiden. I was one of the kids whose first glimpse of so many things (the Crimean War here, the Blitz, hell Margaret Thatcher) came thanks to Maiden. People who came to Maiden (or Trek) early in life were familiar with many things discovered by others only in the classroom. Chuck Klosterman calls the band (derisively) "British-history-obsessed" in his otherwise excellent book Fargo Rock City. True but a narrow truth: their scope was history itself, not just British, and not really with any provincial airs. Hell, "Run to the Hills" is as anti-provincial as it comes, just one of many examples. Anyway, I'm grateful for the thousand ways Maiden (and Trek, again) prepared me at least for crossword puzzles.

To your point on the chorus, here’s one where I kind of agree. I’d argue that it works – and maybe even works gloriously - but it’s a pretty lame choice for a chorus. This is a rare agreement with you on such things; your anti-soccer-chant remarks never land with me. 

Here, by the by, is where the tradition of starting off side two with a "The (occupation)" song begins. For anyone paying attention to such things.

Still Life

Bryan: 5/5 One of my favorite "deep tracks". I love when songs say the album name in the lyrics. The opening backwards-masking is (apparently) "Don't be fiddlin' with things you don't understand."

Marshall: 4/5  Of all the songs on this album, this  one got into my head the most. The intro is gorgeous. The chorus grabbed me: "Night-mares!" I really love the part, "can't you see, not just me they want you too!" I actually did have a nightmare that somewhat resembled this song. And Star Wars. It was weird. I wrote a song about it called "Blue Nightmare", and I tried to make it sound a bit like this song.

Bryan: Oh I can totally remember hearing that “Nightmaa-aares!” in the Walkman – you just brought me back to that. This was, again, a big Walkman album in my life. I seem to not be able to stop bringing that up.

Quest for Fire

Bryan: 3.5/5  You ever see this movie? I've always wanted to do a marathon of movies that inspired Maiden songs. They get it wrong here, though ("in a time when dinosaurs walked the earth…!") but hey, good line, and Bruce belts it out well. Ditto for the chorus. Some great bass in here, throughout.

Marshall: 3/5  Never saw the movie, no. This is a good song, I like it, tempted to give it a 4, but I don't like it as much as "Revelations" and "Still Life". I like it as much as "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus".

Sun and Steel

Marshall: 4/5  I love all the fencing songs. This song is so fun, and so catchy.

Bryan: 4/5  The opening line (“You killed your first man at 13…”) and the chorus will always stay with me, they’re just imprinted on my brain. Between this and “Holy Diver” I really had Boethius’ wheel re-enforced as a philosophical constant. And yeah, any fencing song works for me. Another way Maiden helped me out with crosswords forever after. (Epee, foil, etc.)

To Tame a Land

Bryan: 4.25/5  I don't know how many times I've heard this over the years, but it's possible this last listen for this project was the most enjoyable. What I said about ending Side Ones goes for Side Twos, too. The last few minutes are as protoypically Maiden as anything I can think of (bass propelling things, twin leads, Nicko galloping along) and then the winding it down to a quiet finish. 

Marshall: 5/5  Back when Steve Harris knew how to tell a story in a grand finish to an album. He started doing these epic masterpieces on this album and the following two albums. I just love all the places this song goes instrumentally, starting with the bass solo at 2:50. My favorite part is the guitar solo over one of the coolest bass riffs EVER, starting at 4:40. And that bass riff just keeps chugging along as the guitars battle it out, back and forth before finally joining together behind that bass riff. GENIUS!

Final Thoughts

Marshall: Total 32 (Avg. 3.56) Is it just me, or did the production value drop on this album after Number of the Beast? Anyway, this album was when Dickinson's voice was at its peak. He'd really mastered his voice and was in tip top shape. So many good songs on this album.

Bryan: Total 41.5 (Avg. 4.61) If you’d asked me prior to this what I thought of the production, I’d have praised it. Because I think of the mix as meeting in the middle of my ten year old head on the Walkman. Still do, really, but I think there’s a tininess to some tracks.

~

(1984)

Side One

Aces High

Marshall:  5/5  I LOVE this song. This was the first Iron Maiden song I ever heard. I remember that line, "got to get airborne before it's too late!" It was intense, and then the chorus hit. "run, live to fly, fly to live" and I was already singing along.

Bryan: 6/5  I can still remember the impact the arrival of this album had on all the D&D sessions of my youth. What can you say? It’s iconic, it’s perfect, it should be re-scheduled as a Class One narcotic. As should the side two opener. But we’ll get there!

Two Minutes to Midnight

Bryan: 4.5/5  The lyrics on this song were written on the back of my sixth grade notebook. I remember reciting them in my best Sean Connery impression "And the jellied brains of those who remain..." to my tablemates. Any other band this would be their signature tune. With Maiden, it's almost crowded out by other, better anthems. Almost. Still anthemic, still awesome. 

Marshall: 4/5  That guitar riff intro!! That was the first signal that this song was going to be intense. The lyrics of this song are absolutely amazing. "The body bags and little rags of children torn in two" is something you'd expect to be dropped casually by a death metal band, but Maiden had already built up a lot of credibility as not being hyperbolic, so this becomes a dead serious (pun intended) anti-war anthem.

Bryan: I have a friend who doesn't get metal and his go-to thing whenever the topic comes up is to mimic "To kill! The un-born in the woo-OOMB!" He doesn't understand he's just making the object of his confusion all the more awesome.

Losfer for Words

Marshall: 4/5  The best heavy metal instrumental ever written. The dueling guitars on this song are just exquisite. I wondered for decades what "Big 'Orra" meant, and it wasn't until the internet that I could find out. I searched for it, and Nicko said it's kind of poking fun at the way he talks, and means "big horror"

Bryan: 4.5/5  That is the kind of thing the internet should have stayed invented for, right there.

I can respect and even metal-salute nominating this for best metal instrumental, though Faith No More’s “Woodpeckers from Mars” is a respectable alternate. Undoubtedly, though, like Maiden's own "Transylvania" or portions of Megadeth's "Into the Lungs of Hell," this is Headbanging 101. 

Flash of the Blade

Bryan: 4.75/5  Same as "Two Minutes," any other band this'd be their signature tune. There should be a Guitar Hero Maiden song where you're just on horseback, vaunting various things. I forget the Argento movie that uses this one – Phenomenon, maybe? I’m acting like I can’t just google it, but I’ll save it for later, but I’ll add it to my one-day Maiden-movie marathon. 

Marshall: 5/5  Another insanely bad ass guitar riff intro. I love the chorus of this song, "you'll die as you lived in a flash of the blade." Then it goes back to that insane guitar riff. THAT GUITAR RIFF!!! There's also a part in the guitar solo where the guitars are doing these two different melodies on top of each other and it is just mind boggling to listen to.

The Duelists

Marshall: 5/5  This song's music really evokes the image of two people intensely fencing. It just feels like fencing theme music. The guitars, again, do some amazing magic on this song. It even feels like the guitars are fencing! And again, the chorus is incredibly catchy.

Bryan:  3.5/5 It is indeed great cinema of the mind. Not so much evocative of the (great) Ridley Scott movie, and I don’t know if it was even meant to be. Anyway, as side closers go for me it’s not great, but it gets the job done and then some.

Side Two

Back in the Village

Marshall: 4/5  Another amazing guitar riff intro. The guitar work on this song is amazing. This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and yet it's my LEAST favorite song on this album. That's how absolutely mind boggling this album is.

Bryan: 5/5  Right there with you – not a fave as a kid, a “Holy shit, how did I not love this?” fave as an adult. And you’re so right about that guitar riff! Just terrific – this song is everything metal needs to be. As is:

Powerslave

Bryan: 5/5  As is the next one too. What can you say about this? Freaking Powerslave.

Marshall: 5/5  One of the coolest things about this song is the vocals. Makes sense since it's Bruce's tune. It really evokes the feeling the song is about. The background vocals during the chorus are incredibly spooky. But the best part of this song is the guitar solo beginning at 3:00, with the bass almost doing its own solo underneath. It's exquisite. Then they really get down to business at 3:50! They just keep trading off, even the bass and drums each sort of get their own solos. Then the jump back in is absolutely seamless. 

Bryan: There's nothing quite like "Powerslave". Well, not counting "Creeping Death," I guess, both conceptually and metal-masterpiece-ly. it'd be fun to put together a playlist of only Egypt-inspired metal. Those two, plus Blue Murder's "Valley of the Kings" and "Ptolemy." What else? Leave your suggestions in the comments. 

That brings up something I wanted to take note of: the controlled-POV of Maiden songs. They're like little movies where both band and Bruce play different parts. It's not an approach every band takes, and of the ones who do, it's not an approach every band actually does successfully. It's never a problem with Maiden, though - you never think Bruce is singing about himself or Steve writing about himself. They're selling concepts, plays of the mind, etc. The "are they Satanists?" confusion from American audiences was always funny to me even as a kid; clearly they're describing a scenario like a book/ movie and not actually promoting anything. Who couldn't see that? This changes a bit down the road when the band incorporates more personal lyrics into the songs, but at this stage, at least. Maiden is pure theater. 

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Marshall: 5/5 And now. Now comes the epic album finisher. The only song that could possibly top every single song on this amazing album. This is the best song ever written. My favorite instrument in this song actually is the drums. Nicko is absolutely genius on this song. My favorite part is the break where it's just the bass guitar and spooky vocals, then that lead up back into the song is incredible. 

Bryan: 5/5  What can you say. Perfection. "The chosen on-n-n-ne!" This is the "chosen-one"-iest of all Maiden's "chosen one" songs.

Final Thoughts

Marshall: Total 37  (avg 4.62) This was the best Iron Maiden album ever recorded. No, this was the best heavy metal album ever recorded. No, this was the best album ever recorded. The instrumentation on this is absolutely incredible. It almost seems superhuman.

Bryan: Total 38 (avg 4.75) So say we all!  

We're just reviewing the studio albums in this listen-through, but a quick word on:

(1985)

- the document of at least two nights in Long Beach, California from The World Slavery Tour, (if you could even imagine such a thing today. I hope no one ever cancels Maiden. It's likelier now than it was at the peak of the PMRC.) in support of Powerslave.

Marshall: My favorite live Maiden and basically the perfect live album. These guys are masters at the live show, and all their techniques were on full display on that album. I didn't think they could get that good until Rock in Rio, which I'd say is a close second to Live After Death.  

Bryan: A lot of my friends say Alive (Kiss) is the best metal live album, but that's nuts and I tell them so whenever it comes up. I'm a Kiss fan and I get that it had a big impact when it came out, but it’s nowhere close. Live After Freaking Death all the way. 

Marshall: I just don't get Kiss. They are really bad. Like, not even a little bad, but really bad. It's not that they don't have their moments, they do, but, just not very much talent in that band. They're performers far more than they are musicians, and I care about music a lot more than performance. That said, I owe them a great debt for the influence they've had on all of my favorite music that came later.

Bryan: I only got into them in the late 90s, and that was mainly because my friend and old bandmate didn't stop bugging me about them for years and he's a pretty funny guy, and his energy eventually infected me. That and I genuinely love Ace Frehley's 1978 solo record. My timeline was: not liking them so much in the hair metal era or after, not caring about their reunion tour, rediscovering my love for Ace Frehley (1978), saying "I only like Ace's Kiss songs" for 2-4 months, then finally succumbing to the full-on collect-it-all madness. Definitely more performers than musicians, more spectacle/ style than substance, more fun to collect/ be a fan of than perhaps listen to.

Anyway, back to Maiden. I like a few of the later vault releases like Live in England. While we’re here, when I was growing up I always wanted Maiden Japan, which was a white whale of my vinyl-hunting youth. I just never could find it anywhere and mail order was unknown to me then. I was disappointed, though, when I finally got it as an adult. Maiden's got a lot of live stuff, but the casual fan can make do with just Live After Death.  

And that cover! I remember my brother explaining that this H.P. Lovecraft guy quoted on it was the same guy who invented the gods in that one chapter (since removed) of my copy of Deities and Demigods (D&D manual). 

~

(1986)

Side One

Caught Somewhere in Time

Marshall: 3/5  I like this song, it's a good opener. But a tad repetitive, a sign of things to come. Let me guess, time is always on your side, and you're caught somewhere in time? Got it. No, I insist, I really did hear you the first time!

Bryan: 4.75/5  I totally respect that. It’s true, I can’t deny it. But there’s a 12 year old in my head on a BMX standing in front of an imaginary posse of monsters and Marvel comics who is stuck in time, or rather is glaring at me from it, who is refusing to let me go any lower than 4.75. This - and most especially the next one - is the sound of returning to the States after five years in West Germany, of junior high, of a reunion with America. I realize this can't be anyone else's association with this song / album in general, but it's inseparable from my feelings on it.  

Wasted Years

Marshall: 5/5  One of my favorite Maiden songs. That guitar intro is so cool! Such a catchy chorus, and great lyrics. It's also definitely my favorite Maiden video. I remember watching that on Headbanger's Ball and being floored by all the images being flashed at me. So much history!, I thought. Decades went by, I'd since bought every album, seen all the Eddies and photos of the band, heard every story. Then I went back and watched this video on YouTube, and recognized every single image being flashed at me, AND I knew the back story for much of it. It felt like the reward for all my hard work!

Bryan: 5/5  Amen to that. Imagine being twelve and having drawn all of those covers over and over again for years and then seeing the video in 1986! It made me feel like a vet, and the video was the parade. 

I mentioned Wayne's World last time, and it's weird to reference that movie twice in two posts, but there's that scene where Wayne picks up the guitar at the guitar shop and starts in on "Stairway to Heaven" and they point to that sign 'NO 'STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN'". For years whenever I'd walk into a Guitar Center the "Wasted Years" riff was the one I'd always play on whatever demo guitar was plugged in. My version of that sign would read 'NO 'WASTED YEARS.'"

Sea of Madness

Bryan: 4.75/5  I keep expecting to listen to this and think oh, okay, I've overrated it. And it never happens.

Marshall: 2/5 It's a decent song, nothing much to write home about. Filler.

Bryan: I have written home about it – literally! True story.

Heaven Can Wait

Bryan: 4.75/5  That riff is such dynamite, and the soccer chant stuff in the middle is the best.

Marshall: 1/5  This song is exhausting. The lyrics are stupid. It's like 7.5 minutes of yelling "heaven can wait" 32 times (yes I counted), and "oh oh oh" over and over again. Talk about phoning it in.

Bryan: Wow, we split hard on this one! I find it neither exhausting nor stupid and no more repetitive than any other Maiden classic. And I love soccer chant Maiden – the strategic use of “whoah oh oh”s! is a column on my mental spreadsheet of appreciation for the band. 

(There was a lot more back and forth here but it boils down to I love it, Marshall doesn't.)

Side Two: 

Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Bryan: 4.25/5  I go up and down with this one over the years, all these years later still. I read the book it’s based on once and liked it. 

Marshall: 3/5 This song is so upbeat, which seems appropriate for its subject. The whole thing is about perseverance. And the drums just pounding away consistently throughout the song mimics the feeling of running.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Marshall: 3/5  I like the bass intro, which stays constant throughout the verse. I like this song. I relate to the lyrics a lot. My favorite part is the middle guitar solo. There's a sort of bass solo underneath it going at the same time. I love it when they do that sort of thing.

Bryan: 3.25/5  Not a bad song at all. Not a fave.

Déjà vu

Bryan: 4.5/5  For me one of the great underrated tunes of Maiden's career. I love when this one gallops off from the slow beginning. Irresistible riff/ chorus. Just a great idea for a song, particularly a Maiden song. 

Marshall: 3/5  I like this song, but I tend to tune out by this point in the album.

Alexander the Great

Bryan: 4/5  Okay I was looking fwd to listening to this one again given your high opinion of it. I can safely say I enjoyed it more this past listen than any time before. The middle instrumental stuff is awesome, no doubt - full-on 5 stars. I still think the verses are kinda crowded, though, cramming words in, kinda info-dumpy. ("He paved the way for Chris-ti-an-i-ty!") This is not something I hate about Maiden; I find it kind of adorable, actually. 

Marshall: 5/5  Another one of their epic album finishers. I really love the intro and chorus. I love the changes in this song, right around the middle, heading into the solo. The guitar melody there is so good, then they double it with both guitars before launching into an even grander solo. I totally agree about how crowded the verses are. That's sort of Harris' style. And I agree that it's cute.

Final Thoughts

Marshall: Total 25 (avg 3.12)  This was clearly a massive step down from Powerslave. The band was starting to experiment with new sounds and styles. Unfortunately, the members were in disagreement about the new direction, which ultimately led to the loss of two of their most important members over the next few years. Dickinson was so disillusioned with this album that he contributed nothing to it except his vocals.

Bryan: Total  35.25 (avg 4.4)  I remember reading the Mick Wall book and discovering how unhappy Bruce was with this direction this one took. It surprised me, but then it made sense. I can see how Bruce phoned it in with this one, and how the band more or less repeated a formula, the beginning of a pattern which would be repeated a few more times in the years to come. Not immediately, though, as we will see next time. 

Hope to see you then!