Book of Souls has some extended instrumental sections that give it a proggy flavor but over all I would say Seventh Son is a more typical prog sounding album by them.
Book of Souls has some extended instrumental sections that give it a proggy flavor but over all I would say Seventh Son is a more typical prog sounding album by them.
Here's the details of this set for any interested.
Listed as Iron Maiden, but pparently, it's an Adrian/Nicko side project billed as "The Whole Population Of Hackney." Steve, Dave, Bruce guest on 3 songs. Bruce sings on a couple encores.
Marquee Club, London, England 12/19/85
Juanita
See Right Through You
Reach Out
Chevrolet
Lady
Silver And Gold
That Girl
Fighting Man
School Days >
Drum Solo >
School Days
She's Gone
Try
Losfer Words
Two Minutes To Midnight
Rosalie
Tush
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
OH yes, I remember reading about The Total Population Of Hackney. Around the time Somewhere In Time came out, I remember Ade talking about them in an interview. As I recall, it was him, Nicko, and...oh, I forget the other guitarist's name, but Hackney is the section of London they were all from.
That's an interesting selection of songs. I assume Rosalie is the Bob Seger version (but presumably based on the far superior Thin Lizzy cover). Silver And Gold was I suspect a song by a band called Beckett (I think that was the right name) that Maiden covered on one of their B-sides (Ace's High again, I think).
Juanita, Reach Out and That Girl were all songs written by friends of Adrian from the Urchin days (Urchin was his pre-Maiden band, who actually released a couple singles and did a couple BBC radio sessions), and were all covered by Maiden on the Somewhere In Time era singles (That Girl and Juanita are on the Stranger In A Strange Land 12", Reach Out on the Wasted Years 12"). That Girl is the same song that was done by the lightweight British band FM (the song's author, Andy Barnett was in FM at the time), though I think the Maiden version buries the FM recording.
Well, he wouldn't have known the title. That's the whole point of those "blindfold" things, you put the record on cold, don't tell the subject what it is, and the subject offers his/her spontaneous comments. I think 'Arry said something like he thought the chord sequence was similar to something Hackett might have used, I guess on one of his acoustic things.
BTW, a couple years later, the same magazine gave the blindfold test to Dave Murray. One of the records they put on for him was Kingdom Come, the band derisively known as Kingdom Clone, for their apparently deliberate "Zeppelin by numbers" routine. So Dave is commenting on it, saying it was the first time he heard it, then apparently Dickinson runs into the studio and delivers this rant about how terrible Kingdom Come was and how it had exactly the same thing to recommend it as "lift music". Dave then adds, "I think Bruce said it all!".
Oh, and did you know Bruce's cousin is Rob Dickinson, who back in the 90's was the lead singer of a sort of an "alternative" band called The Catherine Wheel? I saw Rob Dickinson do a solo set, opening for The Church about 10 years ago. The Church was using a mix tape of progressive rock songs to precede the concert, and Dickinson and comes on and sort of sheepishly warns us that The Church lads are all prog rock fans.
Got in to Iron Maiden via Powerslave (Rime of the Ancient Mariner is my favorite Maiden song), saw them twice in the late 80's, they were an incredible live band. Lost interest after Adrian Smith left, I really really really regret not going to the 2008 "Greatest Hits" show. Would love to see them live again.......
Good interview with Steve Harris, he has good musical taste.
...or you could love
I understand better now those blindfold things, yeah I agree that perhaps he associated those chords progressions with some Hackett acoustic guitar work. Or most probably he was reminded of some Hackett orchestrated pieces methinks, as some he composed inspired on Erik Satie. However, from my perspective, the few of PWC I listened to thus far I found it pretty more resemblant with Stephen Caudel style.
"Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth. ". Ludwig van Beethoven
I got into the band a bit before you did--with Number of the Beast--but Powerslave remains my fave Maiden effort, in part, because of the "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." I always saw them as a progressive metal band due to the complexity of their compositions and the often heady subject matter of their songs. I saw the band on the Final frontier tout (with Dream Theater opening) and wasn't disappointed. I took my then-15 year old son whose musical tastes are as expansive as my own. We saw Black Sabbath earlier this month and will see Steven Wilson in early-November.
What I great interview! Thanks for posting!
An old fan here; I saw them for the first time at an open-air concert in Belgrade, in 1981 - Iron Maiden were on their Killer World Tour & played as an opening act for Yugo-Prog band Bijelo Dugme:
An amazing event; just like it was yesterday..
Last edited by Svetonio; 09-26-2016 at 01:45 AM.
About time someone interviewed him about his prog interests! And a Be Bop Deluxe fan, now I am really impressed!
You say Mega Ultra Deluxe Special Limited Edition Extended Autographed 5-LP, 3-CD, 4-DVD, 2-BlueRay, 4-Cassette, five 8-Track, MP4 Download plus Demos, Outtakes, Booklet, T-Shirt and Guitar Pick Gold-Leafed Box Set Version like it's a bad thing...
Pre sale tickets went on sale today for the uk dates and I'm going to Cardiff. Iron maiden live have been on my to do list for years and the chance to see them in an arena instead of a massive outdoor gig is to big to miss. I just get the feeling that they might not be touring much in future more so it's now or never.
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is such a good record. I appreciate it more and more every time I listen to it. It's my favorite Maiden and one of my favorite records period.
And if any of you haven't heard The Book of Souls yet, do yourself a favor and grab a copy. I would say that it's their best album since Bruce returned.
Possible Worlds http://www.possibleworldsband.com
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