Thrifty Tunes 12.20.08: Iron Maiden

Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 12.20.2008

Iron Maiden released two of the most influental metal records of the '80s. Both 1982' s The Number of the Beast and 1984's Powerslave are modern metal classics. But what about the album sandwiched between the two? Piece of Mind is the focus in this week's Thrifty Tunes.






In 2006, when Iron Maiden released A Matter of Life and Death , my Maiden fandom, which had been dormant for nearly fifteen years, was reborn. How could Iron Maiden, of all bands, make a relevant record so many years into their career? How could it sound as good, if not better, than most of their earlier albums? Shouldn't they be playing the nostalgia circuit at flea markets and circuses, half heartedly performing their classics? During one of my recent visits to the thrift store, I came across a treasure trove of Maiden, Judas Priest and Rainbow records. The haul of Maiden included everything from 1981's Killers to 1992's Fear of The Dark . I was familiar with the vast majority of the records, especially 1987's Somewhere in Time which is my favorite Maiden album of all time, but Piece of Mind wasn't something I'd listened to in many, many years. I was curious to see if it still held up and how it measured against the records which bookend it in the band's discography.

To Tame A Land - Iron Maiden


The album opens with "Where Eagles Dare," which sounds like any number of other Maiden songs. All the expected elements are here: Steve Harris' galloping bass line, a head-banging guitar riff and a thundering drum track. It's not a bad song, and a decent album opener, but when compared to "Aces High" which kicks off Powerslave , it falls a bit flat and seems too bloated, which is the biggest problem I'm faced with in regard to listening to this record again. Sitting still enough to listen to six and seven minute songs is easy when you're sitting in your room as a teenager and 'studying', but it's not so easy when there are a thousand other things demanding your attention. I also know that one of the trademarks of most Maiden songs are their lengthy guitar solos, and sometimes the song demands a long solo, but other times it seems as though the band started a stopwatch and played a bunch of notes until someone stopped the clock. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but on songs like this, it reminds me of an angry bee buzzing around my ears, and not something I particularly am interested in hearing again.

In order to keep up the supposed occultist leanings of the band, the next song, "Revelations" features references to Church of Satan founder Aleister Crowley as well as lyrical inspiration from Christian apologist, G.K. Chesterton. At the time, bands like Maiden and Black Sabbath preyed on the public's paranoia and gullibility concerning Satanism and pretended to be 'into the devil' or practitioners of black magic or whatever would make parents forbid their children to listen to the band's music. And as we all know, the forbidden fruit, by its very nature, is impossible to resist. Kids all over the world bought records like this just because they were told they couldn't. Most of those kids, like me, would listen to songs like "Revelations", turned down low so parents wouldn't happen to hear, and with a uneasy hope that 'something' might happen. Again songs like this work when you're younger, but for me now, it just seems like a hundred other songs of similar ilk. The rebellious, anti-establishment origins of the song are lost on me now, and the only thing I hear now is a silly song pretending to dabble in mysticism for the sake of selling a few more copies.

By the beginning of the third song, "Flight of Icarus", I've come to wonder if maybe I'm done with Iron Maiden for good and it was just a matter of nostalgia and happy coincidence that I enjoyed A Matter of Life and Death at all. There are the aforementioned lengthy guitar solos, which actually fit the subject matter of the song, and the lyrics themselves are a pretty solid retelling of the Icarus legend from Greek mythology. Songs like this and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", which I wrote a lengthy paper on in senior year English, show that the band, particularly Harris, had much more literary influences than the typical bands of the time. It's somewhat disheartening to hear a good band give up its uniqueness in exchange for more commonplace ingredients, (such as faux-mysticism) when the uniqueness is capable of producing great songs like this. I'm sure at some point in my life I'd heard the story of Icarus before, but it wasn't until I heard this song that it really meant anything to me. Music, at its best, can tell an old, old story in such a way that it won't be easily forgotten.

Side two opens with "The Trooper", which is perhaps the best known track on the record. It's a staple of their live shows and one of the few songs on the record which stands my test of time. I could listen to this, in the right mood, and not feel bored by it. It makes me want to go see one of their shows now, mainly to see if the band can still play well live and partly to see if there's anybody younger than thirty in the audience. I'm not sure how kids look at bands like Maiden. Obviously bands like Metallica and AC/DC sold lots of records this year, but was it mostly people my age and older doing the buying or do sixteen year old kids still take time to pick out the perfect CD to listen to when they get their first car? (Mine was "Somewhere In Time," by the way. I drove all over town until I had listened to the whole cassette. Yes, I said cassette. It seemed like an important thing to do at the time, somehow making the car, a real lemon of a Pontiac something or the other, and I indestructible and/or inseparable.)

After "The Trooper" there are three straight songs I never want to hear again. I'm sure they are somebody's favorite Maiden songs ever, but the only thing I like about them is their length. The longest of the three clocks in at an anti-Maiden like 4:53. The final song, "To Tame a Land" is my favorite song on the album, even though it's the longest on the record and there's all sort of musical masturbation with guitar solos, it still manages to retain its completeness It doesn't sound as though a bunch of different parts were played and then pasted together haphazardly until a Frankenstein-ish song was created. A great deal of time and care was spent making sure all the different parts fit together and make sense with one another and with the song as a whole. It gave me a bit a hope that perhaps Maiden still has a few things to offer an old fan like me.



Complete Track Listing: (1983 EMI release. As per usual, the remastered CD release contains other tracks and a different play order.)

Side One:
1. Where Eagles Dare
2. Revelations
3. Flight of Icarus
4. Die With Your Boots On

Side Two:
1. The Trooper
2. Still Life
3. Quest For Fire
4. Sun And Steel
5. To Tame A Land

Pickett Stars: Two out of Five . I'd like to think I'd be kinder to other Iron Maiden albums, but this one, with a few exceptions, didn't do much for me.

Next Week: Rather Ripped by Sonic Youth