“He’d done the Piece Of Mind tour with this horrible little Japanese four-track demo machine full of ideas, riffs arrangements and whatever, and the Egyptian thing was on there. “Bruce came up with the Powerslave concept,” says Adrian. While it can never be called truly conceptual, nonetheless the band’s ability to tell stories reached a new level, as they explored the supernatural (Rime Of The Ancient Mariner), the Battle Of Britain during the Second World War (Aces High), the end of the world (2 Minutes To Midnight) and even an Egyptian theme on the title track, one that was reflected in the album cover as well, featuring another remarkable painting by Eddie creator Derek Riggs. One of the great strengths of Powerslave is that it’s a very visual record. The 50 best Metallica songs of all time.An Illustrated History Of Eddie The Head.Every Iron Maiden Album Ranked From Worst To Best.“We had so much fun doing Piece Of Mind out in Compass Point we had to go back,” says Steve with a laugh. The band had first used Compass Point Studios for the Piece Of Mind album, having previously recorded in the rather less exotic surrounds of London for their previous three releases. But he never arranged anything we’ve always done all the writing and arrangements. “We knew each other very well by that point. “Martin was comfortable to work with,” adds Steve. So what was little ol’ Adrian Smith gonna do to impress him? But Martin understood where Maiden wanted to be he did get the best out of people and he was a lynchpin in bringing out all those ideas, enabling us to make records that sounded so strong.” I mean, this guy had got the best out of Ritchie Blackmore and recorded the In Rock album and all that. “ Deep Purple are my favourite band,” admits Adrian, “so when Martin came in to do Killers, I was really very nervous about him because I thought he’d think I was just plain shit. Martin Birch had been the band’s producer ever since he came onboard for Killers, and was an integral part of capturing their instantly recognisable sound. When our producer Martin Birch timed it at 13 minutes we were all like, ‘Fuckin’ ’ell, 13 minutes?!’ And when we play it live, it never seems like 13 minutes at all.”Īside from Steve Harris and Dave Murray, there was another key constant within the Maiden team. We were all so into making it work, and we all enjoyed it so much that we thought it was only eight or nine minutes long, maximum. ![]() The funny thing is, no one actually thought it was 13 minutes long at all. I had an idea back in Jersey, but really it was at Compass Point Studios where it all came together. “I wrote most of it in the Bahamas where we recorded the album. “I don’t know where it came from, actually,” he confesses. Typically, Steve is a lot more down-to-earth when discussing the genesis of this remarkable piece of work. It’s so dramatic how can you not like it?” And Steve was so fired up about it he convinced everyone else. I think when we recorded it in the Bahamas he had to hang the lyrics from the top of the wall all the way to the floor, there were so many. “But when he put …Mariner forward I just knew we had to do it, because I’d never heard anyone do anything like it before. ![]() That presentation, if you like, was always at the end of the day in the main communal area, like a ‘show and tell’ at school! Steve usually works on his ideas alone, and when they’re kind of 90 per cent done he’ll present them to the band. Like I would often work with Bruce on lyrics to my songs or Davey on harmonies and guitar parts and that. Anyway, we had this system whereby we’d each come up with our ideas, then work with whomever to fill them out. It was usually fucking horrible winter weather, I might add. “In those days we used to head off to Jersey, to record things in this studio we rented as a bunch of tax exiles, basically. “This was Steve’s mad idea,” explains Adrian Smith. It’s also, at just a touch under 14 minutes, the longest song the band had ever recorded to that point. Whereas 2 Minutes To Midnight was a sharp, snappy single (the 10th of the band’s career) and reached number 11 in the UK charts, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is an epic, based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s darkly foreboding late 18th-Century poem. In many respects, those two tracks represent the two diametrically opposed poles on planet Maiden.
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