Понедельник 4 Май 2009, 17:30

Iron Maiden / where eagles dare / Piece of Mind (1) / 1983

One of my absolute favourite Maiden tracks and my favourite Nicko McBrain moment by far at the beginning of this. No wonder, looking back, that when I was having drum lessons and my teacher asked if I wanted to learn anything specific he had to politely advise me against attempting this at that time. Still, I love playing the guitar parts - ooh triplets!

Piece of Mind is, IMO the most inconsistent Maiden album of the 80s, six of the nine tracks I consider to be good enough to draw it more or less level with the other 80s Maiden albums. The three under four minute tracks though, and yes that includes Flight of Icarus, I consider below par for Maiden. I do think Icarus is the best of the three but the other two short tracks I think I would consider average, at best, for any band. To an extent this is breaking character for me as I usually insist Adrian Smith can do no wrong when he's writing, I even think (perhaps controversially) hooks in you is a great track, but Sun and Steel is a low moment in Adrian's career. Having said that, as low moments go, it's quite good.

Didn't do a journal on Friday because I went to see a tribute band - a tribute to who? You might ask, well there might be a hint in the title of today's SotD, if not the artist. The weeked then seemed to just disappear without any journals, and I'm not sure why.