Chances are, this review is going to irritate a few of the
\npublicists I work with who either presently handle or who have
\nhandled Iron Maiden in the last three years. You see, they spent a
\nlot of time pushing last year’s re-issued, re-mastered CDs, and
\nchances are they’ll be pushing the upcoming reissue — if you’re
\nkeeping score at home, this will be the third re-issue — of the
\nalbums on Portrait, Iron Maiden’s new label.<\/p>\n
But no, I had to go and dig out my vinyl copy of
\nPowerslave<\/i>, which I bought back in 1987 when I was a
\npimply-faced, undersexed high school student. (I don’t know why
\nI’ve recently gotten onto an Iron Maiden kick, but in the last
\nweek, I’ve listened to almost nothing else in the car but
\nPowerslave<\/i> and
\nThe Number Of The Beast<\/i> dubs I found when I was cleaning my
\nparents’ garage.) But it doesn’t matter whether I’m listening to
\nthis on record or CD, new copy or old; the fact remains that this
\nis arguably Iron Maiden’s best album.<\/p>\n
\nPowerslave<\/i> is first noteworthy because it marked the first
\ntime in the band’s recorded history that they kept the exact same
\nline-up two albums in a row. (Drummer Nicko McBrain replaced Clive
\nBurr on 1983’s
\nPiece Of Mind<\/i>.) It’s noteworthy to the long-time fans as the
\nalbum that marked Iron Maiden’s greatest popularity, and the album
\nthat spawned
\nLive After Death<\/i>. It’s best remembered for three songs:
\n“Aces High”, “2 Minutes To Midnight” and the title track.<\/p>\n
But before we get into those, let’s talk about two underrated
\ntracks. The first, “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner,” is a track
\nthat I doubt any other metal band would have dared to touch. Steve
\nHarris and crew had to have balls the size of watermelons to take a
\nwhacked-out poem written in the 19th Century by Samuel Taylor
\nColeridge and turn it into a 13-minute epic. The thing is, their
\nspin on the poem works, and though the middle sags just a bit when
\nthey go into a spaced-out interlude, the track is a masterpiece.
\nTrue story: we had to read this poem in our sophomore honors
\nEnglish class. I brought in the record, and we listened to it as
\npart of the class. A lot of us finally understood what Coleridge
\nwas saying in the poem, and I suspect a lot of twenty-somethings
\nhad this record to thank for helping them understand that literary
\nwork.<\/p>\n
The other track is one that doesn’t feature lead singer Bruce
\nDickinson. “Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra)” is a powerful instrumental
\nthat shows off the talents of McBrain, bassist Harris, and
\nguitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Every time I hear this
\nsong, I just have to crank the volume to the breaking point and let
\nmyself be overwhelmed by the groove these guys lay down.
\nOutstanding!<\/p>\n
Of course, the better-known songs are just as powerful. “Aces
\nHigh” is a track that just has everything going for it: stellar
\nplaying, a well-written song and a catchy feel. Seeing that I
\nalways liked to read about ancient Egypt and mummies when I was
\nabout 10, you can understand why I would love a song like
\n“Powerslave,” and though I can’t claim to have any knowledge of
\nEgyptian music, the groove this song has sure sounds like it fits
\nthe bill. “2 Minutes To Midnight” is a track that dares the
\nlistener to think about the lyrics, but it is just as good as its
\ncounterparts.<\/p>\n
The remaining tracks on
\nPowerslave<\/i> have occasionally taken heat from the fans, and
\non first listen, one thinks that Iron Maiden took Dickinson’s hobby
\nof fencing a little too close to their hears with songs like “The
\nDuelists” and “Flash Of The Blade”. However, if you spend enough
\ntime with these songs, they prove themselves to be worth their
\nmettle (though “The Duelists” sounds a little too close to “Losfer
\nWords” in the opening). The other track, “Back In The Village,”
\nadmittedly isn’t the strongest song Maiden has ever done, but I’ve
\nalways kind of liked this track for some unknown reason.<\/p>\n
The more I listen to Iron Maiden, the more I realize that they
\nreally weren’t a two-guitar attack, but three. Harris uses his bass
\nas less of an anchor for the rhythm section and more as a “lead
\nrhythm” guitar to set the tone of the songs. (Maybe — just
\nmaybe<\/i> — this was a warning sign of the slide that Iron
\nMaiden would eventually take, but at the time, I know I didn’t care
\nif the bass sometimes drowned out the guitar work.) Also, Iron
\nMaiden has never been a big bar-chord band; instead, Smith and
\nMurray often opted to harmonize their playing to create their own
\nunique sound — and in retrospect, it was a mark of genius. If you
\nwatch either guitarist play, they opt for a solo of substance
\nrather than flash; go dust off
\nLive After Death<\/i> and see what I mean.<\/p>\n
If I had any criticism, it would have to be one I’ve made
\nseveral times: I really wish that McBrain would rely less on the
\nride cymbal and more on the hi-hats. When he does this, as on
\n“Powerslave,” it works — though I’ll concede that using the ride
\ncymbal on tracks like “Losfer Words” and “Aces High” fits the
\nbill.<\/p>\n
\nPowerslave<\/i> marked a special time in Iron Maiden’s career: it
\nwas the album that set them on the path to becoming superstars, and
\nquite possibly the spokespeople for heavy metal at that time. Even
\nnow, 15 years after it was releaed,
\nPowerslave<\/i> is an album that hasn’t aged a bit. You don’t
\nbelieve me? Head on out and pick this up on one of the CD reissues.
\nChances are I’ll be behind you in line, updating my vinyl copy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5725],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36234","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-iron-maiden","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36234"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36234"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}