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‘Iconic slab of metal’

Classic Rock Revisited

‘Usually the numbers are better live than on record. That has to do with the feel of the songs. Most of them were written to be played on the stage. They’re not really for the recording studio’ Steve Harris

Following up the wild success of Number of the Beast, Iron Maiden had, indeed, achieved some piece of mind by 1983, choosing it as the title of their fourth studio album in as many years. Twenty-five years later it would be hailed by metal internet radio station KNAC.com as ‘the greatest album in the history of civilisation’.

Heading into recording, Steve Harris felt the band was at their strongest yet musically, primarily due to what he cited as the ‘really big difference’ the band’s new drummer Nicko McBrain was making. ‘His drumming is some of the best rock drumming there is,’ Harris told Artist magazine. ‘His feel is magic. Nicko toured with us when he played with the French band Trust in 1981 and 1982 so he’s been on the road with us. Trust and Iron Maiden have always been big friends anyway and personality-wise there was no problem. He was actually born about a mile and a half from me and he’s just a couple of years older than I am.’

Delving into how he felt McBrain’s unique brand of skin-hitting had strengthened Maiden’s metal precision, the bassist said, ‘His drumming, I think, has given us a different dimension. It’s tougher and his timing is perfect. He’s a total rock drummer; he’s got a great feel and he hits it real hard. So the whole thing has grown up. Every album has improved both in term of production and musicianship. I think now it’s really becoming what Iron Maiden is all about and we expect it’s going to develop even more from here.’

Concurring, producer Martin Birch added in a conversation with Best magazine that, on ‘Piece Of Mind, the contribution of Nicko [McBrain] was tremendous. He really is a great drummer.’

Harris volunteered candidly to journalist Johnny B that the most challenging part of diving into the making of any new studio LP, for him, was that ‘coming up with new material is always the most stressful thing and the biggest worry. You have standards – both yours and others’ – that you want to meet and yet you don’t want to repeat yourself because what’s the point of that? I think some bands do try and repeat themselves, and do try and recreate the success that they had from one particular album … We don’t do that, we have never tried to do that. If anything, we tried to do stuff that we have never created before. We wanna do stuff that is different, new and refreshing for us and [our fans].’

Speaking of the band’s camaraderie throughout the writing process, producer Birch told Best, ‘Even within the band, although Steve Harris is the boss because he founded it and writes most of the songs, there is a great unity and nobody tries to stand out individually from the team. It’s really nice and mostly really exciting because their music is full of energy.’

Even though the band had attained global fame by this point thanks to the smash success of The Number of the Beast, Birch recalled that the band kept grounded and focused on maintaining their signature sound in the studio. ‘They don’t fall into easy – and very boring – solutions with tewenty-minute guitar solos, then keyboards, then drums, like I experienced with Deep Purple,’ he told Best. ‘I think they’re more robust, musically speaking. Another difference is their attitude towards the outside world. They are not into the “star system” and remain very accessible. Success has not raised any barriers between them and the others, press, audience.’

Compass Point Studios, built by Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell in Nassau, Bahamas, is described on its official website as offering artists ‘the opportunity to create in an environment where they first rise in the morning for a swim in the warm tropical waters. Stroll or jog along a beautiful beach. Enjoy a gourmet breakfast under a palm covered verandah. Then make the short walk to one of the world’s most famous, spacious and well-equipped studios to begin your day’s work. Any time you need a break, just step outside and gaze across an endless seascape of ocean blue, breathe in the fresh sea air and then come back refreshed.

‘When the day’s work is finished, leisurely stroll home under a canopy of brilliant stars. Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, have been the “Home Studio to the Stars” now for 33 years. The history of what has been recorded here is virtually unmatched in the industry.’

Continuing, the studio adds of its legendary history that, as it attracted a diverse array of musical sub-genres in the form both of reggae legends like Bob Marley and harder rock acts like AC/DC and, finally, metal bands like Iron Maiden, ‘in the late 1970s and mid-1980s, Compass Point was one of the great recording studios of the world. Artists came from around the world to record in the Bahamas. Many major producers utilised the facilities, including Chris Blackwell himself, in his role as record producer. The resulting records sold in the many millions of copies worldwide. AC/DC’s Back in Black, widely regarded as the ultimate and largest-selling rock album of all time, was just one of the many great albums recorded at Compass Point Studios.’

Qualifying the studio’s rich history of recorded diversity, a review of only a handful of the legends Compass Point has attracted over the years includes none other than The Rolling Stones, U2, Robert Palmer, The B-52’s, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, The Cure, Adam Ant, James Brown, Duran Duran, David Bowie, Judas Priest, Mick Jagger, Whitesnake, ELO, Status Quo, Tom Tom Club, Joe Cocker, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Eurythmics, Power Station, Roxy Music, Wings, Ringo Starr, Julian Lennon, Bad Company and many others.

According to founder/owner Blackwell, ‘I decided to build a studio in a restful location … and I built it from scratch. A man who worked at the studio at Island’s offices in London was the sound designer and he created a magic room.’ Elaborating more on the technical side of the studio’s construction, journalist David Katz explained that ‘[Blackwell had] conceived Compass Point as a giant blank canvas for audio, a space where music could be made without the distraction of external influence.

‘Construction of the 24-track facility took place in 1977, with an MCI 500 series mixing desk and other top-notch equipment installed, initially in one room. High-profile recording sessions took place almost from its very inception: in March and April 1978, Talking Heads made the first of many appearances there to record More Songs about Buildings and Food. 1979 began with Dire Straits’ second album, Communique and, immediately after, the Rolling Stones were in residence for a month to work on Tattoo You.

‘In fact, so many mainstream rock acts were booking the place that Blackwell had to build Studio B, a second recording room, to ensure enough time was available for his own projects. It was towards the end of 1979 that Compass Point really came into its stride.’

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards offered of the studio’s magic live vibe that ‘a lot of Jamaican reggae interests me because they have a lovely, wide-open concept about recording, which the rest of us are slowing coming around to. For them, a console is as much an instrument as a drum or a guitar … They’ll just go “Whack! Bang!” and drop out an instrument.’

Bruce Dickinson described the band’s recording process there to journalist Robert Jock as one where the group tracked live together off the floor, seeking to maintain the consistency of the energy of their live performances in the studio as they were onstage, explaining, ‘All the early Maiden records were always recorded in sort of traditional fashion where, yes, you play the stuff but the drummer goes and gets his parts right, then everybody else goes in and they play their bits over the top, and you build it up in layers.’

The album’s opener is ‘Where Eagles Dare’, of which KNAC concluded, ‘The guitars are perfect, as Adrian Smith and Dave Murray launch one of several incredible guitar solos … and solos that feature gunfire in the background. The bass is surprisingly low key and Maiden even decides to use the drums a little bit differently than they normally do.’

Steve Harris recalled to Ironmaidencommentary.com, ‘It’s supposed to sound like a machine gun. It’s not very loud in the mix but we wanted it that way so people who listened to it a couple of times would say, “What’s that?” That song was done in two takes.’

Of ‘Die With Your Boots On,’ Harris recalled a group collaboration. ‘Adrian and Bruce came up with the main riff. Bruce came up with the lyrics. I came up with the chord sequence behind the verse and the cross section that goes into the main chorus. This is another personal favourite of mine. It has more chords than riffs, which I suppose might make it strange as to why I really like it so much. It’s a very powerful number live. I get off on the aggression of it.’

Turning to the creation of ‘Still Life’, the bassist said, ‘It’s basically a story of a guy who is drawn like a magnet to a pool of water. He sees faces in the lake. He has nightmares about it and, in the end, he jumps in and takes his lady with him. It’s a very enjoyable number to play because there’s a lot going on. Again we’re creating a mood and coming in with a very heavy guitar sound. Adrian takes the first solo. After the solo there is a really tight bass-and-drums staccato part, which goes right across the top of the riff. I like that part a lot.’

Discussing the double meaning in the lyrics of ‘The Trooper’, Harris explained that, on one level, ‘basically it’s an answer to the religious freaks for giving us such a hard time on The Number of the Beast’, adding that, on another level, it was ‘based on the Crimean war with the British against the Russians. The opening is meant to try and recreate the galloping horses in the charge of the Light Brigade. It’s an atmospheric song.’

‘Revelations’ was a song that KNAC concluded ‘brings out one of Maiden’s strengths – having two great guitarists with the talent to share/swap the rhythm and lead guitar duties and go back and forth on the solos’. Harris recalled of its writing, ‘That’s Bruce’s [song]. To me it’s sort of a heavy version of the Wishbone Ash feel … Bruce and myself are [also] very big Jethro Tull fans.’

Of other collaborations with the singer, the bass player singled out ‘Sun and Steel’, telling IronMaidenCommentary.com, ‘Bruce wrote the lyrics to that. It’s basically about a Japanese guy who builds himself up to a peak of fitness and wants to kill himself hara-kiri style. I think it would be a good live song but we have never played it on stage as of yet.’

‘To Tame a Land’ Harris identified as ‘the best song I’ve ever written’. KNAC also sang its praise by arguing that ‘whenever Maiden’s epic saga songs get mentioned, it’s usually referring to “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, “Alexander the Great” or even “Phantom of the Opera”. Usually overlooked is the best of the bunch – that’s right, “To Tame a Land”.’

Bruce Dickinson, in the same conversation with IronMaidenCommentary.com, explained that this one is ‘all about a gentleman who wrote a science-fiction book called Dune. He’s an American called Mr Frank Herbert, this particular gentleman, all right? And Mr Herbert, as it turns out, is a bit of a cunt actually because … among other things he said that if we called this track “Dune”, he’d sue us and stop the album coming out, and all kinds of very unpleasant things … So we had to re-title the track … and we had to call it “To Tame a Land”.’

For the song’s author, the song marked a musical accomplishment he summed up by saying that ‘I was really pleased with “Phantom” but now I have to say this is the best’. While he was happy with the majority of the album, Harris singled out ‘Flight of Icarus’ as a song that, ‘looking back on it now, we feel we could have played … at the faster speed on the album. This little extra touch gives it a bit more fire.’

Centering in on what producer Martin Birch brought to what many consider to be Iron Maiden’s most important and influential album, Harris explained in a 1983 conversation with Artist magazine that ‘the reason we use Martin is that he puts down the sound that we want, the way we like it. And we think the first three albums were really leading up to this one in terms of quality. In general, bands are being given producers that make the music for them and, in some cases, even co-write it. With Martin, that’s not the case at all and never has been.’

In explaining why he felt the producer was continually ideal for the band, Harris offered, ‘what Martin has always added with us is his expertise in the studio and his great ability at recording our sounds. We’ve only just come to this point in our drum and guitar sounds, which are exceptional now; it’s just a team growing up together. Martin’s also become aware, obviously, with the experience of working with us, of the way we want to proceed. The suggestions going both ways are very fluid so Martin’s very much a part of the band in the studio.’

Released worldwide on 16 May 1983, Piece of Mind shot to No. 3 on the UK Top 20 album chart and No. 70 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. It also produced the hit singles ‘Flight of Icarus’, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart, marking the highest position of any in the band’s US chart history, and ‘The Trooper’, which peaked at No. 28 on the US Mainstream Rock charts.

Critics and fans alike held the album up high, with Popmatters.com years later declaring the album a ‘classic’, while Kerrang! published a poll in 1983 that declared Piece of Mind No. 1 on their Greatest Metal Albums of All Time list. A KNAC reviewer raved that the album was ‘my favourite album of all time’.

For Steve Harris, the personal-highlight moments from the album included ‘The Trooper’ and ‘Die With Your Boots On’. He told IronMaidenCommentary.com, ‘Both are very good live numbers and, in the case of “The Trooper”, because we managed to capture the right mood for the song.’

For Martin Birch, reflecting years later on his catalogue of collaborations with Iron Maiden, the producer – like most fans and critics – felt that the band’s accomplishment with Piece Of Mind made it ‘by far their best album’.