Iron Maiden "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" 1988****

With the exception of a phase of constantly listening to Powerslave around '85, I wasn't a huge Maiden fan as a teenager in the 80's. You might say I liked the artwork on their LP's more than the music inside. Strange to find me bingeing on Iron Maiden during the last week, now that I'm in my middle years - owing to my finding some of their classic era CD's on sale for €1 or €2. Stranger still for this to coincide with the death of Martin Birch, producer of all these albums as well as many other classics by Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake etc Of all the bands he had worked with, Birch valued Maiden the most because of their down-to-earthness, energy and team spirit. He produced every one of their albums from 1981's Killers until 1992's Fear Of The Dark - his last work before retiring from music at the age of 43.

I may only have bought Seventh Son of a Seventh Son lately, but at the time (some 30 years ago) I listened to it a lot: a cassette copy would play often at Babis' cafeteria opposite the Medical School where we'd go between lessons. A bunch of us (the "rockers" of the Dental School which was housed in the same buildings) would tape music for Babis, and he'd play our cassettes often enough - at least when we were there. In my memory this album was dominated by its ultra-commercial singles "Can I Play with Madness" and "The Evil That Men Do" whose clever use of synths and rousing choruses place them somewhere between New Wave and NWOBHM. But it seems that music critics consider this to be one of the band's "serious" works, assigning it to the Prog Metal subcategory. Apparently, it's a concept album born from the desire to celebrate the fact that this was the band's 7th album. Taking a cue from Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker novels, bassist/main songwriter Harris made the connection to folk tales about seventh sons having certain supernatural powers such as prophecy and built the whole album around that idea, with the rest of the band joining in the composition to make it one of Maiden's most collaborative efforts. The album opens and closes with an acoustic snippet, Bruce Dickinson in earnest "toss-a-coin-to-your-witcher" medieval troubadour mode, which segues into "Moonchild" featuring -after a short synth intro- the trademark Iron Maiden sound: sinister lyrics, fast tempo, operatic vocals and screaming guitars. It's followed by the more epic/atmospheric "Infinite Dreams" while side A closes with the aforementioned singles which rank among Maiden's best and catchiest. Side B opens with the obligatory 10-minute epic, in this case the title song. With its atmospheric keys, operatic vocals and time shifts it justifies those who labeled 7th Son... prog metal. After an epic first part, the tempo lowers around the 4-minute mark for a slower part with narration, followed by a fast and technical 3-minute instrumental part. "The Prophecy" is another proggy piece featuring theatrical vocals and metallic guitars playing medieval-sounding melodies, closing with an acoustic coda. It's followed by the third commercial single "The Clairvoyant", a metal dynamite and live favorite. The album closes with another catchy tune called "Only the Good Die Young". The illustration -which, as I already said, always fascinated me- is by their (up to that point) exclusive designer Derek Riggs, and shows his creation (and Maiden mascot) Eddie mutilated and transported to some unknown time and icy landscape. It contains a lot of surreal details, making it one of the band's weirdest album covers. Although some fans found 7th Son... too "proggy" for their taste, it did very well commercially, propelled by the catchy singles and well-made videos. Creatively it's often considered their last great album. Guitarist Adrian Smith left before the completion of 1990's No Prayer for the Dying, and singer Bruce Dickinson left after 1992's Fear Of The Dark - the last ever Martin Birch production, and coincidentally (or not) their last album I bothered listening to, before giving up on them. Dickinson and Smith are now back into the fold, but I couldn't tell you if Maiden can still cut it as a band. I did read an enthusiastic review for their latest opus Book Of Souls on Classic Rock Magazine, so that might be worth checking out - once you've finished with their essential 80's albums, that is.

***** for Can I Play with Madness, The Evil That Men Do

**** for Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, The Clairvoyant, Only the Good Die Young

*** for Moonchild, Infinite Dreams, The Prophecy