Being the Iron Maiden fan that I was, I had to buy Somewhere In Time when it came out. Guess what, they had adopted some of that MIDI technology too. Iron Maidenalways had great sounding guitars, adding the MIDI stuff just seemed to make them a little more ethereal or something. They didn’t go over the top with it but the influence is definately noticable mostly on the guiar intros. Purists may scoff but I think it sounds OK when used in this manner.
Somewhere In Time carries the distinction of being the last metal album that I purchased during The Metal Years. Don’t think that I abandoned Heavy Metal. In the decades to come, I’d pick up some more. Rammstein comes to mind. I still like Heavy Metal music, it is just that shortly after this point Somewhere In Time, The Metal Years would come to an official close.
On March 19th or 1987, I’d finally see Maiden live. We went down to Market Square Arena to see them. It was a pure pre-Nirvana spectacle. The stage was constructed to resemble the inside of a space craft of some sort with ramps and such all over the place. The show was energetic. At one point the Terminator Eddie appeared and engaged Bruce Dickinson in a laser gun battle. They ran around the stage firing lasers at each other with sparks fire and smoke erupting all around.
During the song Heaven Can Wait, they had the entire road crew on stage to help sing the chorus. Iron Maiden seemed to be very proud and appreciative of their road crew. Even then I thought that sentiment was cool. On thePowerslave tour Eddie came back at the end as an even larger, larger than life mummy. This tour continued that tradition. Near the end of the show, a gigantic Terminator Eddie head appeared behind the stage and enormous skeletal hands rose from underneath the band raising them up in his grasp. Now that is entertainment! Great music and energry combined with all manner of visual effects. I feel fortunate that I was able to see Iron Maiden at what I feel was their best.
Caught Somewhere In Time
Wasted Years
Heaven Can Wait
Stranger In A Strange Land