HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Somewhere In Time – Iron Maiden
In Behind the Iron Curtain, a fascinating look at the ventures of IRON MAIDEN into the Eastern Bloc on their hugely successful World Slavery Tour, the cameras capture a fan saying to vocalist Bruce Dickinson that he loves heavy metal but would like to play it with synthesisers. “Nah, you can’t play heavy metal with synthesisers” comes the singer’s reply. Within two years, Dickinson’s own outfit would make him eat his words.
The World Slavery Tour ended in July 1985, 11 months and 189 concerts after it started. MAIDEN were exhausted and, of the five band members, Dickinson came off worst. “It was not conducive to the state of my mental health” he recalled in the History of Iron Maiden, Part 3 documentary, “and I went through a period where I considered jacking the whole thing in, actually”. Bassist Steve Harris supported his bandmate’s feelings in the same biopic. “It was a tougher gig for him singing up in that register for two hours every night, five or six nights a week; he was ready for the funny farm, pretty much.”
Given the rest of the year off, IRON MAIDEN reconvened in January 1986 to write what would become their sixth studio album, Somewhere in Time. Attributed to his own exhaustion in hindsight, all of Dickinson’s creative contributions were rejected, largely because they would have taken the band in a significantly different direction. “I thought we should go a bit more chill out and acoustic, and everyone looked at me as if I had two heads!”
With guitarist Dave Murray lacking confidence (his sole contribution is co-writer on Déjà-Vu) and drummer Nicko McBrain not due to contribute anything writing wise for another 17 years, it was down to Harris and guitarist Adrian Smith to come up with the goods. Smith ended up writing three tracks which made the album: Sea of Madness, Stranger in a Strange Land and lead single Wasted Years, recorded on a small four-track machine with, for the very first time, a guitar synthesiser involved. “The early ones were very volatile” he explained. “You never quite knew what would come out and you’d leave yourself exposed to ridicule!”
Adrian’s involvement saw him attend the mixing sessions in New York, where he snagged MAIDEN a new fan. “Me and the producer went back to the hotel to listen to the album in our room and I’d mentioned that Tom Jones was in the bar; nobody believed me, but as we were listening to the mix there was a knock on the door, and Tom Jones was there asking if he could come in and listen. He stayed until about four in the morning!”
Somewhere in Time also boasts arguably IRON MAIDEN’s greatest ever cover art, a piece far more intricate than anything that came before it and bursting with references and Easter eggs. “It wore me out quite severely,” artist Derek Riggs revealed to Martin Popoff in the book Run For Cover. “It took three months in all and I just had to stop because I’d had enough. It got into my head, and I just couldn’t see anything else.”
Released forty years ago on September 29th, 1986, Somewhere in Time is a crucial part of MAIDEN’s evolution. The use of guitar synthesisers and keyboards, most notably in the opening title track and Wasted Years, allowed the band to branch out into new styles and sounds, while songs such as Heaven Can Wait were further indications of their eventual segue into becoming a full-blown, progressive metal band like today. And then, of course, there’s closing track Alexander the Great, the epic about the legendary Macedonian king and a song that, until its eventual airing in 2023, was the #1 song that Maiden’s fanbase wanted to hear live.
Talking of hearing songs live, the stage show for the subsequent Somewhere On Tour somehow managed to be even more ambitious that the previous one, with eight trucks holding over 100 tons of equipment that included laser guns, flying spaceships and a huge, inflatable version of the band’s mascot Eddie, which would rise up under Nicko and, assisted by hydraulics, send the drummer into the lighting rig. It looked spectacular, until the pressure began to drop. “It looked a bit like a saggy bin liner when that happened” laughs Bruce “and Steve would be turning around trying to find who was in charge to give them dagger eyes!”
Because it falls chronologically between 1984’s Powerslave and 1988’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time is, even today, a bit overlooked in the grand scheme of IRON MAIDEN’s back catalogue, which does it a great disservice. It may not have spawned a seminal live album like its predecessor, or got to #1 like its successor, but four decades on, it still transports you to a distant dimension, a fifty one-and-a-half minute rollercoaster ride through space, time and the great unknown. Go back and listen to it – and if you never have, what are you waiting for?
Somewhere In Time was originally released on September 29th, 1986 via EMI Records.
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