(1983)
Steve, Dave, Bruce, Adrian and Nicko.
2. Revelations (Dickinson)
3. Flight of Icarus (Smith/Dickinson)
4. Die With Your Boots On (Smith/Dickinson/Harris)
5. The Trooper (Harris)
6. Still Life (Murray/Harris)
7. Quest For Fire (Harris)
8. Sun and Steel (Dickinson/Smith)
9. To Tame A Land (Harris)
I'm going to start with the things that are not excellent about it.
The album isn't perfect. Out of its nine tracks, only seven are fantastic. Quest For Fire and Sun and Steel are both good songs, but they don't hold up to the standard set by the first six songs and the final song.
Never-the-less, if Piece of Mind lacks in being a perfect album, it delivers with the remainder of its tracks (and well over half are phenomenal).
Nicko, celebrating his new presence in the band, kicks of the album and the opener, Where Eagles Dare, with a quick yet awesome drum solo/intro, and this really sets the bar. It's a long song, and the fact it's the album openr sets the mood for the rest of the album. Bruce does wonders on the chorus, and I simply love the way the song just becomes one big instrumental halfway through.
Next up is Revelations, which is without a doubt one of Maiden's best songs (and Bruce's, for the matter). Starting in a rather strage way, the song actually gets into the main verse after some two minutes. The stop-start rhythm develped here is great, and Bruce's vocals are perhaps best here on the entire album. True, it does seem a little out of place amongst the faster songs here, but that doesn't really matter, because Piece of Mind wouldn't be the same without it; everything about it is simply georgous.
Then there's a song which I thought, upon first hearing the title, be a huge epic. Not so. Flight of Icarus is under four minutes long, but I swear it feels much longer. Which works and gives the song a mini-epic feel to it. The chorus is excellent - it has a real sing-along feel to it, and Bruce's final scream has annoyed my neighbour to no end. Fuck 'em. This is Bruce/Adrian at their best.
Then there's a song which is very much Adrian: fast, smooth riffs and an excellent second solo. The lyrics may seme a tad repetitive, but once you read them, they give the song a whole new dimension.
Then there's The Trooper, which has etched its name in the hall of Maiden's classics along with Hallowed and 23:58. The chorus is exceptional - and it doesn't even have any words, so that should say something about the song. Headbanging has never been so much fun, especially with Steve's galloping bassline all the way.
After that is a slower song, opening with a beautiful solo by Dave, and vocals by Bruce thay go hand-in-hand with it. As the tempo builds to the chorus, the power really comes through, with Steve's bass complementing it all the way.
The next two we've gone over already, to let us jump straight to the album closing epic, To Tame A Land. Now, if I'm being honest, the film version of Dune sucked. Fortunately, Steve took inspiration from the book and from this is the best song he's writen. Not until Brave New World's Dream of Mirror's would he write something better (speaking of epics, at least).
So that's that, Piece of Mind, my fave Maiden album. It all comes together perfectly, and has a very epic feel about it. It's a lot more...what's the word...serious? Nah. I don't want to say cheesy, 'cause that just does all the other albums terrible injustices (I mean, not that being cheesy is bad, but you get my meaning though, yes?). Oh well. The word doesn't want to rear it's ugly head. Fuck it. I don't need it anyway.
Piece of Mind rocks!