CD Odyssey Disc 2: Piece of Mind

There are times when the randomness of the universe is a real gift. Of my hundreds of discs, the second disc in the CD Odyssey after rolling Judas Priest is...Iron Maiden. You just can't script this kind of stuff.

I've done a lot of driving today, so I am already through disc 2! At this rate I could be finished in two years! I'm sure that's what Odysseus said as well. Instead, his buddy Aias went crazy and stabbed himself in the thigh, then Odysseus spent 10 years as Calypso's love slave and got home a decade later to find his house overrun with freeloaders.

But I digress...

Disc 2 is...Piece of Mind


Artist: Iron Maiden

Year of Release: 1983

How I Came To Know It: In my youth, I loved Iron Maiden. Love is not too strong a word. I could sing the lyrics to 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. I knew that Bruce Dickenson put his pants on one leg at a time, but I still thought he made gold records (yeah, I know that's a different Bruce Dickenson). Due to financial consideration, I never owned Piece of Mind as a kid, but I knew many of the tracks. I'm glad to bring it back to its righftul home (mine), now that I am an old rock n' roller with a paycheque.

How It Stacks Up: I have 7 Maiden albums. I'd put this one 3rd best, and a strong third at that! The only reason it is third is that 1 and 2 are that good - but let's not get ahead of ourselves, we've got a lot of sailing left before we reach the Blessed Isles...

Rating: 4 stars

Piece of Mind has everything a young (or old) metal-head could want. Bruce Dickenson has the best metal pipes in the business (Dio's are pretty good as well) and he wails. The guitars rule. In particular, I love the crazy-assed shit that Maiden will write about.

This album features songs about:
- The 1968 Action/War film "Where Eagles Dare"
- The Book of Revelations
- The myth of Icarus, who died flying too close to the sun.
- World War Three
- Man Discovering Fire
- Dune (more specifically, an ode to Paul Atreides).

Also, all these songs are good! OK, the one about discovering fire is not so good, but the movie covering the same topic is far worse.

In addition to reminding me of a great myth, "Flight of Icarus" always reminds me of an art project some guy did in my "Greek Mythology" class when I went to UVIC.

We were tasked in making a creative interpretation of a a Greek myth. One day during the assignment - the class arrives to find all the curtains in the room drawn (it was the second floor of Clearihue Building).

As everyone settles in, we start hearing "No Icarus! Don't fly so close the sun! The wax holding on your wings will melt! No, Icarus! No!!!!" It sounds like someone in the courtyard outside is off their rocker. As he yells, someone pulls the curtains back. On the roof outside, he has placed the bottom half of a mannequin - looking like it has crashed through the roof, face first (bottom up - and prominent).

Down in the courtyard, it was our classmate yelling - rooms all around were looking down, thinking him quite mad.

I thought he was quite awesome. Kudos to you, fellow Myth Student - whoever the hell you were. Thanks for the memory.

OK - back to the record:

Best tracks: Flight of Icarus, Revelations, The Trooper, Sun and Steel, To Tame A Land.

Do you have an opinion about this album? Post it! Or lurk - that is good too.