"Invaders", I know how this song has been criticiced, discussed and commented over the years on the fan-forums and groups. Seems that it's gotten truly disjointed grade as some think this is ain't anything particularly special, some think it's great and some not. Well, I don't think I ever thought of this song in which camp it should fall into, other than it presents as energetic and fast opener for the album that was one of the major points for me in my life as I discovered it. I still remember the first time I heard it. Feels like this song just starts and appears from out of nowhere, and gets that totally in your face feeling energy flowing as the album starts. Also as it's so fast and energetic it almost slides past you and you're almost listening to the next song as you wonder how did it went pass so fast? It has to be one of the fastest songs ever from Maiden, I like the pace and energy present in the song. Steve's basslines are superb going around on this one. Maybe it is a bit lesser song on the album, I don't mean the song is bad or anything, it's just so underrated for some reason, maybe it's just that there's so many classics on the same album that this and this song just kinda suffered when compared to them. Maybe they should have been more careful with the tracklist so the album could have really benefited from it. I like it though. The chorus could have been a bit better. But I still think this is the perfect introduction done for Bruce on the first album he's with Maiden, but luckily this was only the first song of many greats to follow shortly. You could sense how things had changed since Paul was let drifting out free from the band and then there was someone new singing and doing the frontman stuff..who? Bruce Dickinson, the air-raid siren, that's for sure. I can't too much emphasise his importance for the band, but he brought that totally new breath and energy to the band and would finally lift them to worldwide stardom. I mean Paul was truly great, but once they got Bruce on board things would surely get to different level, songs would get more epic, bombastic and now there was possibility enhance their musical direction.
My thoughts on Invaders have changed over the last 35 years!! It doesn't mean I don't rate the album like I once did... without doubt The Number Of The Beast is a classic album, and a important one generally in Heavy Metal. Godshifter (Jason) got it right. Reviewing albums song by song... your opinion and thoughts can change Doing so, most albums would not get 5/5 or 10/10's....but I think we tend to look back at the impact albums had.... success etc. It's going to be interesting going forward....
Children Of the Damned: And now we come to Track Two, named for the 1963 film about six children with psychic abilities fighting for their survival. They were originally all born in different parts of the world that were taken in by United Nations for inspection, and while the leaders argue among themselves over the children's fate, the military leaders attempt to harness their power for their own use. The children take matters into their own hand ultimately. Harris has compared the mood to Remember Tomorrow. Later, Dickinson mentioned this was inspired by Children of the Sea off Heaven and Hell. The track starts with an acoustic with Steve's bass and Clive's hi-hat underneath, with electric guitar coming in at :14, and it is doing some tasty things on guitar. But Bruce, who comes in at :226, he is the star of this track, as he not only shows power that Di'Anno, as much as I love him, never had, but also great phrasing and taste, and a lot of feeling in his performance as well, he does this song proud for sure. Dio and Halford better watch out, cause there is a new kid in town who gives them both a run for their money. At 2:19, Steve and Clive do this great little gallop, building the tension up until 3:01, when Adrian goes into this great solo, bringing a great deal of emotion and chops to the song, and he really brings his A game here, he nails it completely, and I say that as a Murray guy. In fact, it's my favorite solo so far. This is an outstanding track that more than makes up for a less than stellar opener.
I feel like I've neglected this thread a bit as I got a bit discouraged with how much I didn't like of Killers when I revisited it. Firstly, I applaud @Musicman1998 for his efforts. It's not easy keeping a thread going at a song a day pace. It takes some dedication and if you're not getting much in terms of participation other than "yeah, this rocks" or "yeah, this sucks" (I'm not saying people are doing that here, but it does happen) it makes you feel like your hard work is kind of wasted. So let's give @Musicman1998 some props and like his posts and give him the participation he deserves. He has a long way to go, but he's been thorough and tireless so far. Here's to ya man. My first introduction to Number of the Beast is somewhat foggy. I know I bought the albums in order, so this would have been my third album to purchase for Iron Maiden. I'm not even sure I knew they had a new singer, but I think I did because I probably read about it in Kerrang ! or Circus or some other magazine that focused on metal and hard rock. First impressions: unsure of what to think about Bruce Dickinson as a singer as he was very different in terms of his approach to singing compared to Di'Anno. An obvious statement. Secondly, the whole "Number of the Beast" motif? Interesting, but not shocking in the least after all I had bought me a couple of Venom albums before so Maiden's foray into the Satanic thing seemed a bit formulaic and, quite honestly, pandering. Then after you listen to the song you're like "what's all the fuss about?" It's certainly not a song espousing satanism or anything of that nature; it's more a story of a man witnessing a Satanic ritual (I think that's right) and questioning what it was about. Now, with that said, the beginning of the song with the spoken introduction is pretty provocative and certainly sets a somewhat misleading tone. I wonder how many young metal fans got in trouble with their parents after they heard that? I didn't because my parents were divorced when I was younger and my mom couldn't keep up with me nor did she have the inclination to monitor my music collection. I remember when I saw Maiden on this tour, Bruce introduced the song by saying it was a song about when listeners take the records and spin them backwards (making the motion with his finger as he spoke) and trying to hear things in the garbledygook of what comes out of the speakers. Great show, by the way, with Girlschool and Scorpions in a half arena in Dallas. I really enjoyed all three bands. Maiden had the middle slot in that show as I recall (Scorpions were touring for Blackout and Girlschool Screaming Blue Murder). As to the album. I liked it immediately but there were definitely some songs on it that I found to be weak. I haven't listened to the album in years so it will be fun to go through this again, but, beware Maiden die hards, I might not be completely positive about it.
Yeah, this is the movie that Harris wrote the song about. As we've discussed, Harris has always taken a lot inspiration for his songs from movies, history, science fiction, and other forms of literature. Sometimes the results are great and, often, they're hamfisted. I'd say this one is a success. Really nice acoustic opening and Harris and Burr are nailing it in terms of working off each other. The slower tempo really helps to emphasize how in unison these two could be. Vocally, Bruce nails this one and it's the first song where we get to hear his sustained high register and it's quite impressive. Of course, like most Maiden songs, the tempo has to get going at some point and this song is no different. The solo section gets rolling and Burr and Harris buckle up provide a solid foundation for this section. Nice hammer on section from one of the guys - is it Adrian? (is there a run down of who's playing what for the solos on this?). I like this song, but I wish it would have gone back to the slower intro again instead of just blasting off and keeping that vibe. Never the less, a good song and a big improvement over the pretty poor "Invaders".
Not that it matters, but this isn't quite correct, as the Reading Festival usually took place during August, and 1981 was no exception. So, Bruce may well have auditioned a couple of days after Samson's Reading appearance, but this would've been before Paul's last show.
Considering they were already wanting to remove Paul (hence changing the Maiden Japan cover), I could see them trying out singers ahead of time.
You're so correct. Samson's performance at Reading '81 was on Saturday, August 29. Trust was there too! I swear, I should've figured out by now to not trust things I read in the Run to the Hills biography. Thanks for correcting me.
Invaders: The riffs are pretty great, the vocal melody just doesn't jell with them... perhaps it's a little too wordy with a bit of over-singing by Bruce. Could have used a better bridge as well for the guitar solos. Children of the Damned: What can you say, it's a classic! Unlike Invaders, Bruce's vocals here really compliment the riffs to tell an epic story. Awesome solo at the end too.
Invaders - Surely an attempt to show their new singer off as the opening track. Like it or not, it does let us hear the new Maiden sound in all its glory. Children Of The Damned - Prototype of many Maiden slow-fast-slow epics to follow.
In the UK, Run To The Hills was released as a single about a month before the album, got quite a bit of airplay and made the top 10 iirc. So that was our introduction to the new lineup - a song with one of their best choruses, instead of one of their worst! Hard as it might be to believe in this laziest of eras, we managed just fine with music news pre-internet, especially in the UK. We had 3 weekly music papers, one of which (Sounds) was very metal-friendly. So by the time NOTB arrived, we'd had about 6 months to get used to the fact that IM had ditched DiAnno and poached Samson's singer, thereby wrecking two perfectly good lineups. Personally, I was extremely annoyed at the changes; Samson had just delivered a really strong album (Shock Tactics), and much as I liked Bruce's vocals, I couldn't see how they would work within IM who, for me, were largely defined by Paul's more brutal approach. But Run To The Hills instantly dispelled those concerns, and when the album dropped, yeah the chorus of Invaders was comically inept, but by the end of The Prisoner, it was already pretty much 'Paul who?' as far as I was concerned
Children Of The Damned. OK...So Maiden hit traditional Rock formula...with a large punch on the snout. A brilliant song...that for me ...has aged better than some of the other more popular songs of this album. Bruce takes Maiden to new ground for them....and it works superbly.
Just for something a little different, here's NYC Hardcore band Candiria's cover of Invaders. It was released as a 7" a couple years ago.
I never include Invaders on my Maiden playlists, could barely remember what it sounded like. Not bad, I wouldn't remove it from the album (much too early to suggest it but I'd lose Gangland for Total Eclipse.) Children of the Damned is top draw, a Maiden classic. Bloody excellent, a top-tenner for me.
Invaders I had never thought about it, but in reading the comments for this one it's a great idea to make the title track the album opener. I've listened to this one so many thousands of times that I've just accepted it as the proper album opener. I will say that I love how the song just explodes and doesn't let up. I'll also echo the group's sentiment that the chorus is pretty weak, esp. the corny up and down runs. I love the rest of the song, though. It's a much better song than Invasion. Bruce sounds great on it. You can tell already that he's got a much better instrument than Paul. I love what he brought to the band - vocally, songwriting, stage presence, everything. Actually, I can totally let go of the corny chorus because the rest of the song is so damn good. The band's on fire and Martin Birch's production sounds fantastic. I love Adrian's solo here and that whole section is greatness. I love this song, absolutely.
Children of the Damned Bruce likes to compare this to Sabbath's Children of the Sea and the slowness of it definitely reminds me of ...Sea, but musically I don't hear any direct rip offs or anything. As if it wasn't obvious from Invaders, Bruce's performance on this song just obliterates any of Paul's. And yes, this isn't a competition or "slag on Di'Anno" time, but I'm just saying that Bruce was a serious upgrade in talent. He sings the hell out of this song from the calm first line to the final scream. Man, that gorgeous opening melody in the intro...so perfect. I love the way Steve moves the bass around in the verses, more free-flowing and lyrical. Listen to Clive's high hat in the middle section (harmony and solos)...excellent playing. I love the restatement of the bridge with the different lyrics and repeating the song title at the end. Cool song construction there. Overall, holy nads I love this song. One of my absolute favorite Maiden songs and I'm so glad I got to see them play it live on the Book of Souls tour. Highlight of the show.
