On Icarus it's how both songs (verses) use the A chord as a transition chord between the E's and F#'s. That may not have been Adrian's inspiration, but when I play Icarus that's what I hear. Where Eagles Dare...you'd think after the lyrical jumble of Invaders they might've shied away from having the opening track so wordy.
Revelations Best song on the album for me. I'd like the tempo to be somewhere in between the studio version and the Live after Death version. Bruce's first solo credit and it gives a glimpse into just how good his song writing will be. The depth of the lyrics meant hours pouring over possible meanings for millions of fans! Fantastic Bass work from Harris on the quiet bits, he somehow makes a simple A minor scale run sound melodic. Also the C note he plays in between each chord under the verse is quite a departure from his usual style, as pointed out above he tends to be more creative on songs that are written by other band members. I always thought the harmony riff at 1:50 was an almost direct rip off of the theme tune from The Prisoner TV show and they'd done it as a nod back to the previous album. They always missed this riff out live just playing the chords until the 3 guitar line up gave them the opportunity to put it back in. Special mention for Nicko's shout of 'Motherf**ker' at the end of the Live after Death version, when I've played this song with tribute bands there's always a couple of dudes in the crowd who'll shout that at the end of the song!
Die With Your Boots On: And now we come to Track Four of the album, credited to Bruce, Adrian, and Steve altogether. The title comes from a phrase where one dies while occupied, in action, or working. The song itself is about facing an apocalyptic future, likely inspired by the Cold War and the fear of nuclear war at the time. The song is kicked off by the twin guitars, with Steve and Nicko providing great support to the guitarists. Bruce starts at :21, howling the lyrics and warning us of hysteria. I will say I'm not a big fan of the backing vocals on the chorus, something about them just doesn't work for the chorus, makes it feel a little too cheesy. However, it doesn't competely ruin the song, as the song still has that bite to it. Oh, we must mention Dave's solo at 3:00 and the little accompaniment Steve does on bass, both are just fantastic. And Adrian's at 4:06 is pretty good too, pretty kick ass. Overall, this is my least favorite track on Side One, but I still really like it.
Die With Your Boots On It used to be my favorite off the album all because of that awesome second verse but now I feel it kinda drags towards the end. Still love it though. I feel that a third verse would have benefited the song 'cause the"if you wanna die?" back and forth goes on a bit too long in the middle and end of the song. Good solos.
Die With Your Boots On Cuz if yer gonna die...Killer track! My ears still ring from cranking this entire album so loud when it first came out. Straight forward Maiden in your face. 4.75 Cranks!
Die With Your Boots On. Lemmy did near enough, and it looks like a good few of our heroes will do the same. No filler in sight...another tremendous track, I particularly like the intro which Nicko gets kicking with his super crisp snare. Take note....that is a snare drum sound...compare that with the one on the Fear Of The Dark album....yuk!!!! 5/5
Die With Your Boots On I like Bruce's lyrics here, specifically the "truth of all predictions is always in your hands line". The chorus gets a bit repetitive, but mostly I'm cool with it. The only thing that sort of detracts is Bruce's goofy asides in the pre-choruses. I'm not sure which parts of the song Steve wrote, as most of the music sounds like Adrian's writing style. I remember reading a LONG time ago that the credits for Maiden songs always went music-lyrics and if there was a 3rd name then they did essentially "clean up duty". Meaning, contributing bits of music and/or lyrics but not the main thing. Steve's parts are usually easy to pick out, like the middle change in Can I Play With Madness or the "whoa-oh-oh" section of Wickerman. In Boots maybe he wrote the bits after Dave's solo or maybe the intro? That sounds like him. Heh, I don't know. All that said, I like it when the three main writers contribute to songs. This is another good one and aside from the goofy bits, it's a strong song. Steve gets a lot of nice bass runs and Dave's solo is excellent. I love the accents that the rest of the band play during Adrian's solo too. Another great song for this album. I was shocked when they busted this out for the No Prayer tour.
I always thought the lyrics were centered around Nostradamus's predictions. (The Frenchman did surmise) The future is foretold, but perhaps not set in stone. You are going to die but you might as well go down swinging, and perhaps you can change your fate. Regardless, the lyrics are intriguing and the chorus is catchy. I agree with others in that, I like it, but it's kind of a middle of the road Iron Maiden song. Don't get me wrong, that's still a pretty good thing.
Die with Your Boots On was always one of my favorites. I love the lyrics. They freaked me out when I was a little kid (13 the Beast is Rising).
This is one instance where the faster tempo actually makes for an improvement over the studio version.
Sorry for running behind, here's.... The Trooper: The Trooper, the most iconic song on this album and one of Maiden's most iconic songs period, written by Steve about a cavalry charge during against the Russian army during the Crimean War (1853-56) at Balaclava on October 25th, 1854, which is considered a major blunder. This battle also inspired Massacre by Thin Lizzy, which Maiden later covered as the B-Side to Can I Play With Madness. The song is kicked off by a guitar riff played by, I think, Dave, backed by Steve's bass, and Adrian (?) and Nicko join in at :02-:04, and the band locks into a gallop, and the guitars really are very Thin Lizzy esque. Bruce, who starts at :36, has this great grit to his voice, as he tells the tale of this needless bloodshed. Man, the band is so on point, with Nicko throwing in some nice flourishes, and Dave and Adrian doing some great harmonies. Adrian launches into a great solo at 2:11, such a great, ripping solo, and some great melodic qualities, and then Dave kicks things off at 2:35, ripping it up and doing some siren-like touches as well. Hmm, very close, but I'll give it to Adrian this round. This song manages to convey such an epic feel in four minutes, and despite overplay, this song is very much worthy of it's status as a classic, and it's an excellent way to kick off Side Two.
"Die With Your Boots On", songs that with very promising and strong great riff. Great groove there on the bass and guitars. Very catchy but a perhaps a bit longish chorus in the song. It works as the whole song just is really compact piece. I've always liked this one very much so I can't and I obviously shouldn't be too critical here. I like the lyrics and feeling of the song. There's always some different interpretations concerning the lyrics and it's also a sign of intelligence, plus it's promising a great song aswell. Maiden's lyrics aren't that cheesy as some of the contemporaries (like some really embarrassing lines that Kiss has done) and once in a while when you read, study and think of these things, actually I would claim that Maiden's lyrics are one of the finest in the market. Maybe the song just tells you to do all the best since there's still time here to do so and surely it must have been influenced by some of these doomsday predictors visions. I wouldn't comment this song any further, just enjoy it! I like the Dave's solo at around 3:01 which leads to some really cool middle part that consists of riffing at around the mark 3:23 and the we got some great performance from Bruce at 3:45 onwards. Which ultimately leads towards the end and next song is once again of their most important songs in the catalogue..
Live After Death: Pretty good, band is tight, but I'm not partcularly keen on Bruce's voice here. However, he does recover eventually, and he still gives it his all.
Flight 666: This was only the second time, I listened to this song, the first being when it was the theme for Metal Evolution, and wow, they still got it after all these years. And the triple attack is amazing on here!
DIE WITH YOUR BOOTS ON Sorry, I just never warmed to this song, whether played live or studio. I find the whole "if you're gonna die," followed by a couple of guys mumbling "if you're gonna die..." in the prechorus to be kind of corny, then the chorus itself is so repetitive. (Ironically another repetitive song, "The Evil That Me Do," is in my Maiden top 10. Go figure). I also remember that this song was woefully wrong (and hard to play) in the infamous "First Four Albums" songbook that I'll only be able to allude to for the next four days or so because it obviously only covers through Piece of Mind. Funny anecdote: Once in high school we were watching some kind of documentary in history class, and the narrator said something along the lines of, "They died with their boots on." A fellow metalhead and I shot each other appreciative looks.
THE TROOPER Now this is more like it. One of the 3 most popular hits from Piece of Mind, and deservedly so. Though incredibly overplayed, I never skip it and in fact usually crank it. The E minor harmony line that runs throughout sounds slightly like the beginning riff of Deep Purple's "You Fool No One." The chord stabs between the verses ("you take your life but I'll take yours too") reminds me a bit of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" ("generals gathered in their masses") but obviously sped up and not quite as demonic. This must be heard to be believed:
"The Trooper", this is the one and very important song for me personally. Damn, along with Hallowed Be Thy Name, it made me instantly Maiden-freak in 1985. That's why I also have this tattooed on my skin. The song is based on the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava 1854, which took place during the Crimean War, and inspired by Lord Tennyson's poem of the same name. It shows the perspective of a cavalryman during the Crimean War as he charges and dies in the battlefield. I like the story of the song and also the soldier's battle which is told, is so thrilling and well told it just moves me everytime I hear it. Eventhough I've heard this one numerous (could it be thousands?) of times, it's still so good and of course it's one of my absolute favorite songs from Iron Maiden. It's just perfectly executed and delivers. I like the whole atmosphere of the song, the war going on there, the galloping sound of the bass and the guitars delivering that full on assault, it just always works, be it the studio-version or any live-version. There's great sense of drama and melodies, excellent lyrics and powerful galloping beat just moves this song to be the ultimately memorable anthem. No wonder it's that widely covered and played by cover-bands (but no other does this song justice).
The Trooper Ah the Maiden gallop in full force! You cant hear this one without imagining Steve "firing" his bass right at you live. I do think its played too often nowadays but still fun especially with Bruce waving around the Union Jack. Probably their signature track along with RTTH.
The Trooper - Absolute classic. A memory from seeing them with my daughter for the first time was her reaction as she peered through the dark at the backdrop changing over and her realising that The Trooper was next!!!
