And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be
no more Death.
Neither sorrow, nor crying.
Neither shall there
be any more brain;
for the former things
are passed away.
Piece of Mind
is the fourth
studio album
by English
Heavy Metal band
It was released on
May,16th 1983
in the
United Kingdom
by EMI Records
and in the
United States
by Capitol Records.
It was the first album
to feature drummer
Nicko McBrain,
who had recently
left the band
Trust
and was
Iron Maiden's
drummer
until his retirement
from touring in 2024.
Piece of Mind
was a critical
and
commercial success,
reaching number three
on the
UK Albums Chart
and achieving
platinum certification
in the UK
and
North America.
Background
In December 1982,
drummer
Clive Burr
ended his association
with the band
due to personal
and tour
schedule problems
and was replaced by
Nicko McBrain,
previously of
French band
Trust,
as well as
Pat Travers
and
Streetwalkers.
Soon afterwards,
the band went
to Jersey to
compose the songs,
taking over the
hotel Le Chalet
(as it was out of season)
and rehearsing in
its restaurant.
In February,
the band journeyed
for the first time
to the Bahamas
to record the album
at Nassau's
Compass Point Studios.
Recordings were finished
in March,
and the album
was later mixed at
Electric Lady Studios
in New York City.
This is the first
of four
Iron Maiden albums
that were not
named after a song
featured on the
album itself
though the
lyrics in the song
"Still Life"
contain the expression
"peace of mind"
Originally, the release's
working title was
Food for Thought
once the band had
decided that
Eddie would be
lobotomised
on the front cover
until the band
came up with the title
Piece of Mind
in a pub in Jersey
during the album's
writing stage.
Composition
Lyrically,
the album largely reflects
the group's
literary interests,
such as
"To Tame a Land",
inspired by
Frank Herbert's
1965 science fiction
novel Dune;
"Sun and Steel",
based on the life of
samurai Miyamoto Musashi
and its title taken from
Yukio Mishima's
1968 essay
Sun and Steel;
"Still Life",
influenced by
Ramsey Campbell's
1964 short story
"The Inhabitant of the Lake",
and
"The Trooper",
inspired by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's
"The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1854).
Film influences are
also present,
such as
"Where Eagles Dare",
based on the
Brian G. Hutton
1968 film of
the same title,
scripted by
Alistair MacLean,
and
"Quest for Fire",
based on the
1981 film by
Jean-Jacques Annaud,
which incorrectly
puts together,
in the same period
of History,
dinosaurs and men.
On top of this,
"Revelations",
written by Dickinson,
includes lines from
G. K. Chesterton's hymn
"O God of Earth and Altar",
while the remainder of the song
is influenced by
Aleister Crowley.
More exotic influences
include
Greek mythology,
albeit slightly altered,
for
"Flight of Icarus".
"To Tame a Land"
was meant to be entitled
"Dune"
after the novel,
but after seeking permission
from
Frank Herbert's agents,
the band received a
message which stated,
"Frank Herbert doesn't
like rock bands,
particularly
heavy rock bands,
and especially bands
like Iron Maiden"
and were forced to
change the name.
Hidden Message
At the beginning of the sixth track,
"Still Life",
the band
included a
hidden message
which could only be
understood by
playing the song backwards.
This was a joke
and an intended
swing back at
the critics who
had accused
Iron Maiden of
being Satanic.
The backwards-message
consists of drummer
Nicko McBrain
mimicking actor
John Bird's impression
of Idi Amin,
uttering the
following phrase
"What ho said the t'ing with
the three 'bonce',
don't meddle with things
you don't understand...",
followed by a belch.
The phrase itself
is taken from the
satirical album
The Collected Broadcasts
of Idi Amin (1975)
by Bird and Alan Coren.
"What ho"
and
"What ho said the t'ing"
are phrases that also
crop up regularly on
McBrain's
"Listen With Nicko!"
tracks from
The First Ten Years
collection.
According to McBrain,
"We were sick and tired
of being labelled as
Devil worshippers
and all this bollocks
by these fucking morons
in the States,
so we thought,
'Right, you want
to take the piss?
We'll show you how
to take the bleeding piss,
my son!'
And one of the boys
taped me in the middle
of this Idi Amin routine
I used to do when
I'd had a few drinks.
I remember it distinctly
ended with the words,
'Don't meddle wid t'ings yo
don't understand.'
We thought,
if people were going
to be stupid
about this sort of thing,
we might as well give them
something to be really
stupid about,
you know?
BONUS !!
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