Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
| Seventh Son of a Seventh Son | ||||
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Studio album by 
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Publication |
April 11, 1988 |
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admission |
February - March 1988 |
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| Label (s) | EMI | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP, MC |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
44:08 |
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Studio (s) |
Musicland Studios , Munich (Germany) |
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Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ( English for: " Seventh son of a seventh son ") is the seventh studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden . It is considered theband'sonly concept album to date. It was the last album with Adrian Smith until his return in 1999. The album reached number 12 in the US album charts, while it reached the top position in the UK.
Emergence
Iron Maiden had risen to become the world's most popular and successful heavy metal band after their previous studio albums. Since The Number of the Beast , all of the band's albums have been in the top 3 of the UK charts , despite the fact that the BBC and many other major radio stations around the world have refused to play the band's songs.
Bassist and head of the band Steve Harris said he had read the book Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card prior to working on the successor to Somewhere in Time . This book is the prelude to a fantasy series based on a Western superstition that the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter or the seventh son of a seventh son should have supernatural healing powers and also be able to live in the future see. Harris then wrote the song The Clairvoyant , which deals with the question of whether a clairvoyant can foresee his own death. Later the remaining songs within the band were written within the framework of the present concept.
content
The meaning of the album's textual content is still very controversial today, as a clear narrative structure only emerges with the last four songs, but many fans also regard the first four songs as parts of the story. A wide variety of interpretations have emerged, which often contradict each other.
- The first song, Moonchild , was inspired by the works of Aleister Crowley . It is very difficult to interpret it in the context of the later developing story, even if one can possibly start from an introduction to the story.
- It is similar with Infinite Dreams , which would fit well as a description of the nightmarish visions of the Seventh Son, but in the chronology of the narrative it precedes the birth of the main character. As with Moonchild , one can assume that the figure shown here is not the Seventh Son at all, but his father.
- Can I Play with Madness is about a prophecy that can be interpreted in different ways into what is happening. As before in Moonchild , it becomes clear that the story of the Seventh Son is ultimately just a superficial conflict in the eternal struggle between good and evil.
- The Evil That Men Do contains the most cryptic lyrics on the album. It is not clear what the song is about. It can be seen as a description of the conception of the Seventh Son, as a diabolical seduction, or as an unhappy love story. The title was borrowed from a quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar , which in various interpretations runs like a red thread through the album.
- Only with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son can the concept be clearly understood. Here the birth of the main character is described and his future destiny is indicated. The influence of good and bad forces becomes clear again, who try to manipulate the Seventh Son for their own ends.
- The narrative makes a leap forward by several years in The Prophecy and tells of a prophecy of impending doom, which is made by the main character, but is not recognized by the warned people. Eventually, they are struck by a disaster that is not specified in more detail, and then blame the main character for it.
- In The Clairvoyant , the seventh son looks back on his life and then fails to foresee his own death, which eventually overtakes him.
- The last song on the album, Only The Good Die Young, can be understood as a reflection of the album, particularly in its portrayal of the struggle between good and evil. The seventh son was only one pawn in the battle between the two forces, which once again brought no decision and seems to go on forever. The evil of man ( The Evil That Men Do ) lives on while the good dies with him. This song title is also based on a quote from Julius Caesar , in which Mark Anton says: “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is often interred with their bones " . The album ends with a solo by Dave Murray, which is also the opening solo.
music
Musically, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the band's most complex and varied album to date. The experimental process that began with Somewhere in Time and mainly involved the use of the synthesizer continued. An acoustic solo like the one at the end of The Prophecy hadn't existed in Iron Maiden's form. The complex songwriting relied more and more on composition teams: While Steve Harris was previously the main songwriter of the band, Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith were now more involved than ever. Even Dave Murray participated in a song as a songwriter. The result is an album that clearly stands out from the previous ones. Fast rockers in the style of The Trooper or 2 Minutes to Midnight are not found here, instead there are longer, more varied pieces on the album.
tour
Iron Maiden started another triumphal procession with the following world tour , which culminated in the headlining position of the renowned Monsters Of Rock Festival in Donington Park , which, however, was overshadowed by a tragic event. Here the band played after big rock acts like Megadeth , Guns n 'Roses and Kiss . At the beginning of the Guns-N'-Roses set, two young men died after being crushed by the crowd. Iron Maiden only found out about the accident after their concert.
Iron Maiden remained part of the Monsters of Rock festivals and headlined all over Europe. Then began a 10 day tour of the UK. At the end of the tour, the band released a concert video called Maiden England .
Track list
- Moonchild (Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson) - 5:39
- Infinite Dreams (Steve Harris) - 6:09
- Can I Play with Madness (Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris) - 3:31
- The Evil That Men Do (Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris) - 4:34
- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (Steve Harris) - 9:53
- The Prophecy (Dave Murray, Steve Harris) - 5:05
- The Clairvoyant (Steve Harris) - 4:27
- Only the Good Die Young (Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson) - 4:41
Singles
Can I Play with Madness
Can I Play with Madness was released as the first single. B-side was an unreleased song called Black Bart Blues and a cover version of the Thin Lizzy song Massacre . The original composition is about a groupie who gets on the Maiden tour bus and “Black Bart” is introduced. “Black Bart” is knight armor that Iron Maiden bought at a gas station on a tour in 1983. At the end of the song you can hear several short recordings by Nicko McBrain , which were recorded while the album was being recorded.
- Can I Play with Madness - 3:30
- Black Bart Blues - 6:41
- Massacre - 2:54
The Evil That Men Do
The Evil That Men Do contains two older pieces from the Paul Di'Anno era on the B-side , which were sung here for the first time by Bruce Dickinson in the studio.
- The Evil That Men Thu - 4:33
- Prowler '88 - 4:07
- Charlotte The Harlot '88 - 4:11
The Clairvoyant
All of the songs on the single were recorded at the band's legendary performance at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington Park on August 20, 1988.
- The Clairvoyant (Live) - 4:27
- The Prisoner (Live) - 6:08
- Heaven Can Wait (Live) - 7:08
Infinite Dreams
The single is thematically part of the Maiden England video. All three live recordings come from a double appearance in Birmingham on November 27th and 28th, 1988 and are identical to the video and CD versions. A live version of Still Life is available here for the first time on an official sound carrier of the band.
- Infinite Dreams (Live) - 6:04
- Killers (Live) - 5:03
- Still Life (Live) - 4:37
reception
Although the overwhelming majority of Iron Maiden fans regard the album as a masterpiece and it is one of the band's most popular, the album is described by others as being too commercial and "poppy" in sound. This criticism is aimed primarily at Can I Play with Madness , which was actually the band's greatest success to date, rose to number 3 in the British charts and stayed in the top ten for several weeks.
The album also stormed the charts and was the band's second album after The Number of the Beast , reaching # 1 in the UK. It is also noteworthy that four singles were released from the album, all of which made it into the top ten (Except for Can I Play with Madness , these were The Evil That Men Do , No. 3, The Clairvoyant , No. 5, Infinite Dreams , No. 6; the last two singles were live recordings).
In 2007 Sony used Can I Play With Madness for one of its TV commercials.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-mw0000195384/awards
- ↑ a b http://www.everyhit.com/
- ↑ a b c d Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ( Memento from April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Seventh Son of a Seventh Son ( Memento from May 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Can I Play with Madness ( Memento from May 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive )