4 songs from BNW were VXI leftovers

[Spruce Goose]

From bravewords.com

IRON MAIDEN fan site MaidenFans.com (http://maidenfans.com/) reports that guitarist Adrian Smith has ended years of fans' speculation by revealing that 1998 Virtual XI album leftovers were indeed used for the the 2000 Brave New World album.

Adrian was asked, “After VXI, Steve said that there are 4 unused songs left off VXI sessions and that they will use them for the next album. Which ones are those 4 songs?”

He replied, “Yes, you are right. ‘Nomad’ is one of them. The others are ‘Dream Of Mirrors’, ‘Mercenary’, I can't remember the 4th one.”

Here's what Kevin Lomax, the author of the interview has to say about the issue: “I did the interview in the Sanctuary Music London after a brief preview of the Dance Of Death album. The interview was with Adrian Smith. I had fears before asking that question, because maybe Steve Harris might have said "don't tell". Anyway I asked and he said that ‘Nomad’ (Which I'm surprised), ‘Dream Of Mirrors’ (not surprised in any way!) and ‘Mercenary’ (the worst song of BNW from VirtualXI, that's obvious!) were from Virtual XI. He couldn't remember the fourth one. And I asked if ‘Blood Brothers’ could be one of them, because it has similar melodies with ‘Educated Fool’. He said no, it was not. He thought for a while but he couldn’t remember the fourth. (Maybe didn't want to answer).

I had a quick chat with Blaze in Istanbul, before his performance in Rock The Nations Istanbul (where he did a duet with Paul DiAnno). And in that chat he said that he had written some of the lyrics of ‘Dream Of Mirrors’ but Steve didn't give him a credit for that in BNW. When he saw that he had a little frustration.”

 

[Goreripper]

"He had a little frustration" *giggles*

Oh well, they left them for the good album. That's good, because with the production they would have gotten had they been on VXI, they would have plain sucked.

 

[spawn]

Its no accident those are 4 of the crappest songs on BNW...

 

[phlogiston]

...except for Dream of Mirrors, I'm sure you meant.

 

[spawn]

Not really

 

[Goreripper]

Without knowing what the fourth one is, you can't really say that. And 'Dream of Mirrors' is cool.

 

[spawn]

Pretty much all best stuff on BNW had Adrian and Bruce writing the songs, I doubt they grabbed Steves old stuff before they started writing, so the tracks they didnt write on were obviously the old ones from VXI... The Wicker Man, Ghost Of The Navigator, The Fallen Angel and Blood Brothers were by FAR the best tracks and I doubt any of them were the old ones.

 

[Spiff]

Well, they weren't necessarily entire songs left over - Bruce and Adrian could have contributed to some of them, changed lyrics or some riffs or something.

What I want to know is how many leftover songs from The X Factor were used for Dance of Death. It certainly sounds like they recycled most of the riffs.

 

[Sydo]

I'm guessing the forth song is either The Thin Line Between Love And Hate or No More Lies.

 

[Spiff]

No More Lies is on Dance of Death.

Thin Line is too good to have come from Virtual XI, whereas the others are rather mediocre and therefore wouldn't be out of place.

 

[Sydo]

I know which album No More Lies is from..

We've got to remember that these songs were probably not completed during the Virtual XI sessions. The ideas may have been floating around, but I doubt they'd been polished into the songs we know them as now.

 

[Southy]

Would anyone have had a winge if the band was doing this in the 80's. Most band recycle bloody songs, whats the big fucking idea

 

[spawn]

But they were good in the 80s

 

[Southy]

so, the complaint seems to be that they recycled the songs. Who gives a fuck?

 

[spawn]

I dont see any complaining anywhere. Besides yours of course

 

[Southy]

are trying to make trouble??

 

[TinMan666]

Dream of Mirrors is a great song. In a few years it will be considered a "classic", if it isn't already. By me at least.

Would have been interesting to hear it with Blaze. Strange that they left it off of VIX seeing as it is such a good song.

 

[Mark]

Maybe they only had the music? My guess is they spent as little time in the studio with that album as they could (and I like VXI!).

 

[Goreripper]

VXI does sound rushed. Despite my loathing of it as an album (as a whole), there's still some great songs on there. It's a shame they used 'Angel and a Gambler' instead of 'Dream of Mirrors', but in a way it's cooler that they left it for the better album. As for 'Thin Line...' ...I fucking love that song. Is there any other Maiden track with guitar interplay like there is in that song? No, I don't think so. You know what else? Southy is right. Maiden may not necessarily have recycled riffs back in their prime, but they didn't deviate from their formula that much. Neither did Metallica for that matter, but that's an argument for another time . There ARE recycled riffs on DOD, but nothing like the regurgitation of "Hallowed be Thy Name" as "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" on FOTD.

 

[spawn]

VXI will always have The Clansman to make up for the shit on it