Can I Play With Madness? Iron Maiden did 30 Years ago…

Text by Phil Ashdown

Released on 20 March 1988, the sixteenth single released by the band and the first single from their soon to be released seventh studio album, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.

In the UK it was released as a 7” vinyl with free transfer, 12” vinyl, 12” shaped picture disc and a CD single and peaked at number 3 in the UK charts. Uncut copies of the shaped picture disc are now very sought-after collector’s items. The song was originally conceived as a ballad named “On the Wings of Eagles”, written by guitarist Adrian Smith.

The accompanying promo video for the song was filmed at Tintern Abbey in Wales and Chislehurst Caves in Kent and features Monty Python’s Graham Chapman in one of his last appearances before his death in October 1989.

The single’s B-sides included “Black Bart Blues”, a light-hearted tale of adventures on the road and is named after a suit of armour purchased by singer Bruce Dickinson while on tour in America.

The other track is a cover of the Thin Lizzy song “Massacre” from their “Johnny The Fox” album.

Also on this day in Maiden history….

Beast Over Hammersmith – Recorded 36 Years Ago Today

On 20^th March 1982 played London’s legendary Hammersmith Odeon as part of their 171 date ‘Beast On The Road’ tour which started in Dunstable, UK on 25^th February and continued through to Tokyo on 4^th December and included Maiden’s first headline spot at Reading Festival in August.

The show at Hammersmith was filmed for a future video release but was shelved due to lighting problems making the finished film too dark and it was deemed below standard for release at the time.  In 2002 the band released a box set of rare recordings and B-sides called ‘Eddies Archive’ which included a 2-disc CD set of the entire show called ‘Beast Over Hammersmith’.

CD Tracklisting

Murders In The Rue Morgue
Wrathchild
Run To The Hills
Children Of The Damned
The Number of The Beast
Another Life
Killers
22 Acacia Avenue
Total Eclipse
Transylvania
The Prisoner
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Phantom Of The Opera
Iron Maiden
Sanctuary
Drifter
Running Free
Prowler

Three years later in 2004 Maiden released the first part of their ‘history’ series of DVD packages entitled ‘The Early Days’, Technology had made it possible to clean up the film and include it as part of this 2-disc release, also called ‘Beast Over Hammersmith’. It was not the entire show but an edited version of just nine songs. Of these five of them were from the Number Of The Beast album which fans had not heard yet as it was released two days later on 22 March.

DVD Tracklisting
Murders In The Rue Morgue
Run To The Hills
Children Of The Damned
The Number of The Beast
22 Acacia Avenue
Total Eclipse
The Prisoner
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Iron Maiden

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