Iron Maiden in the Studio. Jake Brown

suppose might make it strange as to why I really like it so much. It’s a very powerful number live. I get off on the aggression of it.’

      Turning to the creation of ‘Still Life’, the bassist said, ‘It’s basically a story of a guy who is drawn like a magnet to a pool of water. He sees faces in the lake. He has nightmares about it and, in the end, he jumps in and takes his lady with him. It’s a very enjoyable number to play because there’s a lot going on. Again we’re creating a mood and coming in with a very heavy guitar sound. Adrian takes the first solo. After the solo there is a really tight bass-and-drums staccato part, which goes right across the top of the riff. I like that part a lot.’

      Discussing the double meaning in the lyrics of ‘The Trooper’, Harris explained that, on one level, ‘basically it’s an answer to the religious freaks for giving us such a hard time on The Number of the Beast’, adding that, on another level, it was ‘based on the Crimean war with the British against the Russians. The opening is meant to try and recreate the galloping horses in the charge of the Light Brigade. It’s an atmospheric song.’

      ‘Revelations’ was a song that KNAC concluded ‘brings out one of Maiden’s strengths – having two great guitarists with the talent to share/swap the rhythm and lead guitar duties and go back and forth on the solos’. Harris recalled of its writing, ‘That’s Bruce’s [song]. To me it’s sort of a heavy version of the Wishbone Ash feel … Bruce and myself are [also] very big Jethro Tull fans.’

      Of other collaborations with the singer, the bass player singled out ‘Sun and Steel’, telling IronMaidenCommentary.com, ‘Bruce wrote the lyrics to that. It’s basically about a Japanese guy who builds himself up to a peak of fitness and wants to kill himself hara-kiri style. I think it would be a good live song but we have never played it on stage as of yet.’

      ‘To Tame a Land’ Harris identified as ‘the best song I’ve ever written’. KNAC also sang its praise by arguing that ‘whenever Maiden’s epic saga songs get mentioned, it’s usually referring to “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, “Alexander the Great” or even “Phantom of the Opera”. Usually overlooked is the best of the bunch – that’s right, “To Tame a Land”.’

      Bruce Dickinson, in the same conversation with IronMaidenCommentary.com, explained that this one is ‘all about a gentleman who wrote a science-fiction book called Dune. He’s an American called Mr Frank Herbert, this particular gentleman, all right? And Mr Herbert, as it turns out, is a bit of a cunt actually because … among other things he said that if we called this track “Dune”, he’d sue us and stop the album coming out, and all kinds of very unpleasant things … So we had to re-title the track … and we had to call it “To Tame a Land”.’

      For the song’s author, the song marked a musical accomplishment he summed up by saying that ‘I was really pleased with “Phantom” but now I have to say this is the best’. While he was happy with the majority of the album, Harris singled out ‘Flight of Icarus’ as a song that, ‘looking back on it now, we feel we could have played … at the faster speed on the album. This little extra touch gives it a bit more fire.’

      Centering in on what producer Martin Birch brought to what many consider to be Iron Maiden’s most important and influential album, Harris explained in a 1983 conversation with Artist magazine that ‘the reason we use Martin is that he puts down the sound that we want, the way we like it. And we think the first three albums were really leading up to this one in terms of quality. In general, bands are being given producers that make the music for them and, in some cases, even co-write it. With Martin, that’s not the case at all and never has been.’

      In explaining why he felt the producer was continually ideal for the band, Harris offered, ‘what Martin has always added with us is his expertise in the studio and his great ability at recording our sounds. We’ve only just come to this point in our drum and guitar sounds, which are exceptional now; it’s just a team growing up together. Martin’s also become aware, obviously, with the experience of working with us, of the way we want to proceed. The suggestions going both ways are very fluid so Martin’s very much a part of the band in the studio.’

      Released worldwide on 16 May 1983, Piece of Mind shot to No. 3 on the UK Top 20 album chart and No. 70 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. It also produced the hit singles ‘Flight of Icarus’, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Top Album Tracks chart, marking the highest position of any in the band’s US chart history, and ‘The Trooper’, which peaked at No. 28 on the US Mainstream Rock charts.

      Critics and fans alike held the album up high, with Popmatters.com years later declaring the album a ‘classic’, while Kerrang! published a poll in 1983 that declared Piece of Mind No. 1 on their Greatest Metal Albums of All Time list. A KNAC reviewer raved that the album was ‘my favourite album of all time’.

      For Steve Harris, the personal-highlight moments from the album included ‘The Trooper’ and ‘Die With Your Boots On’. He told IronMaidenCommentary.com, ‘Both are very good live numbers and, in the case of “The Trooper”, because we managed to capture the right mood for the song.’

      For Martin Birch, reflecting years later on his catalogue of collaborations with Iron Maiden, the producer – like most fans and critics – felt that the band’s accomplishment with Piece Of Mind made it ‘by far their best album’.