"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son [Limited Edition] [Limited]" (01/01/2006) Heavy Metal Iron Maiden, Sanctuary (USA)This is an Enhanced CD which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. The Enhanced portion includes music videos for "Can I Play With Madness," "The Evil That Men Do," "The Clairvoyant" and "Infinite Dreams." Iron Maiden: Bruce Dickinson (vocals); Adrian Smith (guitar, synthesizer); Dave Murray (guitar); Steve Harris (synthesizer, bass); Nicko McBrain (drums). Recorded at Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany. This Limited version features vinyl replica packaging. This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Personnel: Bruce Dickinson (vocals); Adrian Smith (guitar, synthesizer); Dave Murray (guitar); Steve Harris (string synthesizer); Nicko McBrain (drums). Recording information: Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany. Photographer: Ross Halfin. ON SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON, the songs tell the tale of a young prophet who predicts the destruction of his village, and is ignored when he tries to warn the others. Eventually, the man goes mad and commits suicide. Employing synthesizers, Iron Maiden takes a two-fold risk: with the music and by doing a concept album. This formula might have spelled disaster for most bands, but not Iron Maiden. SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON turned out to be one of the band's strongest releases, debuting in the U.K. charts at Number One, and spawning four Top-10 singles ("Can I Play With Madness," "The Evil That Men Do," "The Prophecy," and "Infinite Dreams"). The band's popularity had reached an all-time high around this time, as Maiden headlined the 1988 Monsters of Rock concert at England's Castle Donnington. During the single-day event, Iron Maiden played to a record 100,000 fans, headlining over such big names as Kiss, David Lee Roth, Guns N' Roses, and Megadeth. In 1988, harsh thrash metal and radio-friendly glam rock were the two chief heavy metal styles. Instead of aligning themselves to either camp, Iron Maiden stuck to their guns and issued a concept album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Concept albums had spelled disaster for other metal bands in the past, but this proved not to be the case with Maiden, resulting in what many fans consider their last true classic album (and the last with guitarist Adrian Smith, until their late-'90s reunion). Although the songs are all lyrically tied together by the story of a prophet who tries (unsuccessfully) to warn a village of an impending holocaust, they don't have to be listened to in succession to be enjoyed -- one of the main reasons the album worked so well. A total of four singles were issued in the U.K. (all Top Tens) -- "Can I Play With Madness?," "The Evil That Men Do," "The Clairvoyant," and "Infinite Dreams" -- which all prove to be the album's best cuts. But like earlier Maiden albums, this is a complete album -- while "Moonchild," "The Prophecy," "Only the Good Die Young," and the epic title track are not as well-known as the singles, they are just as noteworthy. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son marked the end of a golden era for one of metal's all-time best bands. [On all of Iron Maiden's 1998 reissues on Raw Power a multimedia section is featured on the CD, which includes videos, band biographies, tour date history, and photo galleries.] ~ Greg Prato
