Interview with Bruce from 1986 discussing infamous Alexander the Great solo

srfc

Ancient Mariner
Apologies if it's not cool to post this link,

This is an interview with Bruce that was recorded for the Tommy Vance rock show prior (I think) to the release of Somewhere in Time

http://www.filedropper.com/03track3_2

http://www.filedropper.com/04track4_1

The relevant part is the section from 4:20 mins onwards in the first file, the second file shows the solo they are talking about.

Maiden mention this solo as a reason for not playing Alexander live, and while I suspect there is some degree of maiden using this as an excuse, this interview shows that there may be some substance behind the claim that Adrian has difficulty with that solo.

EDIT: sorry if this filehost isn't kosher. I don't know what the kids do these days to host files, so I just googled free filehost and this came up
 
As far as I can remember, Nicko said, half-jokingly, that Adrian could not remember the solo as the reason for them not playing the song when asked about this on one of his drum clinics in the early noughties.

Anyway, it seems that they are not interested in playing it. After watching The Iron Maidens play the song in Mexico, Steve Harris was asked if that made him want to play it live, and he answered "No".
 
File hosts, 800kb clips, Windows Media Audio, Maiden play ATG plz?!

Did I wake up in 2007?
 
You're very kind, I'm actually more of a late 90's vintage for technology!

My era.

Actually I never heard anyone perform clean arpeggios from Man of Sorrows (1997) in a right way for my ears. There is a note, in figures 1 and 2, that's a bridge note and it's never ever picked "correctly" on these YT covers. This is down to individual guitarist and if you can't make that note sound like Smith does, doesn't mean you can't play the solo or that the solo is "impossible".
 
As far as I can remember, Nicko said, half-jokingly, that Adrian could not remember the solo as the reason for them not playing the song when asked about this on one of his drum clinics in the early noughties.

Anyway, it seems that they are not interested in playing it. After watching The Iron Maidens play the song in Mexico, Steve Harris was asked if that made him want to play it live, and he answered "No".

This.

C'mon... Janick makes up random solos every night on stage (Adrian doesn't always play note for note either). It's got nothing to do with solos IMHO.

This isn't an Adrian thing. This is a Steve thing. He was always quite proud of his 80s epics, but has largely remained silent on ATG over the years (indicating to me that he is indifferent or reluctant). If he wanted to play it, they would find a way to make it happen.
 
FWIW I'd rather hear To Tame a Land live than ATG or anything else for that matter (Infinite Dreams, SiT tracks etc.). It's one of favourite Maiden songs of mine, favourite 1980s Harris epic, but that doesn't matter as much as fact that it would sound great today, unlike a lot of tracks that people 'request' them to play.
 
Although the song is great from an instrumental point of view, the lyrics read like a cross between a GCSE history essay (not deserving an A, certainly) and a shopping list. :lol:

It reads more like a Wikipedia article to me, which is even worse.
 
Most wikipedia on ancient history are actually quite good, or even very good and are written by specialists. I just checked Alexander III article on the english version, and it is certainly not bad.
 
Most wikipedia on ancient history are actually quite good, or even very good and are written by specialists. I just checked Alexander III article on the english version, and it is certainly not bad.

That wasn't meant to be a slight on Wikipedia, I love Wikipedia. Its accuracy rate is far higher than people act like it is. Many are caught up with the "Anyone can edit it" thing, but the site has very strong moderation. If you edit in BS with no source, it'll get removed within an hour.
 
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