2 Minutes To Midnight third solo?

425

425

Starblind
I've searched around here but I couldn't find anything about this. This is something that I've noticed and was curious about, so sorry if it turns out I missed this and that it was common knowledge.

The thing I noticed is: Since the reunion, Iron Maiden has added a very short "solo" part in 2 Minutes To Midnight, which I believe is played by Janick. This solo (I'm not sure if it is technically a solo, as a non-musician, but I'll just use the term for simplicity's sake until/unless I'm corrected) is at the end of the middle instrumental section.

If you listen to the studio version of 2 Minutes To Midnight from around 3:50 to 4:10, you hear the slow interlude, then the music builds with the drums transitioning back into the main riff of the song (this is also heard in pre-reunion live recordings, such as Live After Death).

Now, listen to a post-reunion live recording such as Rock In Rio. On Rock In Rio, listen to roughly 3:35 to 3:55. The interlude builds somewhat into a guitar solo (which lasts from around 3:45 to around 3:49) before going into the main riff.

This solo has made me curious to know if there's anything else to know about it. Why would the band add to one song, but only one song, upon adding a third guitarist? And, as a side note, why has no one noted this, while the fact that both Adrian and Janick play the same solo on The Trooper and The Evil That Men Do is well-documented?

Unless, of course, I'm missing something here. But I don't think I am.
 
I never saw it as "a solo". Whatever we're going to call this, this is just how Janick is playing this part, not since 1999, but since he's playing the song: 1990! So you certainly were missing something. ;)


He's extending a lead part, I think he's also doing this in Hallowed.

Probably nobody talked about it on the internet because it happened in the pre-internet era. :)
 
Aye, indeed Forostar --Janick has been playing this pretty much since the day he joined Maiden. And, as a result, it has nothing to do with Maiden now having three guitarists; since it was just Janick & Davey back then.

425 --they've added other little flourishes to many other songs. Wrathchild springs to mind. Listen to the album version (lead guitar riff) at the very begining of the song, when the guitars come in: listen to LAD (neither Dave or H play the high part at all); listen to Donnington 92 (Janick playes something very different); & listen to RiR (back to the album version). I think this is quite a difference, as compared to, say, H's little variation at the start of The Wicker Man. Another example would be Dave's lead riff in HBTN (just after the intro) --nothing like the album version. Janick's lead on HBTN (as Forostar mentions): yes, lead itself is different (Janick & H's leads are miles apart) --but Janick also runs the lead on, right into his next rhythm part.

Loads of variety. We could go on & on...
 
Okay, well, I have yet to get Live At Donington or A Real Live Dead One (I will soon though), so I didn't know that the difference began that early. However, from my layman's perspective, that seems like a rather large change to make, since on the studio version, there is not much guitar on that part at all, so it's interesting that Janick would vary it that much.

As for Wrathchild, I had noticed differences, but I always assumed that had to do with there possibly being more than 2 guitar parts on the studio version, so they had to pick which to play live. Of course, I could be completely wrong again.


Anyway, thanks for clearing this up for me, it had been something I'd been curious about for a while. And now I'll be looking for some of the other variations you mentioned!
 
When the Wild Wind Blows also has bits added live on En Vivo. Just before Janick's solo near the end, Adrian plays a cool short part that is absent from the album version.
 
No, with Wrathchild, it's just two parts: rhythm & lead. As I said, Janick plays the lead part in Donnington 92 for example --they don't need three guitarists. But listen to LAD --just not there. Neither H or Dave play it, but clearly they could of. Janick's part in 2MtM is just an added/extended improvisation to be honest; it's not really that significant, or radically different. Seriously, listen to the original HBTN solo (Adrian's), then listen to Janick's on RiR --these are radically different. Janick's is undoubtedly an exhilarating improvement, in my humble opinion.
 
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