Forostar
Ancient Mariner
I never realized there were two Winds of Change versions.
One thing I would really like to see is an interview with Shay Baby. AFAIK nobody has reached out to him to discuss his work with Bruce. He was there pretty early on and might know who played on what.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Check this out guys
http://www.bookofhours.net/beta/members.htm
These guys worked with Bruce on that second lost album. Wow, Jim Crichton from Saga!
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http://www.bookofhours.net/beta/btp.htm
Before leaving Maiden in 1993 Bruce had started to work on a second solo album. The musicians he used in the studio were the members of the band Skin (who eventually supported him on the Balls to Picasso-tour in Europe). As he got to the end of the recordings he felt that the music was not what he wanted to do. He realised he was going on autopilot as the material just was the ordinary average hardrock he had made the last years in Maiden, and he also wanted to experiment a bit more with his voice. So when a whole albums worth of songs were recorded he decided to, instead of releasing this album, record another one.
This time Bruce called in producer Keith Olsen whom he had got to know when he did the remix of the Maiden-track "Wasting love" from their 1992 "Fear of the dark"-album. The material took a 180 turn and has been compared to Peter Gabriel's stuff. The songs are very synthesiser-orientated and show a different side of "the air-raid-siren". Myke Gray from Skin was brought over to play guitar on some of the tracks and the rest of the instruments were played by session-musicians. The bassplayer and keyboardist from the band Saga helped him out on a lot of programming, since the album was put together pretty much on computer.
During the Keith Olsen session he had met guitarist Roy Z who had introduced him to his band, The tribe of Gypsies. Bruce and Roy wrote some songs together and they turned out so well that Bruce wanted to add them to the Keith Olsen-record. But instead of getting an album with two totally different musical styles on it, he made the artistic decision to scrap the whole Keith Olsen-project and started all over again, recording a third album together with Roy Z and The Tribe of Gypsies at the Metropolis studio in London. One song, "Tears of the dragon", was kept from the previous session and that's probably why it has Dickie Fliszar (from Skin (who played drums on the "Tattooed Millionaire" tour in 1990)) on drums. On the rest of the album Bruce is backed by the Tribe of Gypsies which then were guitarist Roy Z, drummer Dave Ingraham, bassist Eddie Casillas and percussionist Doug van Booven.
The recording was produced by Shay Baby.
======
http://www.bookofhours.net/beta/members.htm
- Myke Gray
Guitar
1993
- Richard Baker
Keyboards
1993
- Jim Crichton
Bass
1993
These guys worked with Bruce on that second lost album. Wow, Jim Crichton from Saga!
====
http://www.bookofhours.net/beta/btp.htm
Before leaving Maiden in 1993 Bruce had started to work on a second solo album. The musicians he used in the studio were the members of the band Skin (who eventually supported him on the Balls to Picasso-tour in Europe). As he got to the end of the recordings he felt that the music was not what he wanted to do. He realised he was going on autopilot as the material just was the ordinary average hardrock he had made the last years in Maiden, and he also wanted to experiment a bit more with his voice. So when a whole albums worth of songs were recorded he decided to, instead of releasing this album, record another one.
This time Bruce called in producer Keith Olsen whom he had got to know when he did the remix of the Maiden-track "Wasting love" from their 1992 "Fear of the dark"-album. The material took a 180 turn and has been compared to Peter Gabriel's stuff. The songs are very synthesiser-orientated and show a different side of "the air-raid-siren". Myke Gray from Skin was brought over to play guitar on some of the tracks and the rest of the instruments were played by session-musicians. The bassplayer and keyboardist from the band Saga helped him out on a lot of programming, since the album was put together pretty much on computer.
During the Keith Olsen session he had met guitarist Roy Z who had introduced him to his band, The tribe of Gypsies. Bruce and Roy wrote some songs together and they turned out so well that Bruce wanted to add them to the Keith Olsen-record. But instead of getting an album with two totally different musical styles on it, he made the artistic decision to scrap the whole Keith Olsen-project and started all over again, recording a third album together with Roy Z and The Tribe of Gypsies at the Metropolis studio in London. One song, "Tears of the dragon", was kept from the previous session and that's probably why it has Dickie Fliszar (from Skin (who played drums on the "Tattooed Millionaire" tour in 1990)) on drums. On the rest of the album Bruce is backed by the Tribe of Gypsies which then were guitarist Roy Z, drummer Dave Ingraham, bassist Eddie Casillas and percussionist Doug van Booven.
The recording was produced by Shay Baby.
======
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GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Exactly. I bet Myke Gray played guitar on The Breeding House.
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GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Correct. Based on sound, production, playing, etc., I would say that the following B-sides are from the 1st album, produced by Chris Tsangarides and recorded with band members from Skin (with whom Bruce had already recorded Alice Cooper's Elected):
- Firechild (Dickinson)
- Elvis has left the building (Dickinson)
- The Breeding House (Dickinson)
- No Way Out... To Be Continued (Dickinson)
- Winds of Change (Dickinson/Gers)
- Spirit of Joy (Brown/Harris-Oakey) - cover of the Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come song.
You'd also be probably interested to know that Crichton and Baker co-wrote some of the songs (see below).
Based on the credits from the original releases (the sound is completely different to that of the songs produced by the late Chris Tsangarides too), I would say the following tracks belong to that 2nd album:
- Over and Out (Dickinson/Crichton/Baker)
- No Way Out... Continued (Dickinson/Crichton/Baker)
- Tibet (Dickinson)
- Tears of the Dragon - First bit (Dickinson)/Second bit (Dickinson)/Third bit (Dickinson/Crichton/Baker)
- Cadillac Gas Mask (Dickinson)
Then we have the material co-written with Roy (9 songs for Balls to Picasso); as we have discussed previously, Tears of the Dragon is the only song that made it to the third album from the material written during the different sessions.
Last, but not least, we have The Post Alternative Seattle Fall-Out (Dickinson/Dickson/Dale/Elena), which is the first song written by the band that would later become Skunkworks. The song was released as B-side to one of the versions of the Shoot All the Clowns single and was recorded live in the studio, as was also the version of Laughing in the Hiding Bush that accompanied it on the same single.
It has been fun revisiting my record collection!
Edited as I had forgotten to add Tibet to the list of tracks produced by Keith Olsen.
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GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Eric Hutchinson, the man behind The Bruce Dickinson and Then Some website, did an interview with him some years ago. His website is not available anymore, but it might be possible to find the interview.
That website, the Bruce Dickinson Well-Being Network one (I had some input on that one), and Strange Death in Paradise (by our esteemed member @Jer), where invaluable sources of information back in the mid-90s!
Edit: here is a snippet of the interview with Shay Baby
http://bravewords.com/news/bruce-dickinson-shay-baby-interview-online
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
New date in Utrecht added to the book tour:
13/01/2019 Teatro dal Verme, Milan, Italy
24/02/2019 Arenberg, Antwerp, Belgium
28/02/2019 TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands
13/01/2019 Teatro dal Verme, Milan, Italy
24/02/2019 Arenberg, Antwerp, Belgium
28/02/2019 TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands
srfc
Ancient Mariner
I remember Skin being championed a bit by the UK press around that time, but for the life of me I can't remember any tracks by them other than Elected with Bruce.
They were in the same camp as bands like Wolfsbane, The Almighty, The Wildhearts and Terrorvision that at the time we're getting a lot of praise but ultimately they weren't particularly good.
They were in the same camp as bands like Wolfsbane, The Almighty, The Wildhearts and Terrorvision that at the time we're getting a lot of praise but ultimately they weren't particularly good.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
I certainly remember this one:
There is some truth in what you say about them though. That being said, I found them to be better than Wolfsbane to be honest.
Jer
'Til Tomorrow
Yes, and don’t forget “Tibet”. The sixth song recorded with Keith Olsen was unreleased, but as @John Silver indirectly mentioned, was called “Original Sin”.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Not all of them, no.Don't you have the singles??
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
John Silver
Electric Buddy
Just to divert the topic a little, not that the above isn't interesting.
I found a lot of promise in how Bruce spoke about his upcoming solo career once he left Iron Maiden.
Promises of trying different things than the Maiden formula allowed. He followed suit, to a degree on Balls to Picasso but had he included the Olsen stuff like Original Sin etc ( Tell me father where have you been/All these years in original sin/I saw you each day, we had nothing to say/And now it’s too late to begin) it would have rung more true. To my ears he took an easier route than that. Still it was an exciting start to proceedings.
With Skunkworks I personally felt he was on track to a very diverse and entertaing solo path. I liked how the lyrics were personal and not stories.
But then he relented. Went back to heavy metal and the Maiden formula he despised so dilligently just a few years before. I felt it then, I feel it still. He's in it to win it. Not to expand or stretch.
Thanks and good night buddies.
I found a lot of promise in how Bruce spoke about his upcoming solo career once he left Iron Maiden.
Promises of trying different things than the Maiden formula allowed. He followed suit, to a degree on Balls to Picasso but had he included the Olsen stuff like Original Sin etc ( Tell me father where have you been/All these years in original sin/I saw you each day, we had nothing to say/And now it’s too late to begin) it would have rung more true. To my ears he took an easier route than that. Still it was an exciting start to proceedings.
With Skunkworks I personally felt he was on track to a very diverse and entertaing solo path. I liked how the lyrics were personal and not stories.
But then he relented. Went back to heavy metal and the Maiden formula he despised so dilligently just a few years before. I felt it then, I feel it still. He's in it to win it. Not to expand or stretch.
Thanks and good night buddies.
srfc
Ancient Mariner
Steve said at the time, Bruce would release a country and western album if he thought it would sell. I wouldn't go that far. But someone posted a link to an interview with Bruce from the 90's on here recently, where he was very bitter about Maiden and if he was being sincere at the time the interview was conducted then it's very hard to tally that with how his career has progressed since then.
I think he's a complex character and quite often what he says should be taken with a pinch of salt as he's liable to adopt a completely contradictory position at a later stage.
I think he's a complex character and quite often what he says should be taken with a pinch of salt as he's liable to adopt a completely contradictory position at a later stage.
John Silver
Electric Buddy
Exactly what I was aiming for, buddy. He's a fast talker, but a slow shitter.
Bruce did numerous interviews on how his solo shit would divert from the beaten old path. To steer clear of the Maiden antics was his chosen destination. Look where he ended up. He had the talent to do it I might add. He chose not to. No biggie.
Bruce did numerous interviews on how his solo shit would divert from the beaten old path. To steer clear of the Maiden antics was his chosen destination. Look where he ended up. He had the talent to do it I might add. He chose not to. No biggie.