After all this discussion, I listened again to Somewhere in Time last night, after having not listened to it in a while.  It really is slickly produced and has a great sound.  That said, overall the song quality isn't quite at the level of Piece of Mind, Powerslave, or Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.  The 3 Adrian Smith songs on SiT are all good but a bit simple and poppy by Maiden standards.
It's still a great album, though.  And I'll say this - Alexander the Great is a GREAT song, an all-time Maiden classic.  There is NO reason why this song should never be played live.  In fact it MUST be played live.