Who did the voice over at the start of Alexander?

srfc

srfc

Ancient Mariner
Was this ever discovered?

I remember it was a good Maiden-nerd mystery on the official forum years ago.

Someone from a Maiden tribute band discoverd that the Rime voice over was done by richard burton, who coincidentally stared in Alexander the Great but I'm not sure if it was ever established if he did the voice over for ATG as well.
 
here's the bit from rime, starts about 10.20


I'm not certain it is the take used on Powerslave though, notice how he pronounces "dogged"
 
Since we were discussing this in the short-answer thread, I thought it would be appropriate to bump this. Let's try and settle it.

I am quite certain it's Bruce. Something in the way he pronounced "another kingdom" and "too small" sounds like Bruce to me, without me being able to pinpoint exactly why.
 
In the other thread it was said that Graham Chapman of Monty Python and CIPWM video fame did it according to the SIT CD booklet.

I've checked the original CD, the 98 Remasters and the 2015 CD booklet and I can't see it mentioned. I could have missed it though.
 
If you ever heard Graham Chapman speak, you'd not believe that.

 
So I've been considering the following. The quote at the beginning of Alexander is from Plutarch's Life of Alexander, and it's really a paraphrase; the way it appears in the most common English translation is as follows: "My son, seek thee out a kingdom equal to thyself; Macedonia has not room for thee." While there may be different translations around, I doubt they would be that extremely different given that the one I quoted is close to the Greek original. Which means, to me, that I would rule out this quote coming from some reading of the Life of Alexander as we would assume for the Burton quote in Rime. It was definitely recorded for this song. And the question is, would they hire a famous actor to read two lines without acknowledging it, especially if the end result does not sound distinguishable? For NOTB they got a guy who sounded like Vincent Price, so the sound of the voice was the point of the whole thing. Also, thus far nobody has been able to verify the claim that Chapman got credited on the album. And again, it definitely does not sound like Chapman; nor would using his voice make sense from a voice acting point of view.
Going by pure logic, I think it's more reasonable to assume it's either Bruce or somebody else from the band's surroundings they could fetch to do the reading. And it sounds like Bruce to me.
 
Perun I wouldn't seek so much logic in it, it could've went down to someone doing something in the studio next to them. Chapman doing voiceovers or whatever, could you just drop us a this spoken word line for our album? He doesn't ask for credit, drops the line, goes back to his business and they decide pitching down would sound more menacing or mysterious and there you go.

Btw, I don't have opinion on this. It's 1986 and they wouldn't make much fuss out of the fact someone 'famous' is doing a voice intro on the album. So maybe they have a famous voice actor there. It doesn't sound 100% like Bruce to me.
 
Barry McKay's next anti-Maiden lawsuit will probably be on behalf of some unknown actor who has finally decided to speak up after more than 25 years about his contribution to 'Somewhere In Time' and how not being credited destroyed his career.

By the way Zare, the album was recorded in Holland so it's quite unlikely that Graham Chapman was in the studio next door, but I take your point.
 
Zare said:
Perun I wouldn't seek so much logic in it, it could've went down to someone doing something in the studio next to them. Chapman doing voiceovers or whatever, could you just drop us a this spoken word line for our album? He doesn't ask for credit, drops the line, goes back to his business and they decide pitching down would sound more menacing or mysterious and there you go.

Btw, I don't have opinion on this. It's 1986 and they wouldn't make much fuss out of the fact someone 'famous' is doing a voice intro on the album. So maybe they have a famous voice actor there. It doesn't sound 100% like Bruce to me.
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I get your point, but why ask someone else to do the voiceover if the end result doesn't sound any different from what a band member would have done?
 
Answer would be something situational, "why not", etc. Considering no-one odd is in the liner notes of the 1998 CD, I'd agree with you that Bruce is the most likely choice, cause they'd probably send a thank you to the voice actor. Still I'm not sold it was Bruce.

Black Wizard said:
By the way Zare, the album was recorded in Holland so it's quite unlikely that Graham Chapman was in the studio next door, but I take your point.
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Wasn't album developed at 3 or 4 locations?
 
Zare said:
Wasn't album developed at 3 or 4 locations?
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Yes, Bahamas, Holland and New York. The odds are probably low that Graham Chapman would have been in the studio next door at any of these locations, but you never know.

cover14.jpg
 
Agreed, and there's nothing on the 1986 vinyl either

a1172-iron-maiden-somewhere-time-vinyl-lp-841.jpg
 
Perun said:
Since we were discussing this in the short-answer thread, I thought it would be appropriate to bump this. Let's try and settle it.

I am quite certain it's Bruce. Something in the way he pronounced "another kingdom" and "too small" sounds like Bruce to me, without me being able to pinpoint exactly why.
Click to expand...

I agree. Those bits sound particularly like Bruce to me.
 
Perun said:
I am quite certain it's Bruce. Something in the way he pronounced "another kingdom" and "too small" sounds like Bruce to me, without me being able to pinpoint exactly why.
Click to expand...

It sounds nothing like Bruce to me. The timbre is completely different. Someone who has an accent similar to Bruce's, maybe.
 
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