Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Studio album by Iron Maiden
Released 11 April 1988
Recorded Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, during 1987 - March 1988
Genre Heavy metal
Length 43:50
Language English
Label EMI
Producer Martin Birch
Iron Maiden chronology
Somewhere in Time
(1986)		 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
(1988)		 No Prayer for the Dying
(1990)
Singles from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
  1. "Can I Play with Madness"
    Released: 20 March 1988
  2. "The Evil That Men Do"
    Released: 1 August 1988
  3. "The Clairvoyant (live)"
    Released: 7 November 1988
  4. "Infinite Dreams (live)"
    Released: 6 November 1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Sputnikmusic [2]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in 1988 by EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US (it was re-released by Sanctuary/Columbia Records in the US in 2002). It is the first Iron Maiden release to feature keyboards (played by Michael Kenney) and, along with The Number of the Beast and, later, Fear of the Dark and The Final Frontier, debuted at No. 1 in the UK charts. It also marks the first appearance of many progressive rock elements, particularly seen in the length and odd-time signatures of the title track "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son," and by the fact that it is a concept album.[1]

Contents

History

The idea to base the album around the folklore concept of the Seventh son of a seventh son came to bassist Steve Harris after he read The Tales of Alvin Maker series of novels by Orson Scott Card.[3] Harris states, "It was our seventh studio album and I didn't have a title for it or any ideas at all. Then I read the story of the seventh son, this mystical figure that was supposed to have all these paranormal gifts, like second sight and what have you, and it was more, at first, that it was just a good title for the seventh album, you know? But then I rang Bruce [Dickinson, vocalist] and started talking about it and the idea just grew."[4]

After his songwriting contributions were rejected from the band's previous album, 1986's Somewhere in Time, Dickinson felt that his role within the band had diminished, as he "just became the singer,"[5] but felt renewed enthusiasm when Harris explained the concept to him; "I thought, 'What a great idea! Brilliant!' And of course I was really chuffed, too, because he'd actually rung me to talk about it and ask me if I had any songs that might fit that sort of theme. I was like, 'Well, no, but give me a minute and I'll see what I can do.'"[6] Speaking about the record in later years, however, Dickinson remarked that "we almost did [something great]," explaining that, "it was only half a concept album. There was no attempt to see it all the way through, like we really should have done. 'Seventh Son...' has no story. It's about good and evil, heaven and hell, but isn't every Iron Maiden record?"[5]

Stylistically, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son develops the sounds first heard on Somewhere in Time, although with the synth sounds being created more by keyboards rather than bass or guitar synthesizers. Steve Harris is fond of the development, in spite of the fact that the record didn't sell as well as its predecessor in the United States;[7] "I thought it was the best album we did since Piece of Mind. I loved it because it was more progressive - I thought the keyboards really fitted in brilliantly - 'cause that's the influences I grew up with, and I was so pissed off with the Americans, because they didn't really seem to accept it. Everyone said afterwards that it was a European-sounding album. I'm not so sure about that. What's a European-sounding album? To me, it's just a Maiden-sounding album."[4]

The album debuted at No. 1 in UK Albums chart (their first since The Number of the Beast) as well as No. 12 in the U.S, while the singles "Can I Play with Madness", "The Evil That Men Do", "The Clairvoyant (live)" and "Infinite Dreams (live)" reached No. 3, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 6 positions respectively in the UK Singles Chart. Guitarist Adrian Smith highlights "Can I Play with Madness" as "our first proper hit single. [It] actually started life as a ballad I had been working on called 'On the Wings of Eagles.' Then Bruce had a verse for it but wanted to change the title to 'Can I Play with Madness.' I must admit, it did sound better that way. So we took that one and Steve liked it, too. It was Steve who came up with the time change in the middle and the instrumental passage, which again gave it that lift it needed."[8]

"Only The Good Die Young" was featured on the soundtrack to the episode "Line of Fire" on the 1980s' TV series "Miami Vice".[9]

"The Evil That Men Do", "The Clairvoyant" and "Can I Play with Madness" are played live the most frequently following the 7th Tour of a 7th Tour.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son was Iron Maiden's last studio release to feature guitarist Adrian Smith until Brave New World in 2000 (although he shares a writing credit on "Hooks in You" from the following album, No Prayer for the Dying).

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Moonchild"   Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith 5:39
2. "Infinite Dreams"   Steve Harris 6:09
3. "Can I Play with Madness"   Dickinson, Harris, Smith 3:31
4. "The Evil That Men Do"   Dickinson, Harris, Smith 4:34
5. "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"   Harris 9:53
6. "The Prophecy"   Harris, Dave Murray 5:05
7. "The Clairvoyant"   Harris 4:27
8. "Only the Good Die Young"   Dickinson, Harris 4:42
Total length:
 43:50

Personnel

with

Production

Chart performance

Album

Chart (1988) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart 6[10]
German Albums Chart 4[11]
Norwegian Albums Chart 3[12]
Swedish Albums Chart 2[13]
Swiss Albums Chart 2[14]
UK Albums Chart 1[15]
U.S. Billboard Hot 200 12[16]

Singles

Single Chart (1988) Peak
position		 Album
"Can I Play With Madness" Dutch Singles Chart 6[17] Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
German Singles Chart 23[18]
Irish Singles Chart 3[19]
Norwegian Singles Chart 4[20]
Swedish Singles Chart 12[21]
Swiss Singles Chart 23[22]
UK Singles Chart 3[23]
"The Evil That Men Do" Dutch Singles Chart 23[24]
Irish Singles Chart 4[25]
Norwegian Singles Chart 7[26]
UK Singles Chart 5[27]
"The Clairvoyant" Irish Singles Chart 7[25]
UK Singles Chart 6[28]
Single Chart (1989) Peak
position		 Album
"Infinite Dreams" Irish Singles Chart 6[25] Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
UK Singles Chart 6[29]
Single Chart (1990) Peak
position		 Album
"Can I Play With Madness / The Evil That Men Do" UK Albums Chart[note 1] 10[30] —
"The Clairvoyant / Infinite Dreams" 11[31]

Notes

  1. ^ Re-release of all four singles as part of "The First Ten Years" box set. Exceeded the length limit of the UK Singles chart.
Preceded by
Now That's What I Call Music 11
by Various Artists		 UK number one album
April 30, 1988 – May 6, 1988		 Succeeded by
The Innocents by Erasure

References

  1. ^ a b Huey, Steve. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son at Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-26.
  2. ^ Stagno, Mike. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (staff review) on Sputnikmusic. June 4 2006. Retrieved December 18 2011.
  3. ^ Popoff, Martin (2005). "Commercial Break!". Metal Hammer presents: Iron Maiden 30 Years of Metal Mayhem: 108–109. 
  4. ^ a b Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 264. ISBN 1-86074-542-3. 
  5. ^ a b O'Regan, Denis. "Running Free". Kerrang! Legends (2): 103. 
  6. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 265. ISBN 1-86074-542-3. 
  7. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 263. ISBN 1-86074-542-3. 
  8. ^ Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 266. ISBN 1-86074-542-3. 
  9. ^ "Iron Maiden". imdb.com. 1988. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1442043/#Soundtrack. Retrieved 19 July 2011. 
  10. ^ "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Austrian Charts". http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Seventh+Son+Of+A+Seventh+Son&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  11. ^ "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - German Charts" (in German). http://www.charts.de/album.asp?artist=Iron+Maiden&title=Seventh+Son+Of+A+Seventh+Son&cat=a&country=de. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  12. ^ "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Norwegian Charts". http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Seventh+Son+Of+A+Seventh+Son&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  13. ^ "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Swedish Charts". http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Seventh+Son+Of+A+Seventh+Son&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  14. ^ "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Swiss Charts". http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Seventh+Son+Of+A+Seventh+Son&cat=a. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  15. ^ "UK Albums chart- 23rd April 1988". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/3/1988-04-23/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  16. ^ "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Iron Maiden". http://www.billboard.com/#/album/iron-maiden/seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son/9077. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  17. ^ "Can I Play with Madness- Dutch Singles Charts". http://www.dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Can+I+Play+With+Madness&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  18. ^ "German Singles Charts". http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/IRON+MAIDEN/single?sort=entry. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  19. ^ "Irish Singles 2". http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=4. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  20. ^ "Can I Play with madness- Norway". http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Can+I+Play+With+Madness&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  21. ^ "Can I Play with madness- Sweden". http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Can+I+Play+With+Madness&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  22. ^ "Can I Play with madness- Swiss". http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=Can+I+Play+With+Madness&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  23. ^ "UK Singles Chart Archive- 2nd April 1988". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1988-04-02/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  24. ^ "Evil that Men Do- Dutch Singles Chart". http://www.dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=The+Evil+That+Men+Do&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  25. ^ a b c "Irish Singles". http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=3. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  26. ^ "The Evil That Men Do- Norway". http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Iron+Maiden&titel=The+Evil+That+Men+Do&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  27. ^ "UK Singles Chart Archive- 20th August 1988". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1988-08-20/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  28. ^ "UK Singles Chart Archive- UK Singles Chart Archive- 26th November 1988". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1988-11-26/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  29. ^ "UK Singles Chart Archive- UK Singles Chart Archive- 25th November 1989". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1989-11-25/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  30. ^ "UK Albums Chart Archive- UK Singles Chart Archive- 21st April 1990". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/3/1990-04-21/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
  31. ^ "UK Singles Chart Archive- UK Singles Chart Archive- 28th April 1990". http://www.theofficialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/3/1990-04-28/. Retrieved 2011-10-01.