Released: 1983
Tracks: Where Eagles Dare; Revelations; Flight of Icarus; Die With Your Boots On; The Trooper; Still Life; Quest For Fire; Sun and Steel; To Tame a Land
Best track: Revelations
Track to skip: Quest For Fire
I think I’ve just altered my opinion a slight bit. In the whole grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter, but it’s something big for me. OK, after this particular listen I no longer think Piece of Mind is better than Number of the Beast. There are no bad songs on Beast, and yet this album has Quest For Fire. I used to tolerate it, but it’s got to the point that I have no desire to hear it anymore. So, I think that’s the thing that separates these two discs. I do think the good songs on here are better than those on NOB, but Quest is on here too.
All that said, I don’t like this album any less. Regardless of one stupid track on side 2, this is still a MONSTER album. The addition of Nicko McBrain on drums ‘monsterizes’ this a good bit, but the thing that really makes this album stand out is how confident the band is. The production is even more excellent than last time and the returning 4 sound so much better. Bruce Dickinson has a huge presence on this album, both vocally and with his songwriting. Bruce contributes a solo writing credit in Revelations and he just hits the nail right on the head. It is impossible for me to convey how amazing Revelations is. Dammit, it’s just a perfect song and actually it’s my all time favorite piece of music. EVER, BY ANYONE. I absolutely love it and it’s very important to me. Ahh. In addition to Bruce’s goodness, the bass playing of my idol, Steve “The Man” Harris, improves over what he did on Beast. Listening to his basslines on these songs it really struck me how creative all his parts are, both on the songs he wrote and on the ones his bandmates contributed. It’s easy to write a bassline to something; it’s something special to be able to write a great and creative bassline. I love listening to him on this album…phenomenal. And of course, the duo of Murray and Smith are excellent as always. The joy of listening to these two master guitarists is immense. Everyone shines on this album.
I mentioned the confidence of the group. Where they were rushed with making Beast, the success of it enabled them to allow more time to creating this album. In a way it’s more relaxed, but it’s not a drunken or lazy relaxation, but a confident one. At this point they knew what they could do and they knew how to better what they had done before. In most cases, the songs are improvements over the ones on NOB. The only downside is QFF, clearly a filler track. Like I said, that song brings this down just slightly lower than the overall quality of Beast, but not that much. They’re getting the same grade, but Beast is just a little bit more excellent. Still, Piece of Mind IS excellent and very worth owning.
Rating: 96
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