....What ho hahahaha!
Well, welcome once again to the Not a lot of people know that, part II. Or in other words,
Nick's verbal diarrhoea for the second time running. You lucky lot! Now you're out there
holding in your sweaty palms and all them grubby little fingers and hands, ooh the second
re-released singles box set from Iron Maiden, the second weeks now we're running, now
we're onto a cruise. Women In Uniform! You've just listened to it! Invasion! You've just
listened to it! Phantom Of The Opera! You've just listened to it! Ohh, and Twilight Zone
and Wrathchild, both 'Arry Harris..bomber Harris compositions of the most outstandingly
stunning performances! Marvellous!
Well, look here! Women In Uniform, mmmmmm. Now then 'Arry, you slipped up....listen
don't tell him but you know it wasn't a song by 'Arry, see, but he knows that doesn't he.
Wot? Anyway, Women In Uniform, written by the Macainah brothers... I think I
pronounced that right lads... if you're listening, well too f'king bad if I ain't, I'm very sorry but
anyway, nevertheless. Aussie band, Skyhooks I believe they were called, the name of the
band, first originally recorded this Women In Uniform. The boys decided to do it, and
released this single 27th of October 1980. And uh, well, great song, you know... doo doo ah
dee dee... good song, and all that. And as I say, you've got Invasion and Phantom Of The
Opera live. My goodness, aren't you lucky people... Gosh I don't even have this stuff at
home. You know what, I tell ya, one of the reasons that we're releasing all these bits and
pieces, not only to celebrate ten years with such a great company as EMI, but not a lot of us
have got a complete set of the singles and all that stuff so it's really so we can get the old
collection going. Yeah, so anyway, nevertheless!
Allright, now Mike Kenny made his debut in the video as Eddie I do believe, on the very first
promo video. Well, I say the first promo,.. the Invasion video, was the first rock promo, one
of the first rock promos by a British rock band. I suppose you think Queen's Bohemian
Rhapsody was close to that, you know, I think they were probably the very first. But it was
quite visionary if you think of the importance of videos now, you get it...vision...quite
visi....yeah, allright ok, cut the crap and get on with it. So there you go, first song the band's
ever released in a-side is by somebody else, and uh yeah, that's cool. And by the way,
Invasion was part of the band's you know the stage set that the boys used to use in the late
70's, and originally it was released on the Soundhouse Tapes. Oh, we all know about the
Soundhouse Tapes...take that if you don't! wooh, I'll give you ........I wanna hit you so
hard.... Anyway! Invasion was on the Soundhouse Tapes, and Steve and the guys decided
to record a proper studio version of this song, so that's why that was re-done basically.
And Phantom was recorded at the Marquee in July 1980, oh yes you lucky Maidenettes
and Maiden guys and all that out there! Four dates in one week, to wind up their summer
UK tour in 1980, can you remember that? What a great time! Did Top Of The Pops live,
again, by the way, and the guys did the sound check...this is, not a lot of people know
this....and the did the sound check in the afternoon. And a minute before the performance the
sound monitor engineer turned around and says "I'm not gonna have this...you're too loud,
we're gonna turn it down". And they messed around with all the twiddly knobs and
everything, on the desk, ON THE DESK!!! right? And it totally poxed it all up. So the boys
vowed never to play..um... I said Top Of The Pops, didn't I. Well you know that company
on the last thing I was trying to think of an abbreviation for, right? Well you know what I'm
talking about right? Well it's the Bleeding Bojack Company, right, that's what it is, and that's
what they done to 'em so it's on the videos now and that's it. Boom.
So you lucky lot. Oooh, Twilight Zone and Wrathchild, both as I said, 'Arry Harris
compositions... released the 2nd of March 1981, got to chart position 31. Not bad, eh! Oh
by the way, the Women In Uniform and Invasion and that got to 35, I think I forgot to
mention that. If I did mention it, too f'king bad, allright. So, Twilight Zone and Wrathchild,
that was recorded as part of a Killers session at the turn of '80 and '81. Now Martin, he
actually couldn't be there at this particular session, so the boys produced Twilight Zone
themselves. Quite clever when you think about it, aren't they, playing and producing it at the
same time. Amazing! Anyway, hahaha, so they decided to release this Twilight Zone on the
Killer's album. And so the boys and Rod sent a telex over to Japan, see, and they explained
all the details of the song. So the Japanese, they're a funny lot aren't they, they took it
literally, and the song was printed as Details Of Twilight Zone. My goodness, that's a
cracker isn't it? Hah!
By the way, boys and girls, if you know your trivia. Mr. H. Adrian Smith joined the band in
that particular time, didn't he? Yeah, now Twilight Zone, this happened to be Adrian's first
single with the band. Now not a lot of people would remember that, but then again, probably
they would, so I'll stuff it in the pipe and smoke it. H joined the band in September 1980,
and as you know, on the back of this as it's a double a-side, it was Wrathchild, and Adrian
had to learn Wrathchild as part of his audition, you know. He also had to show the boys
that he could kick a football and down a pint of beer in five seconds. He managed both of
them no problem, now Wrathchild he had to do the business. Well all I can say is this... he
must have done a f'king good job didn't he, eh? Cause he's steaming and he's right there,
see? So, not a lot of people knew that either. So anyway, that's H's audition out of the way,
and he was always happening and he went out on the tour in 1980 and 1981 and all this.
And, well, there you go. As it happens, as I said, the session that they did with Twilight
Zone and Wrathchild came out so well that they released it as a double a-side... By the
way, as we're talking about musicians, I've got a joke for ya. I'm not gonna to like it very
much, but you might, allright, so here it is:
What do you call somebody that hangs around with musicians?
Awwww no, not that one! Surely! Allright, a bloody drummer!
Allright, now I've said it and all the boys are at me, I've got that one out of the way. Thanks a
lot Rod, hmmm. There you go. Oh by the way, I was in a band called Trust around that
period of time, and in fact, the boys, we came out with Iron Maiden on their Killers tour of
Great Britain. And not a lot of people know that either. But uh, we had a great time, we did
about three and a half weeks with the band, and we had a serious... it was great! Well, what
can I say? Not a lot anymore, I think I've just about covered all that one. Um, so I'm going
down the pub to have a beer. Tada!
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