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Adrian Smith Admits Virtual XI Leftovers Were Used

on September 12, 2004 @ 22:07

Adrian Smith has ended years of fans' speculation by revealing that 1998 'Virtual XI' leftovers were indeed used for the 2000 'Brave New World' album:

After VXI, Steve said that there are 4 unused songs left off VXI sessions and that they will use them for the next album. Which ones are those 4 songs?

Adrian Smith: Yes, you are right. "Nomad" is one of them. The others are "Dream Of Mirrors", "Mercenary", I can't remember the 4th one.



Here's what Kevin Lomax, the author of the interview has to say about the issue:

I did the interview in the Sanctuary Music London after a brief preview of the Dance of Death album. The interview was with Adrian Smith. I had fears before asking that question, because maybe Steve Harris might have said "dont tell". Anyway I asked and he said that "Nomad" (Which I'm surprised), Dream of Mirrors (not surprised in any way!) and "Mercenary" (the worst song of BNW from VirtualXI, that's obvious! ) were from Virtual XI.

He couldnt remember the fourth one. And I asked if Blood Brothers could be one of them, because it has similar melodies with Educated Fool.

He said no, it was not. He thought for a while but he couldnt remember the fourth. (Maybe didnt want to answer)

(...)

I had a quick chat with Blaze in Istanbul, before his performance in Rock The Nations Istanbul. (Where he did a duet with Paul DiAnno) And in that chat he said that he had written some of the lyrics of Dream of Mirrors but Steve didn't give him a credit for that in BNW. When he saw that he had a little frustration.

Source: Blue Jean Mag (Turkish Magazine)


Many thanks to Kevin Lomax and travisbickle of the IMBB

28 Comments

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Anonymous said:

I know, I know, not exactly news, but it's been years that fans talk about this: then, it can really be considered newsworthy

Cheers

#8854, September 12, 2004 @ 22:08

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Anonymous said:

Now, is it that Adrian didn't want to answer as the 4th leftover isn't on BNW... but on DOD: No More Lies ?

Anyway, this is another speculation of mine.

Cheers

#8855, September 12, 2004 @ 22:21

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Anonymous said:

Not news? I think its incredibly news worthy! Thanks for that. At last someone admits it!

#8856, September 13, 2004 @ 07:45

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Anonymous said:

Strange to see Steve choosing crap like 'The angel and the gambler' instead...

I always thought that 'Dream of mirrors' had a slight "Virtual XI" feel (the guitar melodies were quite simple, so that might have been a hint, although the song is good), but with all respect to Blaze I can't imagine how he could have hit some of the high notes on 'The nomad' for example. So probably we have heard improved versions of those tunes.

#8857, September 13, 2004 @ 08:21

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Anonymous said:

Adrian explained this last year to a french journal (Rock hard I think) while promoting Dance of death... Because these leftovers were used he couldn't put all his ideas on the new album (only 2 Smith's songs) [he did not indicate the song's title]
And I'd add that in an interview (Virtual french promotion session) both Dave and janick said that some stuff had to be dropped before the end of the album session, and they explained there would certainly be a new album before 2000. That part of the interview wasn't very clear however. I think they meant that some material was already written so that completing a whole set a new songs would be easy and therefore a new album would come up easily and quickly. Of course Bruce's return changed a couple of things...
Besides, I really like The nomad...

#8858, September 13, 2004 @ 09:22

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Anonymous said:

Adrian also mentioned that fact to a UK mag. And on the 3rd edition of the official biography, Bruce says that they wrote more songs for "Dance of death" than those that finally appeared on the album and that he and Steve have some interesting musical ideas for the future.

#8859, September 13, 2004 @ 09:27

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Anonymous said:

Thanks for the information.

Hum, it may be intersting although I think that dance of death contains very average material. What about leftovers from such average sessions? Wait and see!

#8860, September 13, 2004 @ 09:44

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Anonymous said:

I think that "Dance of death" is a really good album, as it also was "Brave new world". I find them more interesting than some of their 80s material.

Anyway, I do not think Bruce was referring to leftovers. Maiden usually have some ideas that get fully developed as songs and others that don't, so the latter might be the case.

#8861, September 13, 2004 @ 10:06

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Anonymous said:

I agree that Dance of Death was very average, and it does not bode well for future releases that even with the return of 2 major song-writers in 1999, the band couldn't come up with enough original material and had to use left-overs from VXI for Brave New World. If there is material left over from the DOD sessions, it is probably mediocre and was not used for good reason (why wasn’t it used for B-sides?). Maiden are running out of ideas.

#8862, September 13, 2004 @ 11:28

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Anonymous said:

Well, I disagree with that. Sometimes an idea gets set down for awhile, because you just couldn't do anything with it. And in a band like Maiden, someone will say..."Oy, didn't so-and-so have a neat part that goes like this, cos' I thought it was 'kin blinding and it'd fit good after Nicko does his drum bit 'ere."

If all that was left over was a few riffs, or maybe an instrumental section, that's really not "leftovers". That's building blocks for next time.

And DoD was amazing.

#8863, September 13, 2004 @ 11:39

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Anonymous said:

This was Absolutely news!!! And exciting news too! But wich song might be the fourth one?!

#8864, September 13, 2004 @ 12:14

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Anonymous said:

On a serious note, Steve really liked the idea of having a song referring to his own references of the 60s and 70s, that's why he wrote TAATG. Now, we can all loathe it, it's a nice reverence to his heroes.




Loosecannon used the right word: building blocks.
A leftover could mean a finished song or just a rough jam. In both case, they could have improved and polished them for BNW. It means that even Adrian or Bruce could have had a credit on the song if they participated on the improvement : that opens the door for all the songs present on the album as for which is the 4th one...




The leftovers were mentionned in many interviews. The basic reason is simple: Steve wanted to go back to the LP model, so they could just put 8 songs and not 11 like in FOTD, TXF, BNW or DOD.

The question remains open for TXF: apparently, they were one or two leftovers, but this time clearly rough ones. This has never been proven and I can't find my 95 interviews back to prove the point (I'm sure Dave mentionned something once)...




That would be interesting to hear. With the lapse between album releases growing, they all have more time thinking about ideas for new songs. Nicko could find idea while jamming with McBrainDamage, Adrian is known to play his guitar alone, etc. This means that they could already have undevelopped ideas for some songs in the future.

I'm still open to the debate on NML being the 4th song, for it bears similarities with Clansman... But that could be too obvious.

Cheers

#8865, September 13, 2004 @ 12:29

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Anonymous said:

Now, Mav, you could add this to the commentary

Cheers

#8866, September 13, 2004 @ 12:31

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Anonymous said:

Apparently, there are 5 complete songs which Adrian and Bruce wrote together but couldn't make it to DOD thanks to Steve Harris...

They were slow and heavy, more like the Bruce solo efforts apparently (this is speculation of course).

Ok, now let's talk about the leftovers from SIT (accoustic Bruce material) and FOTD (Maiden wrote 17 songs back then, so 5 remain unknown...).


Cheers

#8867, September 13, 2004 @ 12:42

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Anonymous said:

very interesting can you give your sources?


5? same question: where's the information coming from?

#8868, September 13, 2004 @ 12:54

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Anonymous said:

FOTD: US promo single for 'The Fugitive' where Bruce is interviewed and says 12 songs are finished and four more in pre-production.

The 17th comes from an interview. Looking for the source.

As for DOD, the leftovers are confirmed in the latest edition of the official biography. The number 5 comes from a German magazine. Trying to get the name and issue number of that magazine.

Cheers

#8869, September 13, 2004 @ 13:21

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Anonymous said:

Many thanks. Cheers

#8870, September 13, 2004 @ 13:40

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Anonymous said:

http://www.resurrection.at/archivneu/intie...aiden_intie.htm

The number 5 doesn't appear anywhere.

M. L.: Und den hast du gemeinsam mit Steve geschrieben.
A. S.: Ja genau, obwohl ich normalerweise nicht so viel mit Steve komponiere, sondern eher mit Bruce. Aber die Songs, die ich diesesmal mit Bruce geschrieben habe, wurden nicht verwendet.
M. L.: Obwohl ihr in der Vergangenheit einige Klassiker zusammengebraut habt, sowie "2 minutes to midnight".
A. S.: Unsere Songs waren diesesmal sehr langsam und heavy. Nicht unbedingt moderner, aber sicherlich aggressiver. Und so paßten sie nicht wirklich zum Rest des Albums, welches eher mehr melodiös ist.
M. L.: Vielleicht landen die Stücke ja auf einem Solo-Album?
A. S.: Oder auf dem nächsten MAIDEN-Album.

Basically Adrian says that he wrote some songs with Bruce that were very heavy and agressive, but those tunes weren't chosen as they didn't fit with the rest of the album. When asked if those songs will be used in a solo album, he answers that they might be used on the next Maiden album.

#8871, September 13, 2004 @ 15:15

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Anonymous said:

As I know these leftovers were used by Bruce on his solo worx - Tattooed Millionaire and Balls To Picasso

#8872, September 13, 2004 @ 15:45

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Anonymous said:

This is an austrian magazine, not a german one

You might be right. I'm just digesting all the discussions I see about this story and as long as it's not confirmed, I'm not adding anything to the main headline news.

Cheers

#8873, September 13, 2004 @ 16:00

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Anonymous said:

Thanks Bravewords !

Cheers

#8874, September 13, 2004 @ 16:04

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Anonymous said:

All bands have used leftovers some time. No big deal, really. However, it wouldn't surprise me at all if No More Lies turned out to be a Virtual XI leftover, as that song is as close to that album as you can get. The funny part is, though, that The Nomad and Dream of Mirrors are far better than the best part of Virtual XI.

#8875, September 13, 2004 @ 17:53

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Anonymous said:

I’ve read a Steve interview (in a french mag - 1998) where he says the opposite :

”When bruce left the band, he didn’t use any of his ideas...”

#8876, September 13, 2004 @ 18:20

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Anonymous said:

That's what I thought too...

Cheers

#8877, September 13, 2004 @ 19:20

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Anonymous said:

That confirms the theory I always stood for. According to most sources, Bruce's ideas for Somewhere In Time were mainly acoustic, and how acoustic is actually Tattooed Millionaire?

#8878, September 13, 2004 @ 19:26

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Anonymous said:

Thanks Blabbermouth !

Cheers

#8879, September 13, 2004 @ 19:57

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Anonymous said:

I saw that interview. In 1986 Bruce said in a french journal (again) that he had 3 songs rejected when preparing somewhere. (no news here) One of these songs was entitled Run Silent Run Deep (!!!). I think that either the title was used several years later for the no prayer album (like they did for the wicker man) or maybe part of the melody or something.
Bruce made some acoustic tracks used as bsides early in his solo career but it is difficult to know what happened to the old demos he submitted for Somewhere in time... an interesting question anyway!

#8880, September 14, 2004 @ 07:57

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Anonymous said:

Thanks Hardradio !

Cheers

#8881, September 18, 2004 @ 15:10

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