Dickinson about UYI [being individual releases]: "that’s bollocks"

[auad]

Making a double album, did it take you back to your teenage years in the 70s and the classic doubles of that era, such as Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis?

Bruce: Oh yes! The thing is, back then, in my group of friends, we used to go to each other’s houses and we’d all sit and listen to it, two of three of us. We’d play one side and go, ‘Wow, what did you think of that?’ We’d talk about it, go down and have a cup of tea or something, and then go back in for round two.

Dave: It reminds me of when I was a teenager, buying Physical Graffiti. I love the whole feel of a double album, that warm 70s vibe.

Ninety-two minutes of new Iron Maiden music is a lot to take in.

Bruce: It is (laughs). After all that, you need to lie down in a dark room.

Steve: Even the last album (The Final Frontier) was pretty long – 72 minutes or something. But we knew Bruce wrote Empire Of The Clouds that this album was going to be really bloody long. We don’t seem to be able to condense what we do.

And you don’t want to?

Steve: Not necessarily. Having said that, there are some short songs on the album, Speed Of Light and Death Or Glory.

Bruce: After six songs we said, ‘Either we stop now, or it’s going to be a double album.’ Then we thought about all the possibilities for artwork – gatefolds and all that shit. Great! Let’s make it a double album. And of course the first thing Rod (Smallwood, Maiden manager) said was, ‘Oh no, it’s a pain the arse!’ I said, ‘Rod, it’s brilliant. I know the record company will possibly whinge, but Maiden fans will love it.’ So we won him over. Rod said, ‘Couldn’t you do Album 1 and Album 2?’ I said, ‘What, like [Guns N' Roses'] Use Your Illusion I and II? No, that’s bollocks. It’s one double album, and that’s what it should be.’

Adrian: It’s funny. On this album my idea was to get back to shorter songs. A couple of albums back, on Dance Of Death, I had a go at writing an epic with Paschendale. Just to challenge myself. This time I went for punchier songs like Speed Of Light, in the style of 2 Minutes To Midnight. Little did I know that this album would be the longest we’ve ever done, with the longest song we’ve ever done. Probably a good idea I didn’t write any epic. It would have been too much.

https://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-09-14/teamrock-exclusive-iron-maiden-how-we-made-book-of-souls

[EvH]

I like the idea and I don't care about what Bruce thinks about it.

And BTW The Book Of Souls is a great album, miles better than The Final Frontier.

[tberrie007]

i was 18 when they released UYI and the reason at the time gnr was doing that and was said in many interviews at the time, was that a kid could afford to go buy 1 album as opposed to the cost of having to buy a double album

[wkuk04]

Liked all the albums since Bruce returned except this one, I only like one song thus far. But Illusions pisses on Book Of Souls.

[maynard]

Misleading thread title. He said the idea was bollocks. Not the album, not the music. At least it's not yet another Brazilian article.

[stella]

i was 18 when they released UYI and the reason at the time gnr was doing that and was said in many interviews at the time, was that a kid could afford to go buy 1 album as opposed to the cost of having to buy a double album

This. I actually really appreciated the concept. I was a kid when they came out, and there was no way I would have been able to afford a $20 or $25 double cassette album unless I saved for a long time. I could however afford a single UYI. It was actually cheaper in the end to buy each of the albums separately.

But as for the article title, Holy Misleading Headline, Batman. As others have said here, he just seemed to dislike the way UYI was sold/packaged separately; he's not saying anything about the music.

Edited September 14, 2015 by stella

[Tom2112]

Making a double album, did it take you back to your teenage years in the 70s and the classic doubles of that era, such as Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis?

Bruce: Oh yes! The thing is, back then, in my group of friends, we used to go to each other’s houses and we’d all sit and listen to it, two of three of us. We’d play one side and go, ‘Wow, what did you think of that?’ We’d talk about it, go down and have a cup of tea or something, and then go back in for round two.

Dave: It reminds me of when I was a teenager, buying Physical Graffiti. I love the whole feel of a double album, that warm 70s vibe.

Ninety-two minutes of new Iron Maiden music is a lot to take in.

Bruce: It is (laughs). After all that, you need to lie down in a dark room.

Steve: Even the last album (The Final Frontier) was pretty long – 72 minutes or something. But we knew Bruce wrote Empire Of The Clouds that this album was going to be really bloody long. We don’t seem to be able to condense what we do.

And you don’t want to?

Steve: Not necessarily. Having said that, there are some short songs on the album, Speed Of Light and Death Or Glory.

Bruce: After six songs we said, ‘Either we stop now, or it’s going to be a double album.’ Then we thought about all the possibilities for artwork – gatefolds and all that shit. Great! Let’s make it a double album. And of course the first thing Rod (Smallwood, Maiden manager) said was, ‘Oh no, it’s a pain the arse!’ I said, ‘Rod, it’s brilliant. I know the record company will possibly whinge, but Maiden fans will love it.’ So we won him over. Rod said, ‘Couldn’t you do Album 1 and Album 2?’ I said, ‘What, like [Guns N' Roses'] Use Your Illusion I and II? No, that’s bollocks. It’s one double album, and that’s what it should be.’

Adrian: It’s funny. On this album my idea was to get back to shorter songs. A couple of albums back, on Dance Of Death, I had a go at writing an epic with Paschendale. Just to challenge myself. This time I went for punchier songs like Speed Of Light, in the style of 2 Minutes To Midnight. Little did I know that this album would be the longest we’ve ever done, with the longest song we’ve ever done. Probably a good idea I didn’t write any epic. It would have been too much.

https://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-09-14/teamrock-exclusive-iron-maiden-how-we-made-book-of-souls

Your title would lead you to believe he said the albums themselves were a bunch of bollocks. I think he's right though, double albums should be released together, buying 2 albums is a bit much.. on that front UYI is a bunch of bollocks.

[Cosmo]

I get what he means, though. One charges 9.99 for a double album, the other charges 9.99 for each CD. But still, UYI is great.

[RandallFlagg]

What does he mean 'that's bollocks' I don't get whether he's insulting UYI or just saying it's not necessary lol.

My favourite Maiden album is Piece of Mind, Still Life is the shit!

[Len Cnut]

Being taken blatantly out of context, that phrase can just mean like 'nah, fuck that' as in thats not right for us or what we're doing, that ideas bullshit here, thats all. I suppose it could be indicative of a deeper disdain too to be fair but it appears to have been said very offhand here and I'm sure if ol' Brucie wanted to make a more explicit declaration of distaste for GnR he's certainly not the type to be afraid to do so, so based on that take it for what it is maybe?

[Modano09]

I see the logic in "kids can't afford a double album so they can buy one and their friend can buy the other" or whatever.

But the cynical side of me realizes that instead of a double album at whatever the cost was back then ($30?) you can get the same people that want both to pay $20 for each.

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

Can we definitively say they are two separate albums? Or one album (a double album) sold in two separate pieces?

[RandallFlagg]

That's about what I weighed in my mind when I read it Len, it just seems an offhand comment with a slightly bitter afterthought hinted at considering his not too salubrious opinion of Guns.

[Billsfan]

What in the fuck is a bollock anyways

[Powerage5]

What in the fuck is a bollock anyways

In this context, it's essentially British slang for "bullshit".

As others have said, the title is very misleading. I can't really fault Bruce's logic here, but again the argument can be made that what constitutes a double album, and what constitutes two individual albums that happen to be released on the same day? I mean, for all intents and purposes I refer to UYI as a double album; the artwork was identical other than color, they had a fairly consistent sound, produced at the same time, etc. They're certainly intended to be counterparts, so what's to say they weren't separated into two individual releases to increase sales? I know that's what Rod Smallwallet was thinking when he suggested a UYI style release

I edited the thread title to make it less misleading.

[Black Sabbath]

I do not look at the UYI albums as one double album. To me, they're two individual albums. Both really have their individual feel about them and differ from one another, in my opinion. Sure, they sound the same in the sense of the direction the band was going at the time, but I think the songs on UYI I sound different and wouldn't fit in with the songs on UYI II.

[wasted]

It's two seperate double records to me. As in Physical Grafitti had 14 tracks, UYI 2 had 14 and UYI 1 had 16. If youre comparing to the 70s.

But in the 90s its a double album.

But there was definitely leftover material like

YCBM

Back of Bitch

Bad Obsession

Civil War

Don't Cry

Heavens Door

November Rain

UYI II seemed more like previously released songs and more experimental or next evolution stuff.

Whereas as UYI I seems like the real next GNR album if you switch RNDTH with YCBM. If they squeezed Civil War, Heavens Door and Estranged on side 2 of UYI I it would be more obvious. Or put all the older material on 1 cd and then the songs about it being over on the other.

Same could be said of CD II with there being songs left over from 2000 Intentions and Bucket era songs. Even on CD, Scraped and Sorry seem like they came from later sessions.

[Billsfan]

It's two seperate double records to me. As in Physical Grafitti had 14 tracks, UYI 2 had 14 and UYI 1 had 16. If youre comparing to the 70s.

But in the 90s its a double album.

But there was definitely leftover material like

YCBM

Back of Bitch

Bad Obsession

Civil War

Don't Cry

Heavens Door

November Rain

UYI II seemed more like previously released songs and more experimental or next evolution stuff.

Whereas as UYI I seems like the real next GNR album if you switch RNDTH with YCBM. If they squeezed Civil War, Heavens Door and Estranged on side 2 of UYI I it would be more obvious. Or put all the older material on 1 cd and then the songs about it being over on the other.

Same could be said of CD II with there being songs left over from 2000 Intentions and Bucket era songs. Even on CD, Scraped and Sorry seem like they came from later sessions.

if you compare to the 70's isn't it like 30 records since there were like 5 tracks per album?

[My Name is Trinity]

Can we definitively say they are two separate albums? Or one album (a double album) sold in two separate pieces?

UYI is a double album, not two separate albums. It was released separately for marketing reasons, not for artistic ones.

UYI is one album.

Edited September 15, 2015 by My Name is Trinity

[Apollo]

Some posters in here call CD a double album.

[Powerage5]

Some posters in here call CD a double album.

If you go by the LP definition still, it is. The definition somewhat got distorted with CD's though, since a CD can hold roughly double the length of a single LP. CD is a 2 LP album, so by that definition it is a double album.

[wasted]

It's two seperate double records to me. As in Physical Grafitti had 14 tracks, UYI 2 had 14 and UYI 1 had 16. If youre comparing to the 70s.

But in the 90s its a double album.

But there was definitely leftover material like

YCBM

Back of Bitch

Bad Obsession

Civil War

Don't Cry

Heavens Door

November Rain

UYI II seemed more like previously released songs and more experimental or next evolution stuff.

Whereas as UYI I seems like the real next GNR album if you switch RNDTH with YCBM. If they squeezed Civil War, Heavens Door and Estranged on side 2 of UYI I it would be more obvious. Or put all the older material on 1 cd and then the songs about it being over on the other.

Same could be said of CD II with there being songs left over from 2000 Intentions and Bucket era songs. Even on CD, Scraped and Sorry seem like they came from later sessions.

if you compare to the 70's isn't it like 30 records since there were like 5 tracks per album?

Per record seems like 8-10 in the 70s. Definitely not 16 like UYI I.

I think UYI was 4 records. CD is 2 records.

[Len Cnut]

What in the fuck is a bollock anyways

What dangles over your Mums chin on a Saturday night.

[Johnny Drama]

A moustache?

[DR DOOM]

Being of the age where I was into Guns when the UYI's came out, it was fucking awesome to have all those songs.

Sure, 25 years or whatever later you can say some songs suck and this and that detracts from blah blah blah but those two albums kicked ass.