This week it’s another of Iron Maiden’s signature tunes. These are being rattled off one right after the other since, well, it’s when they released all of this stuff. We get two B-sides this time, a cover song and a live track.

As with all Maiden cover art of this era, the cover here is totally on point. It’s very simple – Eddie is a British pilot flying a Spitfire during the Battle of Britain in World War II. Pretty easy premise and wonderfully executed by Derek Riggs.

There are some version differences here, the obvious one being the extra B-side on the 12-inch record versus the 7-inch. As usual I have the 12-inch version, this one from the UK. There were some further differences among cassette singles across territories but those were B-sides available on singles I’ve recently covered so nothing huge to worry about there.

Aces High

The single kicks off with its feature and namesake track, a magnificent song that soars as high as its subject matter. The music is anchored by the twin guitar attack of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, alongside the rumbling bassline of Steve Harris. Nicko McBrain bashes the skins accordingly, and Bruce Dickinson has another moment to live up to his nickname as the “Human Air Raid Siren,” this time more fitting than ever. The band fires on all cylinders here, but that guitar and bass combination really stands out here.

The song is about the Battle of Britain during World War II. It was when the Royal Air Force and all of the citizens of the UK banded together to fend off the onslaught of the Nazi Luftwaffe over the course of several months in 1940 and 1941. The British spirit held through the relentless campaign and Germany was unable to accomplish its objectives of destroying the RAF or breaking British morale through terror bombing, and the tide of the war would turn to the Allies’ favor. It is obviously a major point of pride in British history.

For Iron Maiden, Aces High is yet another signature track from their golden era. It would be paired with Winston Churchill’s famous speech to Parliament in 1940 both in the music video and in live presentations. The song would be an opener on several tours and is a well-regarded crowd favorite. It would peak at number 20 on the UK singles chart.

King Of Twilight

Here Maiden cover 1970’s German prog-rock act Nektar. This cover is actually a bit of a medley, combining King Of Twilight with Crying In The Dark, both Nektar tracks from 1972. It’s a pretty well-executed cover and toes the line pretty well between honoring the original and “Maidenizing” the songs as well.

I’ll also admit that I haven’t checked out Nektar at all before. There was no Internet access to just look bands up when these covers were around so the originals remained a mystery to me. From what I’m hearing it’s some pretty cool classic prog and I’ll have to check more of them out.

The Number Of The Beast

Our bonus B-side is a live performance from December of 1983 in Dortmund, Germany. There is also video of this clip, this same song was later shown in video form on the 12 Wasted Years video comp.

There is nothing that really “jumps out” about this performance, but it is competently executed and the crowd was really into it. The video does show Dave Murray riding atop Bruce’s shoulders in Ozzy and Randy Rhodes fashion, though of course that doesn’t translate to the audio-only single. It is a nice song to have in official form.

And yes, you’ll likely notice someone wrote their name on the back of the record jacket. This was fairly common practice way back when, to prevent theft. And this is not some random stranger who I never knew, either – Steve Childers was a musician from the area I live in who lived in both Missouri and Florida and played in number of death and black metal bands. Steve had moved back to this area in the mid 2010’s and I got to know him some in that time, he was a fantastic guy.

Sadly, Steve died in a car accident in early 2016. I bought this and some other records from his personal collection after his death to help raise funds for his final expenses and family. While it’d be far better to have Steve still around, it’s nice to have something from his old stash.

That’s all for this week’s single. Next week it’s into the band’s first official live album and the first of two singles from that.

The Iron Maiden Singles Series

Live! + One

Running Free

Sanctuary

Women In Uniform

Maiden Japan

Purgatory

Twilight Zone/Wrathchild

Run To The Hills

The Number Of The Beast

Flight Of Icarus

The Trooper

2 Minutes To Midnight

Aces High (you are here)

Run To The Hills (live)

Running Free (live)

Stranger In A Strange Land

Wasted Years

The Clairvoyant

Infinite Dreams

Bring Your Daughter … To The Slaughter

Holy Smoke

Be Quick Or Be Dead

From Here To Eternity

Virus

Out Of The Silent Planet

Rainmaker

Different World

The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg

Empire Of The Clouds