Somewhere in Time is the sixth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on September 29, 1986 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. It was the band’s first album to feature guitar synthesisers. Since its release, Somewhere in Time has been certified platinum by the RIAA, having sold over one million copies in the US. Somewhere on Tour was the album’s supporting tour. In 2023, it was made the focus of the Future Past World Tour, alongside 2021’s Senjutsu.
Somewhere in Time is the band’s first studio effort following the extensive World Slavery Tour of 1984–85, which was physically draining for the group, lasting 331 days and comprising 187 concerts. The resulting exhaustion is credited as the main factor in the complete lack of songwriting contributions from lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson, whose material was rejected by the rest of the band. Dickinson had written several “acoustic-based” songs, explaining that “I felt we had to come up with our Physical Graffiti or Led Zeppelin IV … we had to get it onto another level or we’d stagnate and drift away”, although bassist and primary writer Steve Harris “thought he’d lost the plot completely”, surmising that “he was probably more burnt out than anyone at the end of that last tour”. On the other hand, the record is also notable for the number of “fully formed” songs written by guitarist Adrian Smith, who wrote both of the album’s singles: Wasted Years and Stranger in a Strange Land, the former of which is the only song on the record not to feature synthesisers.
The cover for Somewhere in Time, created by the band’s then-regular artist Derek Riggs, displays a muscular cyborg-enhanced Eddie in a futuristic, Blade Runner-inspired environment.
Tracklist:
Side A:
- Caught Somewhere in Time
- Wasted Years
- Sea of Madness
- Heaven Can Wait
Side B:
- The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Deja-Vu
- Alexander the Great
Iron Maiden
Bruce Dickinson: lead vocals
Dave Murray: guitars, guitar synthesizer
Adrian Smith: guitars, guitar synthesizer, backing vocals, lead vocals on Reach Out
Steve Harris: bass, bass synthesizer
Nicko McBrain: drums
Production
Martin “Masa” Birch: producer, engineer, mixing, tape operator
Bruce Buchhalter: second engineer
Sean Burrows: assistant engineer (Compass Point Studios)
Albert Boekholt: assistant engineer (Wisseloord Studios)
Ronald Prent: assistant engineer (Wisseloord Studios)
George Marino: mastering engineer
Derek Riggs: sleeve illustrations
Aaron Rapoport: photography
Rod Smallwood: management, sleeve concept
Andy Taylor: management
Hugh Gilmour: reissue design (1998 edition)
Martin Birch (December 27, 1948 – August 9, 2020)
George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012)
