*Who owes this album on either vinyl, CD or tape and loves staring at the cover while listening to music?* And thanks again, Gthic, for sponsoring this video. Check 'em out here - gthic.com?aff=298 Also get 20% off coupon with the promo code "Metal20"

I am firmly convinced that part of Iron Maiden' success was achieved ALSO thanks to the genius and impressive work of arts of Derek Riggs. These guys owe a lot to him, and it was a shame they let him go.

This hands down is my favourite Maiden album cover - I never tire of looking at it. Eddie 'the cyborg' is totally badass.🤘

I remember how absolutely fascinated we all were when this album was released and looking at this artwork was like looking at the stars: you just kept seeing more. I also remember the iconic artwork for the track "Stranger in a Strange Land", which to me is just Eddie as a cyborg, personified. The lit match, the almost Clint Eastwood like snarl on his face, the guy at the card table (in the foreground) losing it as he notices Eddie... all the work of a genius artist. Iron Maiden's EP, album and poster artwork were almost as popular as the band themselves. At least back in the 80s...

The artwork lends an atmosphere to the music which your mind connects, and of course, it adds an extra dimension to the experience. Long live Derek Riggs!

This is still my favourite album cover of all time. It really inspired me as a kid. Derek really killed it with all the album and single covers for both Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Derek and Giger are still my favourite artists.

For me, Riggs was like a sixth member of Iron Maiden, something was lost when he left.

This was the first Iron Maiden album I ever heard. I bought it because the artwork got my attention, it was $10, and I had $10 in my pocket (I was in 6th grade). It was where I discovered what real music was and Maiden has been my favorite band ever since.

As a 12 year old in the mid ‘80s I spent a lot of of time looking at this album cover and would draw it in pencil the best I could on my desk at school.

A buddy named Rob, he and I would spend some time pouring over this cover, wondering saw everything. He died from cancer a few years back. I wish he could have seen this! Thanks for posting, mate!

It's their best Album,so fucking timeless!!!

This album cover was what lured me into Iron Maiden and Heavy metal. I loved all the details and decided that I loved the band, even before hearing them. But that was enough to make me give the music a chance, and I realised that I really DID like the music. I was all aboard when they released Seventh son of a Seventh son and the 12 year old me went to see them live with a pretty unknown opening act called Helloween. Nothing have come close to that experience. Thank you, Derek Riggs =)

hey! Russian native speaker here. 'меня рвет' means ONLY 'I'm puking'. this is never used in context of 'I really like it'. 'kefir' is really a fermented drink. for over 15 years it baffles me what were those two references supposed to mean. your channel is awesome, dude 🤘

Man, why couldn't you have posted this last week? Just met Derek Riggs over the weekend. Asked him to sign this very album and could have had much better questions, lol. I was curious about his musical tastes though, the dude likes Jazz, Reggae, and some Black Sabbath.

Spent many a friday and saturday nights in Hammerjacks bar in Baltimore. When big bands played, many visited after shows, like Maiden, Priest, and others. I saw Saxon there, and got my Strong Arm of the Law album cover signed by the whole band! Great times!

Derek Riggs was a huge part of Maiden's success here in The States. Their merch line is iconic and the main reason Americans at least know of Iron Maiden even though their music isn't really played on the radio. Somewhere in Time is my all-time favorite Maiden cover and is in my Top 5 Maiden albums. Hell, I even had a big-ass back panel patch of this cover on my jean jacket back in the day.

Man I’m Loving these Maiden deep dives into random art and albums. Keep it up!

Texas Records And Tapes refers to a now defunct Houston music store where some infamous in-store record signings were held, Maiden being one of them. Some of the staff from TTR (it was really called Texas Tapes and Records) were in the choir on Heaven Can Wait, they were probably the only choir members who got to do the song live with the band

Their artwork back then definitely drew me to them when I was 12 in the 80s. This was my first IM album and I spent a lot of time starting at this cover. It’s my favorite of theirs, and I loved discovering new things on it. My most exciting was the backwards text, I found it pretty funny.

My childhood bedroom walls were covered with Maiden posters including Aces High, Piece of Mind, The Trooper, Number of the Beast, and Somewhere in Time. I also had a small square tapestry of World Slavery tour with Eddie as the handcuffed mummy. Seriously, Derek Riggs’ artistic talent is sky high. I wonder what he’s done since Maiden?

Being raised in Maryland, the Hammerjack's reference was tits. But there's so much cool stuff going on that I wish more artists would put this much thought into their album covers.

Somewhere in Time is a case where buyers of the LP had a big advantage, especially the Japanese release. It was very thick and had a $35 price tag as opposed to the usual $7 or so back then. I bit the bullet and made that purchase. It has a large color book inside with lots of live show and other photos of the band, including one of Bruce wearing what looks like a KGON shirt. (That's a Portland, Oregon radio station that unfortunately turned into an "oldies station," since then: you know, "classic rock.") The real bonus is a 7" disc that plays at 33RPM. It has it's own sleeve and features five tracks: short interviews with each member of the band, starting with a cool monologue by Bruce. But yeah, that cover is Derek's masterpiece and is best seen on a 12"x12" album cover. The CD version is a bit brutal on the eyes, heh heh.

I wrote to mr. Riggs some time ago, asking about Batman being painted on the cover. Here’s what he had to say: “Hi it's Derek here. I had painted a bunch of tiny spaceships from sci fi all over the background, like the uss enterprise and millennium falcon but maiden's lawyers made me change them because they were frightened of being sued... which they wouldn't have been because it comes under the heading of a tribute and not really infringement for monetary gain. but I painted over them anyway and I stuck a batman on the rooftop as a kind of "fuck you" to maiden's stupid lawyers and never told them it was there. Maiden had about thirty lawyers back then because they were always being sued by lunatics over nothing.” Cheers! ;)

I remember always excitingly searching each new album cover for derek riggs signature logo.

Somewhere in Time is my all time favorite album, and yes, I was 12 at the time and I only bought it because of the cover.

It's the greatest album ever written, and painted. It saved my life , and I love every single bit of it.

I remember spending hours looking at this album cover. Epic.

My favourite Iron Maiden reference is definitely the Phantom Opera House. I love that song. The brain Bruce is holding and the "Iron... what?" shirt are also nice touches." My favourite pop culture reference is probably the Tardis, I wasn't expecting that one.

O.k. Bought this album upon it's release. Analyzed it front to back while playing it for years. Still, All these decades later I can't believe I missed the 23:58 reference staring me straight in the face. WTF?

I bought this album on vinyl the day it was released in the UK. By the time I had finished listening to it I had found all those references. There are a few hidden in the Powerslave artwork too.

I love this album, and this album cover! Caught Somewhere in Time is such an epic tune, quite possibly their best song!

Thanks for a great video! This is my fave Maiden cover (got the jigsaw puzzle as well as the vinyl 🤣) as not only is the artwork amazing but there is so much to see. I don't think you mentioned that the poster has "Eddie Lives" graffiti on it - a nod to Eddie bursting out of his grave on the Live After Death cover.

Great video! One of my favorite Maiden albums and artwork and now I realize this could be the most complex album artwork of my entire album collection. Powerslave artwork was very complex and had many "Easter Eggs" as well. Maybe a next video on that one? =)

There’s definitely a Def Leppard D on there in the shop window by Bruce. They came up together & are still good friends.

Somewhere in Time is my favorite album cover. Period. I purchased two records and had them framed spine to spine to create the panorama as one piece of art. It hangs just above my laptop's screen so that I can take a break from work and ponder all that is going on in Mr. Derek Riggs' amazing painting. In Martin Popoff's book covering Mr. Riggs' artwork, one of the reasons cited for the switch to Melvin Grant and others was that Derek Riggs was simply tired of creating this endless stream of Eddies and wanted to do something new. He did actually return to create the spectral Eddie for Brave New World, but left the project unfinished due to his frustration with the band's management. Artist Steve Stone was called in to finish the project, adding his cityscape. This cover now adorns the back of my jacket, as it's a bit unusual and I really like the finished product. The final tidbit of interest involves Derek Riggs' signature. While it's closely related to his Iron Maiden covers, it first appears on Budgie's album Nightflight, the cover of which was painted prior to Electric Matthew Says Hello, which became the cover of Iron Maiden's first album.

This was one of my favorite stage sets as well, loved the lighting and I remember roadies scurrying about to unfold Eddie’s gigantic inflatable hands, looked like he was lifting the stage. Awesome production.

The funny thing is, Fear of the Dark is a very simple artwork as well being limited to a 3 color design. Of course, they had later famously commissioned Derek for Dance of Death, felt like his art was too simple, then had some 3d art student barf all over it with bad computer renders.

Love this cover art!! I think they used this concept when they made the Mars colony in the original Total Recall movie. Dereks stuff was always best!!

I'm not surprised that Derick didn't want to do such complicated album covers again, but I still think that Seventh Son is a fantastic piece of art too! So much to pick out in this cover - I wondered if the 'Bradbury' referred to Ray Bradbury, rather than a pure Blade Runner reference??? I hadn't caught the lamp-post link to the first album, but I do think that the hand, rather than a general reference to sci-fi films, is more of a nod to the Killers album cover, (have a look and see).

Absolutely the best album cover of all time. One of the best albums they released, singles were awesome also.

I learned an incredible amount here. I also learned that I need the vinyl of this. I only ever had the CD which is lacking a lot of this great detail.

This is still my favorite album covers. You have to stare at it to find all these amazing details in it. It is in my opinion one the best work of art out there.

My very first concert ”somewhere on tour” Stockholm IceStadium, fall of 1986, pretty amazing when after bladerunner-intro the whole futuristic city of the album cover just backdropped the entire stage🌺One fav album ever since, great songs, very fine production👍

Great episode Vladyslav! Always look forward to your videos. 🤘

Growing up in 80s and early 90s that's how a lot of people picked out albums by the art work. You could pick something up and know what type of music you were buying from the art. You could tell if it was metal or punk or something shitty for the most part by the art. I found some of my favorite stuff by taking a chance on the art on the cover

Its implied that Eddie is chasing the Tardis, as it can be seen in space in the middle of the Wasted Years cover

Thanks! That was awesome. I've spent a lot of time staring at that picture.

Had this poster on my wall as a kid. Loved staring at all the details. Derek Riggs' art definitely inspired me to get into art myself. I

This is the album that got me into metal and I studied this cover and missed 90% of this shit. Thank you!

We where doing this in the 80s with maidens art work . That was the best thing about the new tapes and records coming out . The art work . Nice to see some one doing it again. Have e a great day brother.

Until I watch this video, I've never realized that there was so many details and references on it. Thanks bro and keep rockin'.

The Texas Records and Tapes sign was most definitely a shout out to the legendary Houston TX store located on Spencer Highway throughout the 1980s , we'll known for a massive selection of Iron Maiden posters, shirts, patches, stickers, etc - - , as well as having the big rock and metal bands of that time, making in store appearances, along with the local radio stations. I've always seen that piece of the cover art to be a good jester to the heavy metal paradise that the store was to the Houston Rock and metal community , but I have never heard any actual reason confirming why that sign appears in the cover art.

I always wondered what the vertical TEXAS sign was referencing, since I am proudly a Texan resident!!!

Dude! You're video showed me a few depictions " not going to say which ones" that missed. Being a huge fan of Maiden from the time I bought Killers to the present, Somewhere in Time is #1in Maidens cover art in my top3. Love the videos brosky! In my opinion is the go-to youtube channel for any Iron Maiden fan. Mike from the states.

Hammer jacks has been torn down, turned into a parking lot for Camden yards, and rebuilt. And being not too far from Baltimore, that’s one of the cooler parts for me!

Being from Houston, Texas there is a reference to Texas Tapes and Records on the building behind Eddy before the Pyramids in the background. TTnR was big bank in the 80's and was big on metal !

As "Wasted Years" has been released,i got it for 5 DM after school,run home,put it in my Stereo,made a Cassette Copy for my Aiwa Walkman and listened to it all day long ('til the Album were released)!!! WY is Adrian's finest Hour on the Album, together with"Sea of Madness" and "Stranger..."!!!!

I bought this album at 12 years old STRICTLY Based on the album cover. Wasted years is still my favorite song from them.

My 1st metal album ever was Live After Death, and I bought it because of the cover lol. Back then I would go to the music store and choose albums judging the cover.

1986! Sophomore year of high school for me. I liked IRON MAIDEN then, I LOVE EM NOW! But in 1986 "Somewhere in Time" was my favorite LP from IRON MAIDEN then and still is to this day. What awesome artwork for an awesome LP. The art fit the music and then some. IMO Iron Maiden hit their PEAK with S.W.I.T.

Fascinating stuff! Thank you! By the way, just to clarify, the "Chinese" sign is actually Japanese. Of course, it's partially obscured, but the visible part says; "warning (警告)" (top) and "white pimple （白ニキビ)" (bottom). So, there you go.

I remember buying this LP and staring at the cover for HOURS as I played it over and over again.

The pyramids are certainly a nod to Powerslave, but also capturing the BladeRunner theme too (at least the original. I have not seen the remake from a few years ago)

Awesome, this is the first time anyone has discussed the Somewhere In Time Cover!

The funny thing is the detailed references but it takes 13 mins to mention 2 minutes to midnight, despite zooming in the nearby, or on it... so many times! Great work!

Great trivia brother.....Up with the irons....

Iron maiden is a really... unusual case as far as band careers go. To most people they pretty much disappeared in the later 80's, and if you were to take a guess you'd think they had dissolved decades ago. In truth, I can't think of any band who's career is more appealing (maybe the Stones). In spite of being pretty much invisible to the world beyond their fans, they still sell out shows all the time. Not to mention at times still playing to crowds that to equal in a single show, the average band won't play even if they combine every single live gig they've every played.

The Asian language on the sign just to the right of Eddie’s leg is actually Japanese, not Chinese. It says “Warning, white pimple”….Must be another joke from the sense of humor of Riggs! For those who are interested, The 2 larger characters on top say “Warning”. (警告 - pronounced keikoku - For English speakers it sounds like “kay coke coo”). The part below says “white pimple”. (白ニキビ - shiro nikibi…for English speakers it sounds like “she row knee key bee”. The characters for “Warning” and “white” are the same in both Chinese and Japanese but the word for pimple is written using Katakana, a writing system only used in Japanese. BTW if read backwards, the word for pimple (ニキビ) would be bikini (ビキニ)! Thanks for the translation of the Russian words on this album cover. How cool it is that the internet now connects all of us Iron Maiden fans from across the world! I love your channel, especially the Iron Maiden content. Slava Ukraina!

I remember i used to scan the illustrations of my Maiden's CDs n Tapes for clues and hints. I would spend hours in front of my stereo and VCR

Great video! I love this album, but never noticed the Hammerjack's logo!!! I used to hang there at their original location when it was the old warehouse in the late 80s and 90s before they tore it down to build the football stadium. I cannot tell you how many great bands I saw there back in the day before they got big and were still doing the club circuits! Wow that brings back some great memories. Thanks for pointing that out!!! \m/

I saw Iron Maiden live back in 91 along with skid row and Wasp and many others at Donington Park England

I remember the amazing foldout on the cassette version. The thing that I remember the most though was the smell of the cassette cover.

35 years. My favorite Maiden album. And somehow... I never caught the TARDIS.

My favourite album, got it when I was like 12, I was away from home in another city. Took it back to my grandma's house and played it, and she said, yes it's very good! ✌️☺️

thanks brother, I am gonna share on FB. Cheers mate, keep it up.

One of my favorite pieces of album artwork. There's so much in it, like Eddie's eye in the cloud.

The Chinese letters on the store are actually Japanese: it says “danger, white pimples”. The word for “pimples” read backwards is “bikini” but then the word above would make no sense (you can’t read “danger” backwards”).

Back in the day in school during art class we had to analyze a famous painting. I did the Somewhere In Time vinyl/lp cover. 😎

I’m a 42 years old man I was 11 when I purchase somewhere in time original tape in my native country El Salvador at that time I only new 2 or 3 maiden songs remember going home put the tape on my cassette player listening to the first song and then after I became an Doncella de acero fan up the irons \m/

One of my favourite Iron Maiden album covers.

Great piece, good job I've been an Iron Maiden fan since I was 13 years old and this album was about to come out, so this album means a lot to me, as does the following output Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, which to me is their best release ever. I got to see them on June 10th, 1988 at the San Diego Sports Arena. We were supposed to get Guns and Roses to open for them (they were relatively brand new on the scene, Appetite for Destruction was out as was the video Welcome to the Jungle. It's June 10th and my best friend and I were getting home from school and his sister's over as usual, she looks over the front porch fence and says to us ..."you guys aren't going to see Guns and Roses tonight, Axel got sick or something! You guys are getting L.A. Guns instead!! My response to her went like this....."FUKK Guns and Roses!! I'm going to see Iron Maiden!!" You see she thought she was gonna disappoint me, she being an avid GnR fan was envious of myself and her friend's kid brother were gonna go see her favorite band. To this day I still pat myself on the back for that. It was exactly how I felt. After that tour was over Adrian Smith would leave the band due to the direction of the way the band should go in..... the creativeness like Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.......or....... go back to basics, tear it down and structure the music to the Number of the Beast blueprint. And so Steve got what he wanted I guess. He basically chose to regress backwards instead of progress forward. Look at what we got after that.....a bunch of rubbish. Even with Adrian back since 2000, only recently have they been able to rekindle that magic that was on their first 7 studio albums. I've heard a bit of The Book of Souls as I went to the tour and was very intrigued by a few of their songs from that album. It reminded me of that magic they once possessed. I've not heard the new but I've heard good things To me Steve should've listen to Adrian. They were on to something there that could've been stretched out a couple of more albums Quit being so bossy Steve! Gosh!

I found this poster in a box of my old stuff the other day...I bought it in the 80's & I think I'll keep it lol

Simply iron maiden put Derek Riggs to his brilliant genius artwork of so many albums of Maiden for which we thank you for making Eddie become alive thank you Derek from a true iron maiden fan 👍👍🤟🤟🤟

Bought the LP when it came out! Still have it. First gig I went to as a 15-year old was IM on that tour, still have the ticket, great times! The album artwork is one big nod to IM's back-catalogue up untill that point, the music is on another level, their best....

I'm a huge Iron Maiden fan, but I've never busted out the old magnifying glass to take a good long look at the album covers, for me it's all about the music, and Somewhere In Time is my favorite album, followed closely by Powerslave and Piece of Mind. I had all three album posters hung on my bedroom walls in high school, and it caused my parents to have more than a little anxiety (they were definitely on team Tipper lol) thinking I was gonna slaughter the whole family Amityville style. All that never discouraged me from being a pot smoking, beer loving lowlife metal head to this day, and I will give the Western Puritans the cold shoulder till the day I die.

Did you notice that the lights of the skyscraper behind Eddie (the one with Icarus falling ) form a sort of Japanese lettering?

Iron Maiden were so successful in thier classic period as the band were essentially an 8 piece. Rod Smallwood's astute managemnt, Martin Birch's skills as a recording engineer and Derrek Riggs art work were why Maiden were so consistently brilliant. They weren't chopping and changing all the time.

This album cover was also one of the few covers Derek did on a canvas that large. Most his covers he worked on were 12x12 inches. The same size as a record. This one however he did on a larger canvas.

The “cloud Eddie” on the cover of Brave New World was done by Riggs I do believe

The best Iron Maiden album cover

On the street near the Pizza Hot is small black cat with diamond eyes who was also on the back of Live After Death album

Aprecio este disco desde la primera vez que lo escuché. Tiene tantos secretos en su sonido como en la portada. Es una barbaridad de trabajo en todos los aspectos.

Nice video, very informative. BUT ...why so fast (in editing the close ups)? When you do a close up of a nice "hidden secret", I cannot appreciate it and sink in it... it jumps too fast to another, then another.... you got the idea. (instead of ENJOING the moment and looking at that detail) , anyway, I love the album and the cover. Thanks for the video.

in an interview they said that somewhere in time sold well in the united states but not so well overseas and seventh son sold well overseas but not so great in america

This was the only Maiden lp I’ve ever had. Not sure why. But I love it.

All you guys sound brilliantly excellent. History is why there baddasses!!

I still have the first/original vinyl copy. And yes,you can spend the whole albums time looking at the cover,just like every Maiden album.

Somewhere in time cover made me buy the cassette. I wasnt really a fan at first but the artwork and music grew on me. Its their best!

I saw them live at Long Beach arena for somewhere in time . It was by far the best concert I ever saw.

I would lock myself in my room for hours pouring over the cassette sleeve, looking for easter eggs, although back then was not called easter eggs