Brave New World

The protagonists attempt to challenge this order, which brings out the whole point of the book. Read it, it's good

Although 1984 is more popular, Brave New World seems to be closer to our actual future...

Towards the end of the story, after the incident at the death clinic, Mustapha Mond sits our heroes down (along with us, the readers) and explains, patiently, why the regime is the way it is. He freely acknowledges the casualties (art, science, religion) of the new order, but he asserts that the gains outweigh the losses. To me, Mustapha Mond is far more terrifying than Big Brother ever was because Mustapha Mond is a reasonable man who created his dystopian nightmare with the best motives and intentions; whereas, Big Brother apparently oppresses people just out of sheer cussedness. Big Brother is a caricature; Mustapha Mond is a portrait.

There is a powerful lesson here. The slide into dystopia will not be precipitated by some cackling, moustache-twirling villain. It will be precipitated by the do-gooders of the world who will systematically extirpate all that is noble about civilization, all the while thinking they are doing us a favor by doing so.

Some other random Brave New World tidbits:

• The similarity between the title and Miranda's quote from The Tempest is, of course, no accident. John Savage quotes this line ironically when he sees the modern civilization for what it really is.
• The drug soma comes from Thomas Moore's Utopia
• There's a coffeehouse in Bloomington, Indiana called Soma, which used to carry t-shirts with bearing a quotation of the passage in which Huxley first describes the drug Soma. When I was living in Bloomington, it was my favorite place to go for a ``half-holiday''.
• Brave New World was published in 1932; in 1958 Huxley published Brave New World Revisited, a collection of essays (or one long essay broken into chapters, if you prefer) in which he examines the extent to which his predictions in BNW have come true in the real world and their prospects for coming about in the future.

Iron Maiden (Columbia Records, 2000-05-30

Steve Harris (bass, keyboards)
Dave Murray (guitars)
Adrian Smith (guitars)
Bruce Dickinson (vocals)
Nicko McBrain (drums)
Janick Gers (guitars)

1. The Wicker Man (Smith/Harris/Dickinson)
2. Ghost Of The Navigator (Gers/Dickinson/Harris)
3. Brave New World (Murray/Harris/Dickinson)
4. Blood Brothers (Harris)
5. The Mercenary (Gers/Harris)
6. Dream Of Mirrors (Gers/Harris)
7. The Fallen Angel (Smith/Harris)
8. The Nomad (Murray/Harris)
9. Out Of The Silent Planet (Gers/Dickinson/Harris)
10. The Thin Line Between Love And Hate (Murray/Harris)

"My name is Apatrix and I'm an old-school headbanger. I'm so ancient I remember Savatage and life before Sepultura. Shit, I remember when people slow danced to Scorpions music. Help me!"

The critique

The year was 1991. After the success of Seventh Son and the departure of Adrian Smith, Iron Maiden released Fear of the Dark. It was the dregs. In fact, it sucked so badly that I and many others wrote the band off and they did little to prove me wrong in the next couple of albums. And then, nine years later, they returned with their twelfth studio album, Brave New World. And, while musically there's little truly new about it, it was a shocking revelation.

Frankly, I didn't even listen to it until over a year after its release. As Dickinson put it, "sad, old fuckers getting back together to go and make a few bucks" was what I thought. Then It fell into my hands and lo and behold! Twelve years after their last masterpiece, Maiden were at it again. The "classic" line-up of their glory days plus Janick Gers present what may well be the swan song of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (honestly, I'll be amazed if they can repeat it). I don't think there's been such a musical comeback since Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers in 1984, another album that closed an era the same band had opened.

Am I raving? Mm, I think I am. Let's disregard the accusations of rehashing their heyday's best work. If this is what recycled riffs can do, I say bring 'em on. This is what the public wanted, this is what the band gave them. This is vintage Maiden and those who spent a dozen years listening to their old stuff can rejoice. Sound-wise and in terms of compositions I'd place it closest to Somewhere In Time which I didn't really like but this one has much more history to fall back on.

On a musical level the shadows of the past are deep and the band combine elements from all their previous albums, not only the classics. It's as though they had to do it to prove again that they can stand among the very few great bands that made up a brilliant whole out of units quite remarkable in their own right. It's not totally lacking in originality. They explore and make the best of the rich potential of three first-class guitars in the line-up and neither Dickinson nor Harris are afraid of innovation. The reappearance of Smith and Dickinson as songwriters definitely boosts the album's quality too.

Eddie Lives! (and of course Derek Riggs is there to make sure he does)

The band

Bruce Dickinson makes a surprising comeback from written-off rocker hell. His vocals don't dominate like they used to but are still powerful, moreso than in his solo work, and blend in with the music better than they used to. His technique has improved noticably.

Steve Harris is God. End of story. He led this band from dank little clubs in England to stadia all over the world, filled them and followed them into decline, only to lead them back in style. His compositions are richer and more classical, he has reached maturity as a lyricist and his playing is, needless to say, the performance of a virtuoso of the rarest kind.

Gers, Smith and Murray are a guitar trio to be feared. It's been over ten years since the world last saw such a guitar... umm, onslaught, as we'd put it "back when." Those three have brought old school guitar metal back from the grave and made it look larger than life. They shine together and individually as befits masters of their chosen art. The guitar tracks on this album are undeniably some of the best ever played in a genre that prides itself on guitarwork and, in my opinion, the highlight of the album as a whole.

Nicko McBrain, as always, is a pillar of drumming strength. He once again justifies his name as one of the best rock drummers alive (or dead, as a matter of fact), right next to the likes of Ian Paice and Nick Mason. For the first time a producer has taken proper notice of his demonic single bass pedal and worked to showcase it, making this the best McBrain Experience since Piece of Mind, and probably even better.

Track by track

The Wicker Man starts with an intro that immediately throws you back to Killers and songs like Charlotte the Harlot. This impression soon fades as a much more modern sound takes over and the guitars start showing who's boss on this album with a quality and coherency comparable to the Phantom of the Opera performance on Live After Death. Smith delivers a solo unlike any I've heard before in a Maiden song. This song bears all the marks of another Maiden anthem and live staple. Its chorus is eminently sing-along-able--you can practically hear a throng of 20,000 headbangers in a stadium shouting "your time will come."

Nothing you can contemplate will ever be the same
Every second is a new spark, sets the universe aflame

While the theme of Ghost of the Navigator is very much reminiscent of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and its lyrics, I find it closer to Powerslave. Some prog elements sneak in but the riffs and changes are true Maiden and the intro is a very nicely done acoustic bit. Dickinson's vocals stand out on this track and display a versatility we're not accustomed to.

Where I go I do not know, I only know the place I've been
Dreams they come and go, ever shall be so
Nothing's real until you feel

Who'da thunk it that dying swans and mother love would make it into an Iron Maiden album. The lyrics to Brave New World are so totally gothic it's hard to believe. This is more comparable to their recent albums though Bayley could not have delivered it like Dickinson who steals the show here too before Gers' almost plaintive guitar and Murray's epic style steal it back.

"Dying swans, twisted wings, you know, the agony, the death. Brave New World doesn't want to see that. It has no use for either the life or the death. All it has use for is the image..." --B.D.

Blood Brothers is the obligatory "long story" that has to be on every album. I think its style is much like that of Infinite Dreams, one of my favourites. This song belongs to Harris and his crunching basslines add to what's a clearly classical-influenced composition. It's one of those works that reminds you how closely heavy metal is related to classical music. Sad but uplifting music in 3/4 time.

The Mercenary is simply good old blood and guts metal like The Trooper or Sun and Steel. Indeed it would not have been out of place on Piece of Mind. For some reason I keep expecting to hear Rory Gallagher's voice when it begins...

Dream of Mirrors is thematologically closer to Infinite Dreams and resembles it quite a bit. The chorus in this song is one of the best they've ever written and highly catchy. It slowly develops from atmospheric piece into the full-blown epic speed metal that lesser bands have been trying to copy for the last twenty years and fades out again like it started. Particularly impressive is McBrain's footwork in the last third of the track where he matches Harris note for note after accompanying the rest of the song with a light, subtle touch.

I only dream in black and white, I only dream cause I'm alive.
I only dream in black and white, to save me from myself

The Fallen Angel is another old-style, speedy Maiden track in which you recognize the band that created The Number of the Beast. Eschatology, the unclean and the fate of the divine are some of their favourite themes and this Powerslave-like piece shows it best. Genuine Maiden all the way with the rhythm section leading the way and the guitars and vocals fighting back.

The Nomad starts out by painting a desert picture with an Arabic rhythm, led by McBrain and followed by Murray with a recurring theme. I find it most comparable to To Tame a Land (apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so) with touches of Rime of the Ancient Mariner if you need another reference, though its unusual motives do set it apart. I don't think it's all about Bedouins... more likely Harris had a historical figure in mind but who that was gets lost. I think this is the only song in which Dickinson isn't quite up to the job but then I can't think of anyone who would be. I'd like to hear Ronnie James Dio try it though. All said, it's a superb piece of symphonic metal.

Out of the Silent Planet is described by Dickinson as being in the vein of Run to the Hills. It paints the same bleak picture that 2 Minutes to Midnight does. Once again the end of the world is nigh with this eschatological gem of alien invasion, death and destruction.

Withered hands, withered bodies begging for salvation
Deserted by the hand of gods of their own creation
Nations cry underneath decaying skies above
You are guilty, the punishment is death for all who live

The Thin Line Between Love And Hate is, again, about life and death, karma and retribution, another one of Harris's pet subjects. Think The Evil That Men Do theme-wise, though the music is more akin to T-Rex or Judas Priest's flavour of hard rock (or UFO, as Dickinson rightly claims). The props for this song must be evenly divided between Murray's softly distorted guitar and McBrain's masterful, trance-like inverted beat. Never mind the voices at the end of the track, they're only in your head.

I will hope, my soul will fly, so I will live forever
Heart will die, my soul will fly, and I will live forever

Should I buy it?

Beyond doubt, the answer is yes. It only charted at #7 (UK) but that, as we all know, is no criterion by which to judge a work these days. I was long of the opinion that Maiden had four "classic" albums, now I say they have five. I didn't think I'd be saying this again, but well... 'kin hell! Up the Irons.

On an other note, unrelated to the album and after reading significance x's writeup below, and seeing that much thought and effort is devoted to comparisons and declarations of one's superiority over the other, I have one thing to point out as regards the comparison between George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's work, and disregarding the fact that both are severely flawed as regards literary technique but nonetheless acknowledging that they were both revolutionary in the concepts they present:

1984 is "more scary" because it's dystopian and paints pictures of oppression, even though some of its key elements are contrived to the extent of exaggeration. The Brave New World of Huxley is more palatable. The net effect may be the same--an ordered society with an official dislike of individuality and a stricter set of behavioural standards than we're used to--but Big Brother (key: impersonal instrument of the System) is perceived as being much more unpleasant by the standards we've been brought up with than the benevolent Mustapha Mond (key: willing servant of the System). All other scenaria excluded and assuming one considers both to be equally undesirable, your choice is between being stabbed and being stabbed in the back with a smile. Which one is scarier depends on one's very personal perception.

While the reality of 1984 may have been a more tangible possibility before the end of the cold war and in the light of numerous regimes that employed (or would like to have employed) its methodology, Brave New World approaches contemporary reality more closely in a "western" republic where ideas and perceptions are imposed by means of manipulation and technology (being fundamental to both) is presented as purely benign when it can just as easily be used for the same purposes as Orwell's.

What you might want to think of as "scary" is that reality in an information-driven technological society is closer to a combination of the fundamental ideas behind the two works. The ideas that Huxley presents can be used to promote Orwellian scenaria and vice versa. The dichotomy between Brave New World and 1984 is false.

In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley presents us with a future in which humans are engineered to fulfill a given role in society, conditioned to be satisfied and happy in this role, and provided with euphorics to ensure their happiness is reinforced. The society is run by World Controllers and has the motto "Community, Identity, Stability"

Children are created in vitro, and endowed with characteristics to fit them to a caste: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon. The Alphas are the leaders and thinkers, the Epsilons the work-drones. At the top, Alphas and Betas are raised from single eggs and are unique individuals, at the bottom the eggs are divided to create multiples -- the lower the caste, the greater numbers of infants produced from each egg.

They are raised in nurseries where they are taught to celebrate their position in the society, listing its advantages, and the disadvantages of the other strata, in a mantra. There is no movement between social groups and no unrest. A daily ration of the drug soma provides a feeling of ecstasy to emphasise the desirability of people's lives.

It is clear that the planners and implementers of this future have worked with the best of intentions to create a Utopia -- but it is presented in such a way that we, the readers, are clearly expected to view it instead as a dystopia. The characters are, superficially, happy, satisfied and serene, but we are encouraged to see the shallowness, artificiality and sensationalism of their lives.

Sex is encouraged, open and without jealousy, but it is also without any depth of emotion. Love-making is no more than a transaction between a couple or group for mutual pleasure, and monogamy is positively frowned on. Individuals recommend sexual partners to each other on the basis of their performance -- how "pneumatic" they are.

Families no longer exist, and hence there are no family enmities or feuds, but the society is also without any real care or nurturing -- people don't grow, they are simply moulded.

Religion based on the idea of a higher power has been replaced by a worship of consumerism and consumption, with society itself being the higher power. This power is represented in the person of Mustapha Mond, an iconic, and initially mysterious figure.

The story primarily takes place in London, and the first lead character we meet is Bernard Marx, an undersized Alpha who is believed to have accidentally received a dose of alcohol as a foetus -- something that is done to lower caste foetuses to limit their growth. He is "different", alienated and not well liked. He also has a crush on Lenina Crowne, and has invited her to go with him to visit the Savage Reservations (an area where current societal conditions are still maintained, although with fewer facilities than in the current developed world). Lenina has been seeing another man, Henry Foster, for several months, but since monogamous relationships are strongly discouraged, she has agreed to go along with Bernard, who she quite likes.

Bernard needs permission to enter the Reservations. As he is getting this from his Director, Tomakin, the Director reminisces about a trip he made to the reservation 25 years earlier with a woman. She got lost in a storm and had to be left behind. Perhaps realizing that this story reveals too much about him, Tomakin becomes defensive, and yells at Bernard, chasing him away.

Bernard goes from here to visit his closest friend Helmholz Watson, an intellectually superior Alpha who is as disaffected as Bernard with society -- he is unchallenged by his job as a writer of inspiring slogans, and yearns to turn his talent to something worthwhile, but can't find what. These two men are opposite sides of the same coin, one excluded by perceived inferiority, and one by actual superiority from full participation in their society, and joined together by their exclusion.

In a call to Helmholz, as he leaves for the reservation, Bernard learns that Tomakin plans to transfer him to Iceland, for antisocial behaviour.

Then he gets lucky -- or so it seems. In the reservation, he meets John Savage, the son of the woman Tomakin left behind and Tomakin himself. This is bound to cause a huge scandal in a society that considers live birth disgusting and corrupt. John is good-looking, intelligent and consumed with curiosity about the Utopia he has heard so much about from his mother, and, potentially, he is Bernard's escape from Iceland.

Bernard brings both John and his mother Linda back to London with him. When Tomakin berates Bernard in public, and tells him that he is to be transferred, Bernard presents the pair to the Director, who is therefore forced to