Accident of Birth

Accident of Birth
Studio album by Bruce Dickinson
Released	June 3 1997
Genre	Heavy metal
Label	CMC International
Producer	Roy Z
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Bruce Dickinson chronology
Skunkworks (1996) Accident of Birth (1997) The Chemical Wedding (1998)
Alternate cover
Cover of the U.S. version

Accident Of Birth (US re-release)
Studio album by Bruce Dickinson
Released	2005

Accident of Birth is a heavy metal album released in 1997 by Bruce Dickinson.

The second album made in collaboration with the guitarist and producer Roy Z and is therefore a very different album from Bruce's previous Skunkworks album. It marks Bruce's return to his more melodic style of singing. He was also assisted by another former Iron Maiden member Adrian Smith and the two would later return to the band in early 1999. Thanks to the slightly better success of this album Bruce would work with Roy Z in the future on his solo-albums (including his latest, Tyranny of Souls).

The cover art was done by Derek Riggs, best known for being the creator of Iron Maiden's mascot Eddie and the artwork on all Iron Maiden albums/singles/posters/tour brochures 1980 - 1990 (and sporadically afterwards up until he completed his work towards 2000's Brave New World other than one additional Eddie drawing for the cover of his book 'Run for Cover'). Two versions of the albumcover exist. The regular European release had Edison (as the figure was jokingly named as "Eddie's Son") bursting out of a man's stomach. The regular cover only shows the stomach, but the poster that came with the limited edition of the album made it clear that the stomach belongs to man. This was deemed too explicit for the U.S. market, where the album was released with was a more frontal view of the puppet, which doesn't show the stomach. The 2005 re-release has an even different cover, with the puppet nailed to a cross.

Around the time he was creating the album, Bruce Dickinson's mother told him that he was the result of a "failed abortion." The album title & title track is a reference to this revelation: Bruce was a birth that shouldn't have been. It is not clear whether it was an actual botched abortion or that his mother was expressing regret at not having aborted her pregnancy.

Track listing

1. "Freak" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 4:15
2. "Toltec 7 Arrival" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 0:37
3. "Starchildren" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 4:17
4. "Taking The Queen" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 4:49
5. "Darkside of Aquarius" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 6:42
6. "Road To Hell" (Dickinson, Smith) – 3:57
7. "Man of Sorrows" (Dickinson) – 5:20
8. "Accident of Birth" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 4:23
9. "The Magician" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 3:54
10. "Welcome To The Pit" (Dickinson, Smith) – 4:43
11. "The Ghost of Cain" * (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 4:15
12. "Omega" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 6:23
13. "Arc of Space" (Dickinson, Roy Z.) – 4:18

* "The Ghost of Cain" only appears on the Japanese and American releases and is on the second disc of the 2005 re-release.

Track listing for the 2005 expanded edition (2nd CD)

1. The Ghost of Cain
2. Accident of Birth (demo)
3. Starchildren (demo)
4. Taking the Queen (demo)
5. Man of Sorrows (Radio Edit)
6. Man of Sorrows (Orchestral Version)
7. Hombre Triste (Man of Sorrows Spanish Version)
8. Darkside of Aquarius (demo)
9. Arc of Space (demo)

Personnel

Principals

• Bruce Dickinson – Vocals
• Adrian Smith – Guitar
• Roy Z – Guitar
• Eddie Casillas – Bass
• David Ingraham – Drums

Additional musicians

• Silvia Tsi – Violin ("Taking the Queen", "Man of Sorrows", "Arc of Space")
• Rebecca Yeh – Cello ("Taking the Queen", "Man of Sorrows", "Arc of Space")
• Richard Baker – Piano ("Man of Sorrows")

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