"The Angel and the Gambler" is a single from the Iron Maiden album Virtual XI, released in 1998. It preceded the release of Virtual XI by two weeks.
Synopsis It is the first Iron Maiden single to feature a video as a B-side. The single includes two audio tracks recorded live at Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1995 on The X Factour, their tour in support of The X Factor.
The band also released a music video, which featured a shortened version of the song. The video features an entirely computer-generated world filled with aliens of varying appearance.
The single was released in four parts: CD part 1 contains a poster, with the "Virtual XI Fixture List 1998" on one side and the band posing in Maiden football gear with some of their favourite players on the other side. CD part 2 contains three double-sided cards with the musicians posing in Maiden football gear and also has a shortened version of "The Angel and the Gambler". The third was a 7-inch picture disc and the fourth was a CD maxi-single with both B-side live tracks on it. The picture disc and maxi-single both had the edited version of the title track.
B-sides The 7-inch picture disc had "Blood On The Worlds Hands" live; CD 1 had "Blood On The Worlds Hands" also and "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" video; CD 2 had "The Aftermath" live and "Man on the Edge" video; the maxi-single had both live B-sides but only "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" video.
Track listing 7-inch picture disc
"The Angel and the Gambler" (edited version) (Steve Harris) - 6:05 "Blood on the World's Hands (live - Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 November 1995)" (Harris) - 6:07
CD part 1
"The Angel and the Gambler" (full album version) (Harris) – 9:56 "Blood on the World's Hands" (live - Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 November 1995) (Harris) - 6:05 "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" (live video) (Harris)
CD part 2
"The Angel and the Gambler" (edited version) (Harris) – 6:05 "The Aftermath" (live - Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 November 1995) (Harris, Blaze Bayley, Janick Gers) – 6:45 "Man on the Edge" (live video) (Bayley, Gers) – 4:12
CD Maxi-Single
"The Angel and the Gambler" (edited version) (Harris) – 6:05 "Blood on the World's Hands" (live - Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 November 1995) (Harris) - 6:05 "The Aftermath" (live - Kåren, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 November 1995) (Harris, Bayley, Gers) – 6:45 "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" (live video) (Harris)
Personnel Production credits are adapted from the CD Single cover. Iron Maiden Blaze Bayley – vocals Dave Murray – guitar Janick Gers – guitar Steve Harris – bass guitar, keyboards, producer, mixing Nicko McBrain – drums Production Nigel Green – mixing ("The Angel and the Gambler") Synthetic Dimensions – sleeve illustration Hugh Gilmour – layout
Charts +Weekly chart performance for "The Angel and the Gambler"Chart (1998)PeakpositionEurope (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)35Italy (FIMI) With "Ricerca per" set on "Titolo", search "The Angel and the Gambler" and then click "Classifiche". 3Netherlands (Dutch Tipparade 40) 2Spain (AFYVE) 5
References