Metal Hammer recently caught up with Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, who picked the 10 songs that best tell his story - from his two separate stints in Maiden (1980 - 1989 and 1999 - present) to solo projects, guest appearances and collaborations. Following is an excerpt from the rundown.

Iron Maiden – Stranger In A Strange Land (Somewhere In Time, 1986)

Smith: "Jumping right forward to Somewhere In Time and one of the last songs I wrote for the band before my departure, 'Stranger In A Strange Land'. We were recording at Wisseloord Studios, which is in Holland about an hour outside Amsterdam. I actually lived in Amsterdam for about two months which was… interesting. It wasn’t in the nice part of town, but we had fun! I really liked that album and had a lot of fun recording it."

Michael Kiske – The Calling (Instant Clarity, 1996)

Smith: "After I left Maiden I ended up doing a couple of solo albums, as well as some work with a guy called Michael Kiske, of the band Helloween. He’s a great guy and was in the same position as me, he had left a big band and was looking to do a solo album. We shared management and they suggested we get together because he was looking for songs for his first solo album. I went out to Hamburg – or near it, at least – and stayed with him a couple of times, which was funny because I’d never actually met him so just turned up on the doorstep with my guitar! 

We got on really well and wrote a couple of cracking songs, one of which is called 'The Calling'. He was a bit eccentric though and had rented this dilapidated house in northern Germany which had all the recording gear in but no heating. It was bloody freezing. The room I slept in, we blocked up with cardboard to stop the draft. It was good fun though and he kept trying to get me to write a song like '2 Minutes To Midnight' or 'Total Eclipse', a B-side from 'The Number Of The Beast'."

Read the complete rundown here.