Background
The album title came about in the early part of the recording. According to producer Nigel Green:
"We all felt that the way things were progressing - the songs, Blaze's new involvement, the sound, the commitment - the new album really would have that extra quality, that bit of magic, that 'X Factor'. This became the working title for the album and we liked it, so we kept it. It is also very apt as this is our tenth studio album and "X" can bring up many images."
The X Factor's cover art depicts Eddie undergoing another lobotomy and was created by Hugh Syme. Due to the cover's "lifelike" style, the band were forced to release the album in a reversible sleeve, including a less graphic alternative, showing Eddie from a distance.
This album is also unusual for the band in that it produced several band compositions that did not make it onto the album, with Steve Harris commenting, "We actually ended up doing 14 songs and we used eleven, which is very unusual for us." All three songs, "I Live My Way", "Justice of The Peace" and "Judgement Day," were released as B-sides, while the last two would also feature on the Best of the 'B' Sides collection.
Supporting the album was the X Factour tour. Much like the tour for their following album, Virtual XI, several dates in the United States were cancelled as Bayley suffered from occasional vocal issues from the band's heavy concert schedule.
Read more about this topic: The X Factor (album)
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