The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[PowerSlave]

So I inherited some iTunes gift cards that my kids weren't using and I just ordered the mp3 albums of Paul Dianno's Battlezone's Fighting Back and Children Of Madness.

This was way too long coming. I had these back in the 80's and played the shit out of them.

I remember a video for one of the songs, but that's the only thing that I heard from the project. I really can't remember much about it other than PD trying to make out with some chick on a sofa.

[TAC]

So in order to stay ahead of Mosh's thread a little, I spent time today with Seventh Son, No Prayer, and Fear Of The Dark.


I just want to say that Fear Of The Dark is an awesome album. I may have some controversial comments when we get to this album.

[Mosh]

FOTD is by far my least favorite Maiden.

Anyone keeping up with the new vinyl reissues? I've picked them all up so far and they've done a good job with them so far. Fear Of the Dark sounds so much better than the thin sounding original CD. Dance Of Death is also actually listenable.

[TAC]

FOTD is by far my least favorite Maiden.

Hmmm... well the discussion is a few weeks away. I'll start on my FOTD post well beforehand. Just getting my feet wet today. Lots to chew on with this album though. I feel like it gets a huge bum rap. I mean, there ARE reasons for it, but personally, I thought it was excellent.



I actually have no interest in vinyl reissues. I've bought their catalog at least twice over at this point.

[PowerSlave]

There's a four album run starting after 7th son that I almost completely ignore. FotD is the only one of them that I ever care to listen to at all, and that's not very often. However, I'll be interested in hearing other people's thoughts on those albums when the time comes, and I will probably give them all a listen for the sake of being fresh in my mind for the discussion.

[soupytwist]

FOTD is by far my least favorite Maiden.

Yeah I'd go along with that.  I actually like No Prayer quite a bit.  The X Factor is listenable.   But Fear and Virtual XI aside from a couple of tracks are poor albums in my opinion - I can't listen to either without a lot of skipping.

[Logain Ablar]

There's a four album run starting after 7th son that I almost completely ignore. FotD is the only one of them that I ever care to listen to at all, and that's not very often.

Pretty much the same here. I'll listen to Judas Be My Guide, FotD, The Clansman and Sign of the Cross occasionally from those albums, and nothing really from No Prayer.

[Cyclopssss]

I think FOTD was the last of the great albums, although it did suffer greatly of overstuffing and too much filler tracks. The real decline set in with NPFTD for me, although there were some good to great songs on there. The writing was definetely on the wall there, though.

[Grappler]

I just want to say that Fear Of The Dark is an awesome album. I may have some controversial comments when we get to this album.

I love that album too.  I'll save my comments for that thread, but it was my introduction to Maiden, and I recently rediscovered it over the past few years and absolutely love some of the lesser-known songs on it.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I thought No Prayer was good, but the production was awful. FOTD sounds better, but it looks like they knew Bruce was leaving and tried to squeeze everything in it - some of the songs do not belong in a Maiden album, such as The Apparition and Weekend Warrior.

[MirrorMask]

Nah, he decided to leave after the first half of the tour, he's on record (unless I remember very wrongly) stating that at the beginning of the Fear of the Dark album cycle he was still into it.

[El Barto]

Just watched that now and holy shit thats awesome.  This guy should just tour with them and do this outside, look at the tips he is getting. I'd throw some cash in as well, that's great. 

The smart move is just to learn 3 songs from every band that plays the AAC and show up at every concert. He was at the train station, so he could just ride down there, play for 45 minutes and head home. I doubt it took him long at all to figure out how to play Trooper the way he did.

[cramx3]

Just watched that now and holy shit thats awesome.  This guy should just tour with them and do this outside, look at the tips he is getting. I'd throw some cash in as well, that's great. 

The smart move is just to learn 3 songs from every band that plays the AAC and show up at every concert. He was at the train station, so he could just ride down there, play for 45 minutes and head home. I doubt it took him long at all to figure out how to play Trooper the way he did.

Yea I made the same comment on the youtube video and someone said that he likely is doing just as you suggested.  Which makes even more sense.  Beats the typical fake t-shirt seller and expensive water/pretzel sellers who are looking for an extra buck when walking out of a concert.

[RodrigoAltaf]

Nah, he decided to leave after the first half of the tour, he's on record (unless I remember very wrongly) stating that at the beginning of the Fear of the Dark album cycle he was still into it.

That makes those songs even worse then. I guess the band missed Adrian more than they knew they would, because composition wise it all went downhill quickly when he left. Virtual XI is a horrible joke, and all songs started to sound the same by then.

[Mladen]

There a lot of people who think the band was revitalized in terms of songwriting once Blaze rolled in. The X Factor is very ambitious, creative and impressive when it comes to melodies, song structures, lyrical content and the overall theme.

[Art]

I really like NPFTD, FOTD is also fun. But yeah, they are "lesser" albums. X-Factor is amazing, he only thong that hurts it is the production. Virtual XI is weaker, but i still like most of it. 

[PowerSlave]

The X Factor is very ambitious, creative and impressive when it comes to melodies, song structures, lyrical content and the overall theme.

I don't remember much about those albums. However, something that stuck in my mind about them is that his "melody lines" always seemed to follow, and be dependent upon the guitar parts. They would be very staccato and would be counter to none of the other instruments. Much like the opening to Dream of Mirrors, or how the melody line is established by the guitar in The Red and the Black. A little bit of this is ok, but I remember it being overboard.

I do need to refresh myself on those albums, however. It's been a very long time since I've listened to them, and it's quite possible that my ability to enjoy them may have changed.

[Ben_Jamin]

Show was great. The only thing that sucked was it was pretty windy so the vocals suffered immensly, at times getting drowned out.

Also, The Devil didn't burn. It looked fine and dandy. Although Bruce talked about a guy in San Antonio whom was wanted for Kidnapping, he then said that guy is a 'bloody idiot' for going on Social Media and saying " Hey guess where I am."

Also amazing how people came from Australia/New Zealand, Sweden, Mexico.

[cramx3]

Nice 

Also, it is amazing how far people will travel for IM.  While standing in line to get in, I heard many different languages.

[jammindude]

There a lot of people who think the band was revitalized in terms of songwriting once Blaze rolled in. The X Factor is very ambitious, creative and impressive when it comes to melodies, song structures, lyrical content and the overall theme.

All of this.

I've been spinning TXF lately, and I'm continually blown away by how great it is.   Seriously....that is one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums.  And Blaze is *really* good on it, because the material was written for him.   It's hard for me to hear Bruce doing it, because while he certainly sings it really well, he doesn't have as much conviction singing things like Sign of the Cross as Blaze did.   It just makes the abysmal VXI seem even more boneheaded by comparison. 

Can't wait til we talk about TXF in the discography thread.  That album is proof that it wasn't Blaze's fault....he brought it.   Although I admit that he probably should not have taken the job in the first place.  Simply because he was never going to be capable of singing Bruce's stuff live.   (although his version of Afraid to Shoot Strangers kicks all kinds of ass)

[TAC]

Can't wait til we talk about TXF in the discography thread.   

I think the whole period from No Prayer through VXI should render some very interesting discussion.

[cramx3]

I personally think Blaze sounds terrible on TXF, but not his fault.  I think he sounds great on his own albums, I just think the album has bad production and Blaze ended up being getting the brunt of that bad production.  Musically I think TXF is fantastic.

Also, Bruce's version of Lord of the FLies is not as good as Blaze's.  Otherwise, I enjoy Bruce's versions of the few songs he performed of the Blaze material better than Blazes.

[El Barto]

Show was great. The only thing that sucked was it was pretty windy so the vocals suffered immensly, at times getting drowned out.

Also, The Devil didn't burn. It looked fine and dandy. Although Bruce talked about a guy in San Antonio whom was wanted for Kidnapping, he then said that guy is a 'bloody idiot' for going on Social Media and saying " Hey guess where I am."

Also amazing how people came from Australia/New Zealand, Sweden, Mexico.

When I watched a video from a second angle it was pretty obvious the devil made it out safely. From my angle it looked very different. Nicko made it somewhat clear something was still burning back there, though.

There were a few foreign flags in Dallas, most likely the same folk. Before Blood Brothers they all came out and Bruce rattled off five or six countries. Hell, if I were a Swede looking to spend 2 weeks exploring America, following Maiden around would be a pretty good way to experience it. I reckon that's what they were doing.

[MirrorMask]

Well, now that I think of it, if you're touring the USA and you're undecided on where to go, with so many countries to choose from, you may as well let Maiden dictate the trip for you 

[cramx3]

Well we know Barto has done that himself, and I've considered doing that too, but just hasn't worked out.  Maybe their final tour I make a trip out of it, hoping to catch them in England one day.

[El Barto]

Well we know Barto has done that himself, and I've considered doing that too, but just hasn't worked out.  Maybe their final tour I make a trip out of it, hoping to catch them in England one day.

I kind of take the opposite approach. More often than not I decide where I want to go and then work it so a good band or two will be playing. I've never actually followed a band around, outside of the Houston-Austin-Dallas thing. Nowadays I'm more likely to just head some place to catch one show and spend the rest of my time exploring.

[Stadler]

Disappointed no one mentioned my "Mission From 'Arry" reference. 

[TAC]

Disappointed no one mentioned my "Mission From 'Arry" reference. 

Well, fuck my old boots.

 

[TAC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZSDaIqUCo

I love how almost right off the bat, Adrian mentions Michael Schenker and Gary Moore. They ARE my two favorite guitarists.

[PowerSlave]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZSDaIqUCo

I love how almost right off the bat, Adrian mentions Michael Schenker and Gary Moore. They ARE my two favorite guitarists.

I like how his two sample riffs are one that he "borrowed" 

It was great to hear him mention MS, though. Not enough people know about the master.

[TAC]

No, unfortunately they don't. Kind of blame Schenker for that. Up until the last few years, he's kind of been hard to find, plus he's had so many mediocre album. But I love him, and my music world wouldn't be what it is without him.

[TAC]

This just came up in my YouTube feed.

It's Afraid To Shoot Strangers from Montreal 2012. It's an amazing performance, particularly by Bruce who is quite animated during the verse. He is very engaged with the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p9J0sB3-bE

[TAC]

The Red And The Black from San Bernadino yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4tFjeR7oJo

Adrian, apparently having sound issues, walks off the stage at the 8:15 mark.
Just want to say that Jannick f'n rules this instrumental part. And I will talk a lot about this in Mosh's thread when he gets to the No Prayer tour, but the amount of personal chemistry between Dave and Jannick is on clear display in this clip.

[Mladen]

Not only Adrian had problems, Bruce also forgot his cue at the end. What is happening? 

[wolfking]

The final stages of the Iron Maiden Survivior are underway and will be updated daily.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=50453.0