Author Topic: The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls  (Read 557504 times)

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Offline wolfking

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #525 on: July 13, 2015, 09:18:37 PM »
I'm with both of you.  I really have come to love TFF, but it is rushed and sloppy in terms of the recording.  I hope they did make a more 'studio' sounding album, than a 'live' sounding album, but I'm not confident.

This quote doesn't make me feel too confident in that either, but one never knows:

"A lot of the songs were actually written while we were there in the studio and we rehearsed and recorded them straight away while they were still fresh, and I think that immediacy really shows in the songs, they have almost a live feel to them, I think."

https://www.metalsucks.net/2015/06/18/new-iron-maiden-album-the-book-of-souls-is-on-the-way-cover-artwork-posted/

Yep, that's the quote that had me worried too.

Yea I honestly expect a more of a AMoLaD/TFF feel to the album in terms of sound at least.  I think thats a good bet given the little details and we know its the same cast.

I don't mind if it sounds like AMOLAD, it's no where near as sloppy as TFF and the production is a lot clearer.
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Offline 425

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #526 on: July 13, 2015, 10:15:41 PM »
I always thought this might have been the case.  'Arry sure is a stubbon prick sometimes.  We can hardly blame Blaze for some of the live performances then.  On some old songs he sounds alright, so just a half step down would have made a world of difference.

I always thought that Blaze was very close to pulling off a lot of the older songs, and that he could sing a lot of them very well if they were brought down into his best range. His rendition of The Clairvoyant (just search "the clairvoyant blaze bayley" on YouTube) has a lot of potential and is pretty powerful at moments (the second verse). If only that song would have been tuned down and played a bit slower, he would have sounded really good.

Edit: I'm watching his Hallowed Be Thy Name right now, and it's pretty good, too. Especially on the intro. But some parts of it are just too high for him to reach comfortably.
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Offline wolfking

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #527 on: July 13, 2015, 11:20:48 PM »
His Hallowed is certainly not too bad IMO.  He just fucks up the end so that leaves a bad impression of the whole thing.

The Clairvoyant is indeed a good one.  i like his little changes in the melodies.  Others that weren't far off were FOTD, HCW, TETMD and Wrathchild IMO.  Oh, and ATSS.

looking at those, it seems Steve did put some thought into the song selections for Blaze.  Just that little bit lower would have been good.
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Offline jammindude

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #528 on: July 13, 2015, 11:23:12 PM »
His Hallowed is certainly not too bad IMO.  He just fucks up the end so that leaves a bad impression of the whole thing.

The Clairvoyant is indeed a good one.  i like his little changes in the melodies.  Others that weren't far off were FOTD, HCW, TETMD and Wrathchild IMO.  Oh, and ATSS.

looking at those, it seems Steve did put some thought into the song selections for Blaze.  Just that little bit lower would have been good.

ATSS with Blaze is just freakin incredible.   It's no wonder they put his version on BotB...it might be even an improvement over the studio version with Bruce. 
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Offline 425

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #529 on: July 13, 2015, 11:35:53 PM »
I'd almost forgotten his Afraid to Shoot Strangers! That's probably his best pre-TXF song. His performance on the official music video is every bit as good as Bruce's on the album. In fact, I think it's better than the studio version.

Most of the songs they had him do were indeed good choices for him. Wrathchild is another one of his best ones, and is an especially good choice since he's singing lines written for Di'Anno, not for Bruce (Wrathchild stands in my mind as a song that all three singers do pretty well, each putting their own twist on it). The issues that were there in those performances of older songs could basically have been resolved by playing the songs lower.
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Offline wolfking

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #530 on: July 13, 2015, 11:45:08 PM »
I always thought fans were so pig headed and gave Blaze shit undeservingly.
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Offline Lowdz

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #531 on: July 14, 2015, 02:42:04 AM »
I'm with both of you.  I really have come to love TFF, but it is rushed and sloppy in terms of the recording.  I hope they did make a more 'studio' sounding album, than a 'live' sounding album, but I'm not confident.

This quote doesn't make me feel too confident in that either, but one never knows:

"A lot of the songs were actually written while we were there in the studio and we rehearsed and recorded them straight away while they were still fresh, and I think that immediacy really shows in the songs, they have almost a live feel to them, I think."

https://www.metalsucks.net/2015/06/18/new-iron-maiden-album-the-book-of-souls-is-on-the-way-cover-artwork-posted/

Yep, that's the quote that had me worried too.

Yea I honestly expect a more of a AMoLaD/TFF feel to the album in terms of sound at least.  I think thats a good bet given the little details and we know its the same cast.

I don't mind if it sounds like AMOLAD, it's no where near as sloppy as TFF and the production is a lot clearer.

AMOLAD is better but the guitars sound so "dull". Compare it to Killers or TNOTB and it sounds flat and lifeless. To me anyway.
AMOLAD is their best since Powerslave for me.

Offline wolfking

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #532 on: July 14, 2015, 06:43:38 AM »
They went for a real stripped back and unprocessed album with that one, and while it's a big improvement on DOD, the guitars simply don't have much power IMO.  It could have been a really heavy album with some beefier production.
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Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #533 on: July 14, 2015, 07:15:18 AM »
His rendition of The Clairvoyant (just search "the clairvoyant blaze bayley" on YouTube) has a lot of potential and is pretty powerful at moments (the second verse). If only that song would have been tuned down and played a bit slower, he would have sounded really good.

Blaze's Clairvoyant in Chile '96...ehhhhh.   He was singing the last lines of the verses sharp!

Offline Riitasointi

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #534 on: July 14, 2015, 08:05:45 AM »
They went for a real stripped back and unprocessed album with that one, and while it's a big improvement on DOD, the guitars simply don't have much power IMO.  It could have been a really heavy album with some beefier production.
AMOLAD guitars lack power? I think the sound on that album has the most punch of all the records they made since Bruce's return. The drums sound good on that one too.

Talking about Bruce, I gotta bring up The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg. I think the vocal lines on that song is something they should do more nowadays. Man, listen to that delivery by Bruce! When not needing to go too high he sounds absolutely brilliant.

Offline 425

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #535 on: July 15, 2015, 07:22:58 AM »
Blaze's Clairvoyant in Chile '96...ehhhhh.   He was singing the last lines of the verses sharp!

That's in a live setting on a song out of his most comfortable range. I'm not talking about the quality of that one performance (though I like it), I'm talking about how good he could have been on that song if Steve had done more to optimize it for his voice.
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Offline bosk1

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #536 on: July 15, 2015, 07:30:15 AM »
Tuning down can be a funny thing though.  Sometimes, you barely notice, and it really helps the singer a lot.  Sometimes, it makes a song sound heavier.  But sometimes, it just sucks the life out of a song and makes it sound horrible, even if it helps the singer nail the vocal lines.  An incident that always sticks out in my mind is when I saw Tesla a few years ago.  They did not downtune on everything, but did on a few select songs, including Edison's Medicine.  While it helped Jeff Keith a lot, the songs overall just sounded horrible and had no energy whatsoever.  So as far as Harris refusing to tune down, although it very well might just be stubbornness, I have to defer to his judgment.  If he feels it takes away from the songs, I respect that. 
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Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #537 on: July 15, 2015, 07:49:01 AM »
Blaze's Clairvoyant in Chile '96...ehhhhh.   He was singing the last lines of the verses sharp!

That's in a live setting on a song out of his most comfortable range. I'm not talking about the quality of that one performance (though I like it), I'm talking about how good he could have been on that song if Steve had done more to optimize it for his voice.

Yes, I'm sorry I misread your post, I totally agree. 

Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #538 on: July 17, 2015, 06:20:33 PM »
So I picked up Killers today.

I have no clue what so ever why it took me so long to finally get around this one, but I regret it. This album is damn good. And its cool to have something a little different in the collection.

Offline PowerSlave

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #539 on: July 17, 2015, 06:45:33 PM »
Tuning down can be a funny thing though.  Sometimes, you barely notice, and it really helps the singer a lot.  Sometimes, it makes a song sound heavier.  But sometimes, it just sucks the life out of a song and makes it sound horrible, even if it helps the singer nail the vocal lines.  An incident that always sticks out in my mind is when I saw Tesla a few years ago.  They did not downtune on everything, but did on a few select songs, including Edison's Medicine.  While it helped Jeff Keith a lot, the songs overall just sounded horrible and had no energy whatsoever.  So as far as Harris refusing to tune down, although it very well might just be stubbornness, I have to defer to his judgment.  If he feels it takes away from the songs, I respect that.

Do you think that it would have been better if they had down tuned on all of the songs, possibly? My thought being that since they only did it on a few songs it made it much more noticeable?
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Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #540 on: July 18, 2015, 12:35:50 AM »
Tuning down can be a funny thing though.  Sometimes, you barely notice, and it really helps the singer a lot.  Sometimes, it makes a song sound heavier.  But sometimes, it just sucks the life out of a song and makes it sound horrible, even if it helps the singer nail the vocal lines.  An incident that always sticks out in my mind is when I saw Tesla a few years ago.  They did not downtune on everything, but did on a few select songs, including Edison's Medicine.  While it helped Jeff Keith a lot, the songs overall just sounded horrible and had no energy whatsoever.  So as far as Harris refusing to tune down, although it very well might just be stubbornness, I have to defer to his judgment.  If he feels it takes away from the songs, I respect that.

Do you think that it would have been better if they had down tuned on all of the songs, possibly? My thought being that since they only did it on a few songs it made it much more noticeable?

I think they should've done it for Blaze.  They had no problems changing keys for Lord of the Flies when Bruce was back.

Offline Lowdz

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #541 on: July 18, 2015, 07:15:08 AM »
So I picked up Killers today.

I have no clue what so ever why it took me so long to finally get around this one, but I regret it. This album is damn good. And its cool to have something a little different in the collection.

Better late than never. My favourite Maiden album by far. I do have the extra emotional attachment of it being my first though. And we always remembe rour first time  :biggrin:

Offline jjrock88

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #542 on: July 18, 2015, 10:28:30 AM »
Killers is awesome. I think I'm going to play it today

Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #543 on: July 18, 2015, 05:35:23 PM »
been listening to 22 Acacia Avenue all day today. love this song  :metal

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #544 on: July 18, 2015, 05:40:08 PM »
been listening to 22 Acacia Avenue all day today. love this song  :metal
It's a great song. Top 10 Maiden track for me.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline MrBoom_shack-a-lack

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #545 on: July 18, 2015, 06:36:31 PM »
So I picked up Killers today.

I have no clue what so ever why it took me so long to finally get around this one, but I regret it. This album is damn good. And its cool to have something a little different in the collection.
I was also late to "discover" Killers. Ides, Purgatory, Killers, Wrath, Murders and Twilight are all amazing tracks.
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Offline NotePad

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #546 on: July 19, 2015, 11:02:17 AM »
They should have done with Blaze what Priest did with Ripper. Watch that live DVD Priest did on the Demolition tour. It's all downtuned guitars and it sounds great. The older songs sound heavier and awesome.

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would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Mister Gold

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #548 on: July 21, 2015, 02:40:07 PM »
Bruce!
 :hefdaddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eem4v0pxwts

One of the greatest singers ever and probably my personal favorite. :hefdaddy
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Offline jammindude

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #549 on: July 21, 2015, 03:39:20 PM »
They should have done with Blaze what Priest did with Ripper. Watch that live DVD Priest did on the Demolition tour. It's all downtuned guitars and it sounds great. The older songs sound heavier and awesome.

It's hard to compare the two because Ripper was SOOOOOO much more talented than Blaze.   His performance on Live Meltdown is absolutely off the chart and, quite frankly, superior to what Rob is capable of nowadays.   

I understand IM's decision to part ways with Blaze (who probably just should have never been in Maiden in the first place)....but Priest parting ways with Ripper baffles me.   That guy is just crazy amazing...
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Offline jjrock88

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #550 on: July 21, 2015, 09:04:53 PM »
98 Live Meltdown is my all time favourite live album and live performance by any singer

Offline Cyclopssss

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #551 on: July 21, 2015, 11:13:35 PM »
Killers was the first Maiden album I bought. Needless to say, I was hooked for life! Cause I´m a Drifter....drifting oooohoohohoho
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Offline The Curious Orange

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #552 on: July 22, 2015, 04:04:24 AM »

I understand IM's decision to part ways with Blaze (who probably just should have never been in Maiden in the first place)....

See, I went to see Maiden with Blaze, and he was pretty flipping good. I'd been a Wolfsbane fan, and they could not have found a better singer than Blaze. I still think TXF is a pretty solid album. But the fans gave him shit for not being Bruce, and by the time of the V11 album, the band were a joke, Blaze was pissed off, the others were pissed off, and they all seemed to have ceased trying.
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« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 05:27:47 AM by MrBoom_shack-a-lack »
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Offline sneakyblueberry

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #554 on: July 22, 2015, 04:36:04 AM »
Bruce!
 :hefdaddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eem4v0pxwts
Thx for posting, that was funny to hear.  :tup

Funny or awesome?! It was awesome, it woke up parts of me I believed long dead.

Offline Zydar

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #555 on: July 22, 2015, 04:50:24 AM »
Awesome :metal
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Everyone else, except Wolfking is wrong.

Offline MrBoom_shack-a-lack

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #557 on: July 22, 2015, 05:26:07 AM »
Bruce!
 :hefdaddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eem4v0pxwts
Thx for posting, that was funny to hear.  :tup

Funny or awesome?! It was awesome, it woke up parts of me I believed long dead.
Oups I meant fun of course!  :lol
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Offline jammindude

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #558 on: July 22, 2015, 11:12:52 AM »

I understand IM's decision to part ways with Blaze (who probably just should have never been in Maiden in the first place)....

See, I went to see Maiden with Blaze, and he was pretty flipping good. I'd been a Wolfsbane fan, and they could not have found a better singer than Blaze. I still think TXF is a pretty solid album. But the fans gave him shit for not being Bruce, and by the time of the V11 album, the band were a joke, Blaze was pissed off, the others were pissed off, and they all seemed to have ceased trying.


Blaze is a fantastic singer, and I think TXF is the most underrated album in their catalog.   He was only never right for Maiden because there was NO WAY that he was ever going to be able to pull off the older stuff live from day one.   No matter how good someone is, you need to hire someone who is capable of singing the older songs.    Ripper is the perfect example.   On Live Meltdown he is as good (or better) than Rob was at that time.    Blaze was never going to be able to do that for Maiden.   If you replace Bruce, you have to have someone who can fill his shoes.   Blaze was just never going to be that guy.   He was doomed from the moment he joined. 

Perfect for his own stuff and a few of Bruce's lower songs....but
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Offline cramx3

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Re: THE El Dorado Thread (and other Iron Maiden related musings)
« Reply #559 on: July 22, 2015, 11:15:54 AM »
TXF is definitely the most underrated album, it gets way too much shit while musically actually being very good.  But agreed, Blaze just wasnt the right fit for the band overall, but he was perfect for TXF.  Regardless, I'm sure we are all happy with how that worked out since we got a better IM in the end.