The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[devieira73]

I was there in the SCFMB show. 

Still the best show i've seen, Bruce was amazing and that band was incredible.

I was at the Rio de Janeiro show on that tour! The Bruce's band at time was killer live and in studio

[Mosh]

It's the only song from the fantastic LaD that I really don't like. FoI played faster totally killed the mood of this excellent song. Interesting that I read somewhere that Steve Harris don't like that studio version, because it's slower. So, I guess Steve and Nicko "rushed" FoI live because Steve wanted that way.

Exactly. There are several Maiden songs like this, but it is particularly a point of frustration when it's a song that Adrian wrote. Wasted Years is another good example, there are many versions out there where Adrian plays the intro at a steady/slow tempo and then it speeds up once Steve and Nicko join in.

It works out though. There is a live video out there of Adrian playing Wasted Years with a solo band and the tempo is so slow that it drags. On the other hand, Maiden were playing songs at ridiculous speeds in the early 90s (see A Real Live Dead One). They need each other to balance it out. The tempos they use now is one reason why the current lineup is so immense live. They don't play too fast anymore, but they push the tempo just enough to give the songs a nice energy.

[TAC]

I feel like the perfect FOI version is in the middle of the POM version and the LAD version.

[Mosh]

It sounded good in 83 and 84, just Bruce wasn't as good live as he was in the late 90s/early 00s.

[TAC]

Mosh, I assume you're the same Mosh on Maidenfans. If you don't mind, how old are you and where are you in the world?

[LudwigVan]

Mosh, I assume you're the same Mosh on Maidenfans. If you don't mind, how old are you and where are you in the world?

  Dude you are one nosy mofo! 

[Mosh]

  I'm 20 and from Denver, CO. My dad took me to see them in 2003 and they've been my favorite band ever since. Wasn't around for the 80s but I've heard all of the live albums and a bunch of bootlegs.

[TAC]

Mosh, I assume you're the same Mosh on Maidenfans. If you don't mind, how old are you and where are you in the world?

  Dude you are one nosy mofo! 

Butt out, bro!


I ask mainly so I can understand their perspective.

I'm 20 and from Denver, CO. My dad took me to see them in 2003 and they've been my favorite band ever since. Wasn't around for the 80s but I've heard all of the live albums and a bunch of bootlegs.

Cool. I love the fact that they have made such an impression on today's kids. BTW, the TACs were in Denver last summer.

It sounded good in 83 and 84, 

Good call. I have a bunch of boots on my iPod. I checked Chicago and Ipswich '83 as well as Ipswich and London '84 and FOI has a great pace. But in Copenhagen, just a few weeks after London, it feels sped up.

[cramx3]

I'm 20 and from Denver, CO. My dad took me to see them in 2003 and they've been my favorite band ever since. Wasn't around for the 80s but I've heard all of the live albums and a bunch of bootlegs.

Cool. I love the fact that they have made such an impression on today's kids. BTW, the TACs were in Denver last summer.

It sounded good in 83 and 84, 

Good call. I have a bunch of boots on my iPod. I checked Chicago and Ipswich '83 as well as Ipswich and London '84 and FOI has a great pace. But in Copenhagen, just a few weeks after London, it feels sped up.

Love Denver, also I have that Ipswich 83 boot as well 

[TAC]

Love Denver, 

I did too.

[Phoenix87x]

Denver is very close to one of my favorite places I have ever been in my life, breckenridge 

[Mosh]

Nice to see some Denver love, it's a great place to live.

Ipswich is a good one. Not only is it a great performance, but it was before the album came out so those songs are new to most of the audience. Hearing The Trooper before it became a live staple is something unique. I always thought it would've been daring if they did that with TFF in 2010, play 5 or 6 songs from the album before it comes out. That was a great setlist anyway.

It is also a shame we have never gotten a proper release of a show from the POM tour. There's Dortmund 83 but it's incomplete and, ironically, missing the rarer songs from POM (Still Life, To Tame a Land, etc).

[sneakyblueberry]

It's the only song from the fantastic LaD that I really don't like. FoI played faster totally killed the mood of this excellent song. Interesting that I read somewhere that Steve Harris don't like that studio version, because it's slower. So, I guess Steve and Nicko "rushed" FoI live because Steve wanted that way.

Exactly. There are several Maiden songs like this, but it is particularly a point of frustration when it's a song that Adrian wrote. Wasted Years is another good example, there are many versions out there where Adrian plays the intro at a steady/slow tempo and then it speeds up once Steve and Nicko join in.

It works out though. There is a live video out there of Adrian playing Wasted Years with a solo band and the tempo is so slow that it drags. On the other hand, Maiden were playing songs at ridiculous speeds in the early 90s (see A Real Live Dead One). They need each other to balance it out. The tempos they use now is one reason why the current lineup is so immense live. They don't play too fast anymore, but they push the tempo just enough to give the songs a nice energy.

I think it's just a casualty of touring, songs get sped up and no-one realises.  I also think tempos are more controlled now because Nicko has trouble playing things too fast - I remember him saying that Phantom of the Opera had to be played a bit slower because he had trouble keeping up with the original tempo. You can definitely tell on that one, and I think it works well.

[Mosh]

It's definitely natural for songs to speed up as the tour goes on, but Steve and Nicko play naturally fast to begin with. If you listen closely to the reunion era stuff you'll hear them pushing the tempo a lot.

[wolfking]

I appreciate how the band have consciously kept the tempo of Wasted Years relatively close to the original on this tour, well done.

[Phoenix87x]

Overall, I really like TFF a lot, but I found that I never made it through the whole thing since its so damn long. So I trimmed some songs from it, just for its shear length. Like it flirts with being a double album with almost 80 mins of music, but isn't quite there as TBOS is (Which I think is solid from beginning to end)

I took off Isles of avalon and the alchemist. They are fine, but I want to get to the later songs and now I am able to with each listen.

I wish they would have trimmed Isles of avalon down just a tad. There's great parts in it, but it takes its time to get going. 

[wolfking]

Avalon is easily one of the best on the album IMO.

[TAC]

Avalon is definitely a mouthful, but it's an impressive song.  It's amazing that Iron Maiden put out a song like that so deep in their career.

[wolfking]

Avalon is definitely a mouthful, but it's an impressive song.  It's amazing that Iron Maiden put out a song like that so deep in their career.

And they keep doing so.  They push the boundaries and you can't do anything but simply applaud them.

[TAC]

Avalon is definitely a mouthful, but it's an impressive song.  It's amazing that Iron Maiden put out a song like that so deep in their career.

And they keep doing so.  They push the boundaries and you can't do anything but simply applaud them.

Yes they do. I know they catch some flak for some clichés in their songwriting, but they are a band that is NOT standing still. Their writing and playing continue to improve. The Reunion Era is nothing short of amazing.

[Kwyjibo]

Avalon is the best of TFF, you can't just leave that one out 

Completely agree that they don't rest on their laurels. They have their style and everything they do is recognizable as Iron Maiden, but they are not writing the same song over and over, there is definitely change and progression in their songwriting and I applaud them for that.

[Mladen]

Avalon really is amazing.

[MirrorMask]

Glad to see all the love for Isle of Avalon!

Doing a bit of alternate history... Iron Maiden always had a single song that dictated the theme for the whole album, for example Powerslave is the only song about Egypt, if the album would have been called Rime of the Ancient Mariner, we would have had a ship on the cover.

By this line of reasoning, can you imagine if the single song The Final Frontier wouldn't dictate the futuristic theme of the album, but Isle of Avalon would have been chosen as a title track instead giving the cover and the whole stage set a celtic, fantasy vibe? it could have been beyond cheesy,but done right, it would have been great!

[Scorpion]

Isle of Avalon is my third favourite Iron Maiden song ever. It's amazing.

[Phoenix87x]

Ok, you guys have convinced me. Isle of Avalon stays

[Kwyjibo]

Ok, you guys have convinced me. Isle of Avalon stays

 

[Stadler]

Take my vote for Avalon being the best of the album, and one of the best in the reunion era, in my opinion. 

[cramx3]

Eh, my least favorite on TFF besides S15.  But I also don't like TFF as much as the rest of this forum.  The song definitely has some cool moments and is a pretty unique sound for IM, just don't like the overall end product of the song.

[TAC]

Avalon is actually my least favorite of the TFF epics.

[Zydar]

The Talisman is untouchable.

[TAC]

The Talisman is untouchable.

I LOVE that song. Incredible! That is my favorite Reunion Era song.

[Kwyjibo]

The Talisman is actually my least favorite of the TFF epics.

FTFM, but to each his own

[wolfking]

The Talisman is untouchable.

When the album first came out, for a while this was my least fav of the epics.  Now I'd say it's my fav, this song is magic.

[bosk1]

That song came with a built-in advantage for me, since the first version I heard was the live version on En Vivo!  I still rank a lot of other songs on the album a lot higher, but at least I like it, whereas I might have just glossed over it and not paid it as much attention if not for the amazing live version.

[TAC]

Bruce is amazing on it in the verses. The song just picks you up and takes you away.