The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[KevShmev]

I think A Matter of Life and Death is a little more consistent than Brave New World, the latter of which had a few songs I thought were skippers, but I think BNW might have higher highs.

[KevShmev]

I will say this as well: the acoustic callback at the end of the The Legacy to the song's main theme is rad as hell.   

[Stadler]

Fascinating to me how different opinions are.  I consider myself a fairly hard core Maiden fan; been on the train since Number of the Beast, they were the first rock concert I ever went to, and I've seen them through the years (now they are a go-to regardless of what album they are promoting).   

So I have issue with:
- Another Life is not a "come and go" song: it's one of the three best from Killers, which is itself a top Maiden album;
- The Clairvoyant is one of the better songs on SSOASS, which is itself a top Maiden album.  Not the best of the 80's, but certainly better than SiT and what came immediately after;
- Infinite Dreams is a great song, especially live;
- Brave New World is easily the least of the reunion era.  I tend to like the reunion stuff, and maybe even better than the original period, but BNW is not the best, and neither is AMOLAD.

My list:

- Senjutsu
- The Final Frontier
- Dance of Death
- The Book Of Souls
- AMOLAD
- Brave New World

[nobloodyname]

Brave New World is their best reunion period album!

For the longest time, I'd have ranked A Matter of Life and Death at the bottom. It's slowly, ever so slowly, grown on me over time and with repeated listens.

Brave New World
Senjutsu
Dance of Death (any album that contains Paschendale, Montsegur and Dance of Death cannot be rated lower than third despite the rest of the album including a couple of utter clunkers)
A Matter of Life and Death
The Book of Souls
The Final Frontier

[cramx3]

My reunion rankings:

1 A Matter of Life and Death
2 Brave New World
3 Senjutsu
4 Dance of Death
5 Book of Souls
6 The Final Frontier

[Dream Team]

As far as AMOLAD goes, it at least has the best vocals of the reunion era, with BNW a close second.

[bobzor]

My take is this:

1. AMOLAD
2. Dance of Death
3. Brave New World
4. Senjtusu
5. Final Frontier
6. The Book of Souls

And a best of reunion album would look like this, bitte schön:

Disc One
1. The Wicker Man
2. The Ghost of the Navigator
3. The Fallen Angel
4. Rainmaker
5. No More Lies
6. Dance of Death
7. Brighter than a Thousand Suns
8. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
9. Lord of Light

Disc Two
1. Mother of Mercy
2. Isle of Avalon
3. Starblind
4. The Red and the Black
5. Death or Glory
6. Where the River Runs Deep
7. Stratego
8. The Parchment
9. Hell on Earth

If Iron Maiden actually released a "best of the reunion years" album, it would of course look nothing like that. Instead, it would have all the singles (El Dorado, Wildest Dreams, Writings on the Wall and what have you) and stuff like Blood Brothers on it. Of course I included some of the singles as well. Come to think of it, Benjamin Breeg was actually a pretty weird single. But well, so was Angel and the Gambler back in the day as well..

[Stadler]

I have some songs that need to be on there - Journeyman, When The Wild Wind Blows - but as an example of Best Of (The Reunion Years), that's pretty damn good.

[DoctorAction]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

[TAC]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

[KevShmev]

I have some songs that need to be on there - Journeyman, When The Wild Wind Blows - but as an example of Best Of (The Reunion Years), that's pretty damn good.

I am with ya on that.  Journeyman from the Death on the Road live album, where the crowd sings along, absolutely seems essential.

[wolfking]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

Indeed.  The best reunion song until Senjutsu arrived.

[nick_z]

Fascinating to me how different opinions are.  I consider myself a fairly hard core Maiden fan; been on the train since Number of the Beast, they were the first rock concert I ever went to, and I've seen them through the years (now they are a go-to regardless of what album they are promoting).   

So I have issue with:
- Another Life is not a "come and go" song: it's one of the three best from Killers, which is itself a top Maiden album;

I'll take this one, since it was my comment  I'll say Another Life is the best of that three-song group I mentioned. By the way, truly, none of the songs is less than "good". I just listened to it again and Killers is such a cool album. Brilliant. The band sounds so...hungry. A mood that is so perfectly encapsulated by the cover art.

By the way, out of curiosity - what are the other two songs in your Killers top 3?

- Brave New World is easily the least of the reunion era.  I tend to like the reunion stuff, and maybe even better than the original period, but BNW is not the best, and neither is AMOLAD.

As you can see from my ranking, I certainly don't disagree on AMOLAD. I do rank BNW much higher than you do, though. Again, I don't doubt there was a lot of hype that played into how the album was received then and (perhaps) how it's looked at now. But, minus some of the obvious quibbles I mentioned before, I still listen to it with great pleasure.

We certainly do agree on the fact that Maiden have released quality music over the last 20+ years. I still take 80s Maiden over Reunion Maiden, but there is SO much to enjoy in the latter.

[TAC]

Piping in to say that I have always loved Another Life.

[Stadler]

By the way, out of curiosity - what are the other two songs in your Killers top 3?

Murders In The Rue Morgue and either Killers or Prodigal Son, depending on my mood.

[WardySI]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

Indeed.  The best reunion song until Senjutsu arrived.

I may have missed it but are you referring to Senjutsu the title track or something else off the album.and if so what exactly?

[nick_z]

By the way, out of curiosity - what are the other two songs in your Killers top 3?

Murders In The Rue Morgue and either Killers or Prodigal Son, depending on my mood.

Those would be in the running for me too. As I said before, I also have a soft spot for Purgatory. Great song.

[DoctorAction]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

That even fits my autocorrect fail..

[wolfking]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

Indeed.  The best reunion song until Senjutsu arrived.

I may have missed it but are you referring to Senjutsu the title track or something else off the album.and if so what exactly?

All I mean is The Talisman is the best reunion song BUT there's a chance, Lost, Parchment or HOE beats it.  I'm just not really sure yet.  Needs more time.

[TAC]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

Indeed.  The best reunion song until Senjutsu arrived.

I may have missed it but are you referring to Senjutsu the title track or something else off the album.and if so what exactly?

All I mean is The Talisman is the best reunion song BUT there's a chance, Lost, Parchment or HOE beats it.  I'm just not really sure yet.  Needs more time.

The Parchment is giving it a run, but I'd still take The Talisman over Lost In A Lost World and Hell On Earth.
I feel like The Parchment has moved into the #2 spot on my Reunion Era list though.

[cramx3]

The Legacy is my #1 reunion era song

[NoseofNicko]

Paschendale.

[wolfking]

The Talisman wants a weird with you both. 

Indeed.  The best reunion song until Senjutsu arrived.

I may have missed it but are you referring to Senjutsu the title track or something else off the album.and if so what exactly?

All I mean is The Talisman is the best reunion song BUT there's a chance, Lost, Parchment or HOE beats it.  I'm just not really sure yet.  Needs more time.

The Parchment is giving it a run, but I'd still take The Talisman over Lost In A Lost World and Hell On Earth.
I feel like The Parchment has moved into the #2 spot on my Reunion Era list though.

I can get on board with all of that.

[Stadler]

Maybe Isle of Avalon?  Journeyman?

[wolfking]

Maybe Isle of Avalon?  Journeyman?

I never quite thought Journeyman was anything special at all.

[TAC]

Maybe Isle of Avalon?  Journeyman?

I never quite thought Journeyman was anything special at all.

Me neither. I really respected what they were going for though. I will say that it is aging pretty well, however.

[Stadler]

Maybe Isle of Avalon?  Journeyman?

I never quite thought Journeyman was anything special at all.

I love that melody; there's also another version as a b-side that's interesting to hear, as well.

[wolfking]

It has aged well and I too appreciate the band doing it.  I feel because it's their only acoustic song it gets more praise than what it deserves just because of that aspect.

[425]

The Talisman, The Parchment, The Legacy, Paschendale and Isle of Avalon would all be definite contenders for my favorite reunion song (which, if you know me, you can guess is is also likely the same thing as my favorite Iron Maiden song). For the Greater Good of God and Starblind are the other reunion songs I would put in that echelon.

[TAC]

The Talisman
The Parchment
For The Greater Good Of God
Coming Home
Lord Of Light

[cramx3]

Maybe Isle of Avalon?  Journeyman?

I never quite thought Journeyman was anything special at all.

I love that melody; there's also another version as a b-side that's interesting to hear, as well.

I think between the album version, the alternate electric version, and the live version... the song's pretty solid whatever way you spin it.  I don't think it's "top Maiden" although I wouldn't be surprised if others thought it was, as mentioned before, that live version is really awesome and there is something to watching them perform acoustically that is unique and interesting. 

[KevShmev]

It feels like Blood Brothers needs to be in this conversation as well.

[TAC]

It feels like Blood Brothers needs to be in this conversation as well.

It's a decent song. I never really took notice of it until I heard the Death On The Road version.

[Stadler]

It feels like Blood Brothers needs to be in this conversation as well.

It's a decent song. I never really took notice of it until I heard the Death On The Road version.

That's one of those songs; it's a whole 'nother beast live. It really is strong on stage.

[cramx3]

It feels like Blood Brothers needs to be in this conversation as well.

For me, it kind of falls into the same category as Journeyman.  Really good song, probably not "top maiden" for me.  The difference though, this song has gotten more live playtime and then bringing it out in the encore of the BOS tour really elevated this song for a lot of people including myself who always liked it, but it's become one of those signature IM songs in a way because of that IMO.