Caught Somewhere In Time is the most kickass opening track they have and everyone in the band sucks for choosing not to play it live after the tour.
It's a Top 5 DT track for me, and I'm so glad I got to see it live.
But on the boots for that tour, for some reason, it just never sounds right.
Yeah, from the bootlegs I've heard, it just doesn't seem to work. I think the band felt the same way, which is why they abandoned it after that tour. It would be really awesome if they could figure out how to make it work, but I don't imagine that will ever happen.
Nice to see some Lord of Light love, and not to get hit with too many stones for my
Killers placement.
Two more songs and two more albums:
18. Where Eagles Darefrom
Piece of MindWith all respect to
The Number of the Beast, which is an excellent album, I think
Piece of Mind is the album where the band fully finds the identity it will have for the rest of the decade and resume to a great extent in the 2000s. And it all begins with the album opener, Where Eagles Dare, which I think is their best opener-qua-opener (though not their best track #1). Nicko McBrain announces his presence with authority, not just on the opening drum solo, but on the rhythm he maintains throughout this track, which always feels to me like a steady, confident, consistent forward march. And we hear one of the band’s finest uses of two-guitar harmonies on the instrumental section. Bruce, of course, is in fine form as well, navigating with apparently minimal effort the overflowing lines Steve asked him to sing. One of the finest 80s Maiden songs; I can’t say enough positive things about it.
17. The Longest Dayfrom
A Matter of Life and DeathIf the rest of The Longest Day was as strong as the first two minutes, it would be in the top 5 and potentially #1.
The intro of this song is one of the most emotionally powerful things Iron Maiden has ever done. It’s another one of those excellent marriages between music and lyrics, and its telling of the arrival at Normandy is heart-pumping. One of my favorite sections of any song ever.
The rest of the song doesn’t quite deliver on the promise. The second verse section does, at least musically, and there’s nothing particularly bad about the prechorus, chorus or instrumental section—I quite like Adrian’s solo and the subsequent moment when the chorus theme comes in as a guitar melody. But the rest of the song is just not on the very, very high level set by the first couple of minutes. Those two minutes alone, though, are enough to get it pretty high, especially when the rest isn’t exactly bad, either.
Album 14. Iron MaidenI consider this the stronger album of the Di'Anno era entirely on the strength of two tracks I have already discussed: Phantom of the Opera and Remember Tomorrow. I think both songs are legitimately excellent and stand head-and-shoulders above the rest of the songs from this period, foreshadowing the greatness that the band would achieve later. Outside of these two giants, the rest of the album is probably slightly below the level of
Killers, but that still means that there are some solid entries. A couple of these songs, Running Free and Sanctuary, are fairly plain on the album but take on significant life on stage. Others amount to solid rockers that I wouldn't seek out for their own sake, but enjoy well enough in the context of the album (though I find the lyrics on Prowler and Charlotte the Harlot to be of dubious taste). Strange World is a... strange song... that doesn't sound anything like anything else they've done (because Paul Day wrote it), but I think kind of works. This is definitely a album that is elevated by its two best songs, but the rest is strong enough to make the whole thing a good experience.
Album 13. No Prayer for the DyingNo Prayer for the Dying can certainly be more easily blamed for its faults than
Iron Maiden. The debut is, well, a debut. It's a band just starting out, and its best tracks show the promise of a very bright future.
No Prayer feels like a huge step backward after a very impressive run ending on one of the band's best albums,
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. And its best tracks feel like faint echoes of the greatness heard on that run.
First, the negative. There are indeed a number of dubious choices on this album. For one, there are some songs that are just not that good, like the inane The Assassin and whatever you want to call that thing that occupies track 9 (and holds the distinction of being Maiden’s only #1 single ever). A lot of the lyrics on this album are pretty rough, and frequently in rather poor taste (without the excuse of having been written by a young man in his early twenties). And in general the quality of the songwriting just is lower than on most of their other albums.
That said, I think there are a lot of solid songs on this album, including some that (understandably) receive little praise. I’ve already discussed Run Silent Run Deep, but I could also mention Mother Russia, No Prayer for the Dying and Fates Warning. These three would probably get outshone on the better Maiden albums, but here they stand out better as little gems. Even some of the songs that are of questionable taste are fun in their own way: Public Enema Number One is legitimately good in my opinion, and I actually like Hooks in You.
Overall, the decisive factor between this and the debut is that I simply have a better time listening to this album as a full experience. Sure, two of the three best tracks between the two albums are on
Iron Maiden, but I think the general quality is higher on
No Prayer. Though the songwriting is somewhat degenerated from where it was on
Seventh Son, there's still something a little bit more robust about a middle-tier
No Prayer song like Tailgunner compared to a middle-tier
Iron Maiden song like Prowler. Though it's a close call, I would more often than not rather listen to
No Prayer for the Dying.
Topic: Iron Maiden Song Ranking Thread (Currently Ranking: Mister Gold) (Read 29023 times)