I've only seen clips of Live After Death on youtube. I'm not really a live album fan and pretty much only watch LAD to see how Steve is playing certain parts. Never heard Rock In Rio but I'll check out The Clansman with Bruce and see if my opinion changes.
Understood. If you're not a live album fan and you've seen LAD, there's probably no changing that. For me, Maiden is definitely a lot stronger live than in studio most of the time (which I would not say of a lot of bands), but that's my personal opinion.
Interesting if unsurprising to see mixed opinions on The Book of Souls. That's one that clicked for me fairly recently, after a long time of not knowing how I felt about it.
Sorry again for another delay. Here's four more, and I'll probably add four on top of that midday tomorrow.
28. Face in the Sandfrom
Dance of DeathPositioned near the end of one of the less popular reunion albums, this is not a song I see getting a lot of attention. But I really enjoy this song, which I find to be a distinct entry in the band’s discography. The riffs and Nicko’s double-bass playing create a strong sense of mounting anxiety. This is also another Maiden track where the keyboards contribute quite a bit.
27. The Clairvoyantfrom
Seventh Son of a Seventh SonThe Clairvoyant is a short, relatively simple song, but I’d absolutely call it one of the most effective such songs of their entire career. This song is just an absolute thrill, and is the musical climax of this concept album for a reason. From the tension-building bass riff to Bruce’s powerful performance on the verses to Dave’s wonderful solo, The Clairvoyant is exciting start to finish. They should really bring this one out more frequently in the live show. It’s compact, and I think it does really well.
26. Empire of the Cloudsfrom
The Book of SoulsThere are a lot of creative voices in Iron Maiden, and I don’t want to disparage any of them through excessive praise of any of the others, because, though all distinct, they all make significant positive contributions to the band’s sound. Of the main three songwriters, often one or another of them will stand out as the MVP of a particular album. Well, on
The Book of Souls, I think the clear standout is Bruce Dickinson, and this is a big reason why.
I think a lot of admirers of the reunion era were sort of anticipating the band to at some point take the leap beyond long songs in the low double-digits to a full-on prog epic. But to see that leap come in a solo composition by the band’s singer, written largely on piano, was not quite what I would have predicted. It was largely a success, however, and succeeded in blending traditional elements of the Maiden sound with Bruce’s piano composition. I also want to call out Nicko’s performance here. There’s a lot of stuff he’s called on to play that is different from the usual Maiden style, but I like what he comes up with.
What I like best about this track is the clear passion Bruce has for this story, and the work he put in to make sure its telling, through both music and lyrics, is emotionally compelling. There are a lot of great powerful moments in here that are made powerful by combination of the music, the lyrics, and Bruce’s performance. My personal favorite is probably:
The airship crew awake for thirty hours at full stretch
But the ship is in their backbone, every sinew, every inch
I continue to go back and forth on precisely how high I place this song. On the worst of days, I would say it’s somewhat longer than it needs to be, with a bit of an overly repetitive instrumental section in the latter half. However, even on those worst days, I think the first half and the finale are superb, and I greatly admire the ambition that went into creating it, which is why it comfortably rests in the mid-20s.
25. Infinite Dreamsfrom
Seventh Son of a Seventh SonAnother song from
Seventh Son, another occasion to praise Bruce Dickinson’s performance. This song, perhaps the crucial one to the exposition of the album’s story, has to hit a lot of emotional notes. And here it achieves that range with some very memorable vocal melodies and a great performance from Bruce.