Official top 75 Iron Maiden songs thread!! (Top 2 revealed on 07/15!!)

[devieira73]

3 songs that didn't make my Top 75, mostly because I prefer the albums from 80 to 92.

Coming Home
Recently became my favorite from TFF. It's kind of another of those very good "Bruce's solo albums" songs with tremendous Adrian's guitar work. This one, I finished the list, and still thought that it should be there.

When The Wild...
I think those 2 intros kill the mood of the rest of the song to me. But I like a lot most of the song, there's great instumental sections and melodies, no doubt!
About the melodies, it's always great to appreciate this Walking Dead scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrvsJTRPuFg

The Parchment
What Kev said about the production and I must add that all soloing on this song is very inspired!

[Elite]

The Evil that men do is classic, good to it here. It was #49 on mine, but slightly higher here is fine with me!

I echo Dave's sentiment that 22 Acacia Avenue up this high is quite the surprise indeed. I did not expect this one this far in the countdown. I ranked it, but barely, at #74. Cool song indeed. Fun fact; I have Invaders at #75 and I don't think that will show up later!

Coming Home is fantastic! I had it at #11 I believe. Easily the best on The Final Frontier, if you ask me. The chorus is amazing.

I did not rank When the Wild Wind Blows and I'm not surprised there's 12 others that didn't either. With only 15/27 is this the least chosen song so far? I feel like this is overlong and a strange closer. Not a fan.

The Parchment is great as well. The last three on Senjutsu are all so good. Love to see this one up quite high. It was #44 on mine, but could have been higher on a different day. Massive props to wolfking for having this one as his #2!!

---

My list so far:
#74 22 Acacia Avenue
#73 The Book of Souls
#71 Only the Good Die Young
#67 Killers
#66 The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
#63 Brave New World
#61 No Prayer for the Dying
#59 Wrathchild
#57 Death of the Celts
#55 If Eternity Should Fail
#51 Murders in the Rue Morgue
#49 The Evil That Men Do
#47 Run to the Hills
#46 These Colours Don't Run
#44 The Parchment
#42 The Nomad
#31 Rainmaker
#28 Heaven Can Wait
#25 The Clansman
#22 Can I Play With Madness
#20 The Longest Day
#17 Out of the Silent Planet
#12 Montségur
#11 Coming Home
#8 The Red and the Black
#7 The Wicker Man

Unranked on my list:
The Duellists
Deja Vu
Judas be my Guide
Prodigal Son
Afraid to Shoot Strangers
Still Life
Remember Tomorrow
The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Dream of Mirrors
Isle of Avalon
Lord of Light
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Starblind
Blood Brothers
When the Wild Wind Blows

[NoFred]

Didn’t play, but The Parchment is in my back of the envelope top 10, maybe at 4 or 5. Good and unique and epic, fantastic all around.

[Stadler]

The Evil That Men Do: #58 - Almost the same as Dave; I dig this song.

22, Acacia Avenue: #119 - Not really because of the lyrics, but this was never one of the songs that really grabbed me from that record.  In hindsight, 119 is probably too low, but then again, I'm not sure what I'd push down to move it up. A good tune, not great.

Coming Home: #13 - TFF is a keeper, and this is one of those songs that has just gotten better with age.  I love the passion of this song.  On paper, it reeks of cliche, but it's just so well executed, and fun to listen to.

When the Wild Wind Blows: #81 - Should have been higher; this has always been a favorite of mine, but I found in my relisten of TFF that I kept clicking back to "The Man Who Would Be King" and at the last minute I swapped the two!  In hindsight they both should have made the list. 

The Parchment: #98 - A victim of "Too new".  I have a lot of Senjutsu on my list (maybe too much!) but this one sort of suffered from numbers.  I love it, but it's not ingrained in the psyche like some of the other songs.  Yet. 

[Dream Team]

Has anyone noticed which song has made the most lists so far?

[TAC]

The Evil That Men Do with 22 lists. I believe.

[nick_z]

The Evil that Men Do (#28)

Such a classic Maiden song. It might not be the most groundbreaking (although in part I think it's because we are so familiar with it), but I love it. Fantastic solos too.

22 Acacia Avenue (#6)

A top-ten for me and a shared spot as highest ranker! What can I say...this is a mini-masterpiece. Yes, lyrically, very questionable  So much going on, musically. The first time THAT riffs shows up around 1:30, then the slower tempo...and the finale, with the reprise of the riff and the solos...brilliant. Like Dave, I was maybe expecting it to be higher in the overall ranking.

Coming Home (not in my top 75)

This was just outside of my top 75, ranking at #83. It didn't make it, but I really like the song. It's part of a great stretch of tunes on the album (Mother of Mercy through The Talisman).

When the Wild Wind Blows (not ranked)

Well, this I never quite connected with. I know it's held in relative high regard by the band too, but it's a song that feels way too long for me. I don't find the main melody super-compelling, and it's used a lot  Definitely has its moments, I just don't love it...

The Parchment (#40)

My highest-ranked song from Senjutsu. Almost like Maiden doing their version of Rising-era Rainbow, it's a great, epic march. And when it reaches its climax with Bruce singing "Meet me there!", then upping the tempo, it's pretty amazing.

[nick_z]

I echo Dave's sentiment that 22 Acacia Avenue up this high is quite the surprise indeed. I did not expect this one this far in the countdown. I ranked it, but barely, at #74. Cool song indeed. Fun fact; I have Invaders at #75 and I don't think that will show up later!

My reading of Dave's comment was that he was surprised it wasn't ranked higher, but I might have misread it...

[TAC]

39 The Evil That Men Do
Appeared on 22 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 7 (Zydar)

38 22 Acacia Avenue
Appeared on 17 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 6
Highest Ranking: 6 (TAC, nick_z)

I had The Evil That Me Do at #50. I have never gotten sick of this song. It's outstanding. Love the Reunion Era version where Adrian and Jannick harmonize the second part of the solo.

I had 22 Acacia Avenue at #6. An all time fave. The musical track is incredible. So many changes and it's really quite epic. A lot is mentioned about the lyrics. I really don't see the big deal. It's a sequel to Charlotte The Harlot where this guy is trying to rescue her from that life. It's a little blunt in spots, but I've never found it offensive in any way. In fact the storyline is actually quite positive. It is not a song about sex.

37 Coming Home
Appeared on 19 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 5 (senecadawg2)

36 When the Wild Wind Blows
Appeared on 15 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 3
Highest Ranking: 4 (Dave_Manchester, DTA)

35 The Parchment
Appeared on 18 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 5
Highest Ranking: 2 (wolfking)

Wow, three songs in my Top 25!

I had Coming Home at #11. I think this is Bruce's best lyric in the band. It is so visual and the words are just stunning. Love Adrian's solo where the other guys drop out of the background. A cool thing that I believe had never happened before. I

I had When The Wild Wind Blows at #24. This is such a great tune. What makes it great to me is even with its length and tempo, it never feels too long or not fast enough. More magnicent story telling, both in the lyrics and the delivery.

I had The Parchment at #8. It's unbelievable that a band I've listened to for 40 years could release a song that is so strong on their latest album, that I'd put it in my Top 10. Love the nice long instrumental part, and Bruce in the second vocal part is amazing. I think it's Steve that very effectively and then adds his voice to the lyric to highlight a word, and I love how the vocal changes with the "WE are here We are ready to believe" part. And of course the "Meet Me Thhheeeeeeeerrrrrreeeeee" That line gives me goosebumps.
And even still it's not enough as the song adds another few minutes of great instrumental work.







So far...


70 Afraid to Shoot Strangers
68 The Nomad
62 Judas Be My Guide
58 Montesegur
57 Still Life
56 Blood Brothers
50 The Evil That Men Do
48 Heaven Can Wait
43 Brave New World
42 The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
38 Run To The Hills
29 The Duellists
24 When The Wild Wind Blows
23 The Red And The Black
21 Murders In The Rue Morgue
19 The Clansman
18 Remember Tomorrow
17 No Prayer for the Dying
15 Lord Of Light
13 The Book Of Souls
11 Coming Home
8 The Parchment
6 22 Acacia Avenue

-------------------

Not Ranked

77 Starblind
82 The Longest Day
83 Isle Of Avalon
87 Deja Vu
90 Rainmaker
92 If Eternity Should Fail
94 Only the Good Die Young
97 Dream Of Mirrors
101 The Wicker Man
105 Killers
106 Death of the Celts

NR These Colours Don't Run
NR Prodigal Son
NR Wratchchild
NR Can I Play with Madness
NR The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
NR Out of the Silent Planet
NR The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

37 Coming Home
Appeared on 19 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 5 (senecadawg2)

I had this at 42, but it was another that felt like it could have been 10-15 spots higher.  The Final Frontier is pretty backloaded, but this is the one song in the first half, IMO, that really stands out.


36 When the Wild Wind Blows
Appeared on 15 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 3
Highest Ranking: 4 (Dave_Manchester, DTA)

Another winner from The Final Frontier.  I had this at 30, and the live version from En Vivo! really was integral in getting me to fully appreciate this one.


35 The Parchment
Appeared on 18 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 5
Highest Ranking: 2 (wolfking)

This was another new one I snuck in at the last minute, with it landing at 72 for me.  Feels like another one of the new songs I'd probably like a lot more if the production had allowed the song to freaking breathe at all, but you can hear the makings of a really good song in there.

Coming Home - I had this at #42, so not far off. Great song, even though I had 3 others from this album rank higher. It's the best of the first half of Final Frontier though.

When the Wild Wind Blows - I'm not sure how, but this ended up at #168 on my list. Probably an error on my part when running through the ranker and I didn't catch it when I was tweaking my list. It should have ended up on my top 75, probably just sneaking in at #70 or so.

The Parchment - This came in at #58 and was one of the songs that grew on me the most when doing my relistening. The music throughout this song is just fantastic. I agree with Kev about the production though.

[nick_z]

I had 22 Acacia Avenue at #6. An all time fave. The musical track is incredible. So many changes and it's really quite epic. A lot is mentioned about the lyrics. I really don't see the big deal. It's a sequel to Charlotte The Harlot where this guy is trying to rescue her from that life. It's a little blunt in spots, but I've never found it offensive in any way. In fact the storyline is actually quite positive. It is not a song about sex.

Clearly, we agree on how fantastic this song is. As for the lyrics - yes, the overall message is positive, and I don't think they are offensive either. I just find them to be not particularly good  Things like:

Charlotte can't you get out from all this madness? (Madness)
Can't you see it only brings you sadness?
When you entertain your men don't know the risk of getting disease
Some day when you're reach the age of forty
I bet you'll regret the days when you were laying
Nobody then will want to know
You won't have any beautiful wares to show, any more

But I guess in a way the style of writing is supposed to reflect the whole sad, "filthy" and bleak situation she's in...

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. Regardless of my thinking around the lyrics, none of this detracts at all from the absolute awesomeness of this song.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I had 22 Acacia Avenue at #6. An all time fave. The musical track is incredible. So many changes and it's really quite epic. A lot is mentioned about the lyrics. I really don't see the big deal. It's a sequel to Charlotte The Harlot where this guy is trying to rescue her from that life. It's a little blunt in spots, but I've never found it offensive in any way. In fact the storyline is actually quite positive. It is not a song about sex.

Clearly, we agree on how fantastic this song is. As for the lyrics - yes, the overall message is positive, and I don't think they are offensive either. I just find them to be not particularly good  Things like:

Charlotte can't you get out from all this madness? (Madness)
Can't you see it only brings you sadness?
When you entertain your men don't know the risk of getting disease
Some day when you're reach the age of forty
I bet you'll regret the days when you were laying
Nobody then will want to know
You won't have any beautiful wares to show, any more

But I guess in a way the style of writing is supposed to reflect the whole sad, "filthy" and bleak situation she's in...

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. Regardless of my thinking around the lyrics, none of this detracts at all from the absolute awesomeness of this song.

This is how I've always looked at the lyrics, I never had a problem with them.

[KevShmev]

I have to admit that I am utterly clueless as to how good, average or bad the lyrics are in any Maiden song at this point.  I tend to not really notice lyrics unless they are exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, but at some point I will have to focus on them and read them.  This is the disadvantage of not buying albums on CD anymore and getting a booklet with the lyrics.

[pg1067]

The Evil That Men Do:  I had it at #66.  I had five songs from SSOASS on my list, and Madness is the only one that ranked lower.  This song is the epitome of "just ok."

22 Acacia Avenue:  This is the first of my top 10 songs to be ranked unfortunately low.  I had it at #9.  As a teenage boy hearing this song, the subject matter was a bit exciting, but some of the detail was a bit WTF.  Musically, it covers a lot of ground in a 6 minute song.  Just excellent from start to finish.  I hope I get to see it live one of these days.

I didn't rank any of the other three today.


Powerslave...what a slacker!

1. Brave New World:  7 songs/139 points – Out of the Silent Planet (#70), Brave New World (#60), The Wicker Man (#58), The Nomad (#56), The Thin Line Between Love and Hate (#53), Dream of Mirrors (#52), Blood Brothers (#44)

2. The Final Frontier:  4 songs/133 points – Isle of Avalon (#51), Starblind (#47), Coming Home (#37), When the Wild Wind Blows (#36)

3. Killers:  4 songs/80 points – Prodigal Son (#63), Wrathchild (#62), Killers (#54), Murders in the Rue Morgue (#45)

4T. A Matter of Life and Death:  4 songs/76 points – The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (#71), These Colours Don’t Run (#65), Lord of Light (#49), The Longest Day (#43)

4T. The Book of Souls:  3 songs/76 points – If Eternity Should Fail (#64), The Book of Souls (#46), The Red and the Black (#42)

6. The Number of the Beast:  2 songs/73 points – Run to the Hills (#41), 22 Acacia Avenue (#38)

7. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son:  3 songs/57 points – Can I Play with Madness (#73), Only the Good Die Young (#59), The Evil That Men Do (#39)

8. Somewhere in Time:  3 songs/46 points – Déjŕ Vu (#68), Heaven Can Wait (#66), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (#48)

9. Senjutsu:  2 song/42 points – Death of the Celts (#75), The Parchment (#35)

10. Virtual XI:  1 song/36 points – The Clansman (#40)

11. Dance of Death:  2 songs/30 points – Rainmaker (#72), Montsegur (#50)

12. Fear of the Dark:  2 songs/24 points – Judas Be My Guide (#67), Afraid to Shoot Strangers (#61)

13. Iron Maiden:  1 song/21 points – Remember Tomorrow (#55)

14. Piece of Mind:  1 song/19 points – Still Life (#57)

15. No Prayer for the Dying:  1 song/7 points – No Prayer for the Dying (#69)

16. Powerslave:  1 song/2 points – The Duellists (#74)

17. The X Factor:

[TAC]

22 Acacia Avenue:  Musically, it covers a lot of ground in a 6 minute song.   

It sure does!

[Dave_Manchester]

Coming Home: #20. Maiden are the kings of anthemic choruses and the chorus to this is one of their very best. Wonderful ballad/'love letter' to Bruce's passion for flying.

When The Wild Wind Blows: #4. One of a handful of songs that on any given day could be my #1. Unlike their other epics I love every second of this one from start to finish, it has great melodies (the opening versus have an almost 'lullaby' quality to them) and its 11 minutes fly by every time.

The Parchment: #29. Good first half, brilliant 2nd half. A tad repetitive perhaps but what it's repeating is so damn sweet that I frankly wish it went on even longer. I'm happy to see this one do so well on the aggregate list because quite honestly I didn't think it would appear at all. My 2nd highest rated song from Senjutsu. 


My list so far in descending order:

#74: If Eternity Should Fail
#72: Run to the Hills
#66: The Longest Day
#64: Only The Good Die Young
#63: Still Life
#59: The Evil That Men Do
#56: These Colours Don't Run
#54: Can I Play With Madness
#53: Remember Tomorrow
#52: Judas Be My Guide
#51: Blood Brothers
#41: Rainmaker
#40: The Clansman
#36: Montsegur
#34: The Wicker Man
#29: The Parchment
#22: Heaven Can Wait
#21: Starblind
#20: Coming Home
#18: The Red and the Black
#15: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
#10: 22 Acacia Avenue
#6: No Prayer for the Dying
#4: When The Wild Wind Blows
#1: Afraid To Shoot Strangers

Not ranked:

Death of the Celts
The Duellists
Out of the Silent Planet
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
Deja-Vu
Prodigal Son
Wrathchild
Brave New World
The Nomad
Killers
The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Dream of Mirrors
Isle of Avalon
Lord of Light
The Book of Souls
Murders in the Rue Morgue

Ranked/Unranked split: 25/16

[Dream Team]

Hey Tim you forgot to put The Parchment at #8 on your updated list . . .

[nobloodyname]

64 The Evil That Men Do - excellent Maiden rocker. The pre-chorus and chorus are a bit repetitive but what can do you?

69 22 Acacia Avenue - hugely underrated tune featuring a surprising amount of variation. And the fact I ranked it at 69 is purely coincidental!

54 Coming Home - this has no business being on a Maiden album (aside from the fact they literally flew around the world a couple of times in a Maiden-liveried 757 and 747 ). It's as solo Bruce as solo Bruce gets. And you can tell that because it's easily the best song on The Final Frontier, an album worsened only in the reunion stakes by the soporific The Book of Souls). But I love the tune regardless and these two lines alone make it worth the price of admission: Stretch the fingers of my hand/Cover countries with my span.

68 When the Wild Wind Blows - Maiden epic by numbers but it works. And it's a nice story, too. The whole thing is incredibly reminiscent of the what-to-do-in-a-nuclear-holocaust videos we were subjected to in the 1980s here in the UK and it's clearly influenced by them.

38 The Parchment - that a band with an average age of 93 is capable of writing at this level this far into their 70 year career is, well, astonishing (and yes, it's nice to use the word rightly as an adjective on this here forum). Wonderfully evocative from start to finish.

26/15

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Hey Tim you forgot to put The Parchment at #8 on your updated list . . .

Indeed he did....




And dammit Dream Team, I could look at Elizabeth Olsen all day...

[TAC]

Hey Tim you forgot to put The Parchment at #8 on your updated list . . .

Thank you. Fixed. I knew I was off one..

[KevShmev]

Powerslave...what a slacker!

Chatter at the water cooler today has been that a song from Powerslave will show its face here pretty soon.  No clue if that rumor is true or not, but we shall see...

[The Realm]

22 Acacia Avenue:  This is the first of my top 10 songs to be ranked unfortunately low.  I had it at #9.  As a teenage boy hearing this song, the subject matter was a bit exciting, but some of the detail was a bit WTF.  Musically, it covers a lot of ground in a 6 minute song.  Just excellent from start to finish.  I hope I get to see it live one of these days.

I could have written this. I also had 22 at number 9 and it was my first top 10 song to be revealed.

[The Realm]

I echo Dave's sentiment that 22 Acacia Avenue up this high is quite the surprise indeed. I did not expect this one this far in the countdown. I ranked it, but barely, at #74. Cool song indeed. Fun fact; I have Invaders at #75 and I don't think that will show up later!

My reading of Dave's comment was that he was surprised it wasn't ranked higher, but I might have misread it...

Yes, I agree with you Nick, Dave was saying he couldn't believe 22 was so low in the countdown (same opinion as me).

[The Realm]

37 Coming Home
Appeared on 19 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 5 (senecadawg2)

36 When the Wild Wind Blows
Appeared on 15 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 3
Highest Ranking: 4 (Dave_Manchester, DTA)

35 The Parchment
Appeared on 18 of 27 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 5
Highest Ranking: 2 (wolfking)

A great update today, I love these 3 songs but more importantly I was getting a bit worried Coming Home wasn't going to make it to the list.

Coming Home - 41 for me. This is just a great song and could have been much higher. Great opening riff, heartfelt and well delivered lyrics and great solo section.

When the Wild Wind Blows - this song started in my top 20 but just fell out to 25 in the end. This my 3rd favourite reunion era Maiden track.

The Parchment - 47 for me. Was really interested to see how this song went in the countdown and ultimately I think it did well to make it to 35. Now I am really interested to see what if anything else from Senjutsu makes it as this was my highest ranking track from the album.

[TAC]

WTWWB placed pretty well for being on only 15 lists.

[KevShmev]

WTWWB placed pretty well for being on only 15 lists.

10 of the 15 who had it on their list had it in their top 25.

[TAC]

Kev, would I be out of line to ask if you will do another countdown? And if so, who do you think?

[KevShmev]

Kev, would I be out of line to ask if you will do another countdown? And if so, who do you think?

Not your thing, but Porcupine Tree is tentatively slated to be next, but I still have to get a sense for how many will actually submit a list as I am not doing a countdown unless I know the interest is there from a lot of people to participate (doing a countdown based off 10 lists or less for example feels like a waste of time).  DT, Rush and Maiden are probably the three most talked about bands here, so not sure who else would garner enough interest to get a lot of participants.  Metallica maybe, but I would have not a ton of interest in doing them at this time, as my headspace is not even close to them right now. 

[TAC]

Oh I think you'd get a lot for Porcupine Tree, or even Neal Morse.

[The Realm]

WTWWB placed pretty well for being on only 15 lists.

10 of the 15 who had it on their list had it in their top 25.

On this type of discussion, 22 Acacia Avenue would have to be the most fascinating song so far. It was on 17 lists but actually had 6 top 10 finishes which feels pretty incredible for a song that only finished at 38.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Kev, would I be out of line to ask if you will do another countdown? And if so, who do you think?

Not your thing, but Porcupine Tree is tentatively slated to be next, but I still have to get a sense for how many will actually submit a list as I am not doing a countdown unless I know the interest is there from a lot of people to participate (doing a countdown based off 10 lists or less for example feels like a waste of time).  DT, Rush and Maiden are probably the three most talked about bands here, so not sure who else would garner enough interest to get a lot of participants.  Metallica maybe, but I would have not a ton of interest in doing them at this time, as my headspace is not even close to them right now.

I would 100% participate in a Porcupine Tree countdown. Been one of my favorite bands for almost 20 years now. They also have a ton of b-sides. Looks like I'll need to compile another list for you 

[Dave_Manchester]

The most recent update (which took us past the halfway point by the way) leads me to think we've seen the last of The Final Frontier. I don't imagine any of the remaining songs will have received more votes than those already on the list.

Some other predictions as we head into the back 9 (made only for my own amusement and to see if I'm right about any of them).

As with The Final Frontier, I think we won't be seeing Killers again.

I think Piece of Mind will contain the most 'shocks', in the sense of being under-represented on the list (to a lot of 'old-school' Maiden fans PoM is their masterpiece - at least that was the thinking when I was growing up in 80s England - but I've noticed that many fans who discovered the band only recently/post-reunion don't rate it all that highly).

I'm starting to think The X Factor won't be represented at all. My reasoning here being that I thought the main candidate from that album would appear in the 65-75 range. It didn't, and since then, songs that follow a similar structure but which do it much better (in my opinion of course) have turned up.

I'm really not bothered if songs on my list don't appear on the aggregate list. The diversity of opinion and taste is what makes these threads great to follow. BUT! With that said there is 1 song, and only 1 song, that I will actually be very disappointed if it doesn't make the final list (it's from the debut, and it's not Phantom), because I think it's a very important song for the band's history and later development. And with each update I become increasingly pessimistic about it appearing.   

I think there'll be 1 more song (only 1) from Virtual XI.

I think that the song that ends up being #1 (I have a very strong suspicion of what it will be) will not actually have been anyone's #1 song.


Like I said I may well end up being thoroughly wrong about all of this, but it's my reading of the voting thus far as we head into the home straight.

[Cool Chris]

With that said there is 1 song, and only 1 song, that I will actually be very disappointed if it doesn't make the final list (it's from the debut, and it's not Phantom), because I think it's a very important song for the band's history and later development. And with each update I become increasingly pessimistic about it appearing.   

I am sweating the debut too. I don't know what song you are referring to - I will look forward to your comments if/when it is revealed (or not) - but I had 6 songs from it, and I don't see more than one or two making it from here on out.

[wolfking]

CH - 74 - It is a great song indeed and worthy of making my list.  I just don't rate it quite as high as some others.  Feels like a Bruce solo song to me.

WTWWB - 43 - The most Harris/Maiden song on the entire album and sets up a lot of what we hear later on IMO, especially Senjutsu.  It's just excellent, nothing to dislike here.

Parchment - 2 - Yes, if anyone followed the thread when this album was released, you'll remember how I gushed over this one.  As Tim said, I can't believe a band so late in their career can come up with this.  Everything about it kept getting the better the more I listened.  I at least listened to this song every day for at least six months after the release.  I couldn't get enough of it.  The freestyle structure, extended soloing, lack of chorus, the twists and turns, the buildup and climax at the end, everything about it is fresh, unique, interesting and inspired.  I tossed and turned over this one, but I couldn't not put it in second place.

[The Realm]

The most recent update (which took us past the halfway point by the way) leads me to think we've seen the last of The Final Frontier. I don't imagine any of the remaining songs will have received more votes than those already on the list.

Some other predictions as we head into the back 9 (made only for my own amusement and to see if I'm right about any of them).

As with The Final Frontier, I think we won't be seeing Killers again.

I think Piece of Mind will contain the most 'shocks', in the sense of being under-represented on the list (to a lot of 'old-school' Maiden fans PoM is their masterpiece - at least that was the thinking when I was growing up in 80s England - but I've noticed that many fans who discovered the band only recently/post-reunion don't rate it all that highly).

I'm starting to think The X Factor won't be represented at all. My reasoning here being that I thought the main candidate from that album would appear in the 65-75 range. It didn't, and since then, songs that follow a similar structure but which do it much better (in my opinion of course) have turned up.

I'm really not bothered if songs on my list don't appear on the aggregate list. The diversity of opinion and taste is what makes these threads great to follow. BUT! With that said there is 1 song, and only 1 song, that I will actually be very disappointed if it doesn't make the final list (it's from the debut, and it's not Phantom), because I think it's a very important song for the band's history and later development. And with each update I become increasingly pessimistic about it appearing.   

I think there'll be 1 more song (only 1) from Virtual XI.

I think that the song that ends up being #1 (I have a very strong suspicion of what it will be) will not actually have been anyone's #1 song.


Like I said I may well end up being thoroughly wrong about all of this, but it's my reading of the voting thus far as we head into the home straight.

Love some good predictions but I actually disagree with most of these!

The Final Frontier - pretty sure there will be one more song to come and it could rank pretty high. I would be very surprised if TFF is done.

Killers - yes we could be done and if so this is sad.

Piece of Mind - yeah you could be right but it is a tough album to read among the group of voters. I think at least 3 more songs from the album but could be up to 5..

The X Factor - I think this album is 100% guaranteed be represented. There is one song that is very much loved among enough of the participants, could even rank very high...(just the one song though)

Virtual XI - is done I reckon. Just the one song.

As far as the debut album goes, I would love to think we have more than 1 song to go but I am not so sure..

I am really not sure what the number 1 song will be but I am hoping it will be my number 1