THE Iron Maiden Thread

[theseoafs]

Dance of Death (song) is pretty great.


Dance of Death (album) is....OK....it's got a LOT of filler-quality stuff on it, imho.


But the good stuff is REALLY good

Yup!

Yeah, I think that's pretty much how most people feel about the album.  It's probably the weakest reunion album on the whole, but the good songs (the title track, Paschendale, Journeyman, Rainmaker, etc.) are really fucking awesome.

[wolfking]

It's really incredible how inconsistent DOD is.   

I will say though, the production is atrocious.

[philmcson]

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a lot like playing What's New Pussycat? twice in a row.  It sounds like a really long song with a dip in the middle.

 

Yeah, the studio version sounds a bit flat imo. But hey, try this one......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmrIydnXIs

You'll see why Adrian Smith is such an appreciated guitarist.... 

[kirksnosehair]

That's one of the best live versions of that song ever   

[Cyclopssss]

Dance of Death (song) is pretty great.


Dance of Death (album) is....OK....it's got a LOT of filler-quality stuff on it, imho.


But the good stuff is REALLY good

Yup!

Yeah, I think that's pretty much how most people feel about the album.  It's probably the weakest reunion album on the whole, but the good songs (the title track, Paschendale, Journeyman, Rainmaker, etc.) are really fucking awesome.

Totally agree. And Montsegur, man, that song is f'in' RELENTLESS!!! 

[TAC]

I LOVE Montesegur!

[bosk1]

That is a GREAT version of that song.  If it didn't have that dip in the middle, it was easily move up a few spots in my song rankings.  I just find that section so distracting.

AND WHY DID THEY HAVE TO PLAGIARIZE THE COUNT OF TUSCANY ANYWAY? 

[Zydar]

bosk: Would you care to list your Top 10 Maiden songs so far? It'd be interesting to see your favourites as a new fan (sorry if you've listed them already somewhere).

[bosk1]

Hold on, I have to find it...

Okay, here we go:

Dream Team asked me in another thread if I had nailed down a top 10 yet.  That's tough to do, since I only have 4 studio albums and one live album.  But if I had to, I guess my top 10 would be:

1.  Revelations
2.  Alexander The Great
3.  The Trooper
4.  The Clansman (live)
5.  Dream Of Mirrors (live)
6.  Hallowed Be Thy Name
7.  Stranger In A Strange Land
8.  Fear Of The Dark (live)
9.  The Evil That Men Do (live)
10.  Sea Of Madness

To Tame A Land and Rime Of The Ancient Mariner just missed.  I can maybe do writeups on these later.  I'm a bit swamped at work right now.  And I know the live tracks may be odd choices, but I've never heard the studio version of those songs, and the live versions on Rock In Rio are just excellent.  So there you go.

I probably still stand by that ranking.  Only problem is, after now hearing and watching En Vivo, I'm exposed to more songs, and a couple of those might very well sneak in if I redo my top 10 in a few weeks.  The live versions I have listed above are from Rock In Rio, the only live album of theirs that I have (other than the En Vivo DVD, which I just picked up last week).

[Zydar]

Nice! Great to see some love for Sea Of Madness, I love that one

[cramx3]

I assume you were already familiar with To Tame a Land from DT before your IM binge?

[bosk1]

Yeah.  Good song.  And I like DT's version, although I didn't listen to it enough nor look up the lyrics to figure out what it was about.  Coincidentally, I just finished listening to that song right now and was thinking just before I went back to this thread that I should go back to DT's version and re-listen to it now that I'm familiar with the original.

[TAC]

My only issue with the DT version was that I wish the vocals at least we're recorded during the BC&SL sessions along with the other covers. James was incredible in those sessions. Not that he's bad on the actual cover, but the Covers Disc is one of James' strongest ever.

[El Barto]

Replacing a guitar track with keyboards didn't work for me. JR did fine, as always, but it's still not the same without the twin leads.

[Nel]

I assume you were already familiar with To Tame a Land from DT before your IM binge?

I was like that, and b/c of that I vastly prefer the DT version. 

[TAC]

So I'm sitting here listening to the Mansfield boot from last summer and I'm wondering if they will release a live album from the current Maiden England tour before we get a new studio album?

[Lowdz]

That's one of the best live versions of that song ever   

Great Bruce performance. Makes it all the more strange that I find parts of FF unlistenable because of Bruce straining with the vocals.

[El Barto]

That's one of the best live versions of that song ever   

Great Bruce performance. Makes it all the more strange that I find parts of FF unlistenable because of Bruce straining with the vocals.

What I've heard from the last tour, Bruce sounded pretty weak consistently. Up until now the dude's gotten better every tour, but I think the years are catching up to him.

[cramx3]

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a lot like playing What's New Pussycat? twice in a row.  It sounds like a really long song with a dip in the middle.

 

Yeah, the studio version sounds a bit flat imo. But hey, try this one......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmrIydnXIs

You'll see why Adrian Smith is such an appreciated guitarist.... 

I was at that concert in approximately the 3rd row (VIP GA). I've watched it so many times to see myself and I'm pretty sure I got a screenshot of me for a split second.

[Dream Team]

So I spent some time trying to come up with a ranking of the IM studio albums, but couldn't do it. I know what my favorite is, but the rest would have to be in tiers I think. Just too many great ones.

[Perpetual Change]

That's one of the best live versions of that song ever   

Great Bruce performance. Makes it all the more strange that I find parts of FF unlistenable because of Bruce straining with the vocals.

What I've heard from the last tour, Bruce sounded pretty weak consistently. Up until now the dude's gotten better every tour, but I think the years are catching up to him.

I dunno if I agree with that. He sounded much better when I saw him last on the reunion-heavy Final Frontier tour. I think Somewhere Back in Time was much harder on him.

Thankfully he doesn't have any reservations about overdubbing his live performances anymore so we still get great DVDs.

[TAC]

Thankfully he doesn't have any reservations about overdubbing his live performances anymore so we still get great DVDs.

Does this happen?

[GuineaPig]

Rock in Rio isn't overdubbed per se, but Steve did mandate that Bruce's vocals were "copy-pasted" in some parts to cover where Bruce let the crowd sing (one of the advantages of repeating choruses, I guess).  The TV bootleg was widely available so it was pretty clear his performance wasn't otherwise enhanced.

I've never got a hold of the bootleg of the Death on the Road show to compare, but it doesn't sound like there are any obvious overdubs on that album.

I can state pretty definitively that there are no overdubs on Flight 666, having listened to a majority of the bootlegs from that tour.  And that the album itself contained noticeable mistakes (like in "Wasted Years", where Adrian hits a wrong note in the intro and Bruce directly comments on it).

Haven't listened enough to En Vivo or the bootleg of that show to decide in that case.

[El Barto]

That's one of the best live versions of that song ever   

Great Bruce performance. Makes it all the more strange that I find parts of FF unlistenable because of Bruce straining with the vocals.

What I've heard from the last tour, Bruce sounded pretty weak consistently. Up until now the dude's gotten better every tour, but I think the years are catching up to him.

I dunno if I agree with that. He sounded much better when I saw him last on the reunion-heavy Final Frontier tour. I think Somewhere Back in Time was much harder on him.

I think we're at cross purposes. I was saying he's been just fine up until the Maiden England show. That's where he sounded weak. Checked plenty of Youtube vids of it, and they all sounded weak.

[TAC]

Bart, there was something strange about the Maiden England show, I'll give you that.

[Perpetual Change]

Wait, which Maiden England show are we talking about?

[TAC]

Wait, which Maiden England show are we talking about?

Last summer's shows.

[Perpetual Change]

Ah. I just youtubed some clips from Maiden England shows.

I dunno, that's kinda what I remember him being like the last few tours. Sounds like the same Bruce as always.

Then again, I'm the only one here who seems to think plenty of Bruce's live AND studio performances from the 80's are weak, too, so maybe I'm just used to it.

The only thing that strikes me about Bruce's live performance now is that he's FAR less mobile than he was even 5-6 years ago. I think I first saw them when they did Ozzfest, and I remember Bruce running all around during that. Not so much at all anymore.

[snapple]

I'm still fucking perplexed that Rime isn't in bosk's top 10.

[Perpetual Change]

It's not in mine, either. It might have been cool a long time ago, but now that Maiden have long songs on every album which are much more diverse and epic, the allure has kinda faded.

[snapple]

Do you enjoy being wrong?

[TAC]

Then again, I'm the only one here who seems to think plenty of Bruce's live AND studio performances from the 80's are weak, too, so maybe I'm just used to it.

Plenty of off nights!

[bosk1]

I'm still fucking perplexed that Rime isn't in bosk's top 10.

What songs in my top 10 do you think don't deserve to be there?

[Jaq]

Ah. I just youtubed some clips from Maiden England shows.

I dunno, that's kinda what I remember him being like the last few tours. Sounds like the same Bruce as always.

Then again, I'm the only one here who seems to think plenty of Bruce's live AND studio performances from the 80's are weak, too, so maybe I'm just used to it.

The only thing that strikes me about Bruce's live performance now is that he's FAR less mobile than he was even 5-6 years ago. I think I first saw them when they did Ozzfest, and I remember Bruce running all around during that. Not so much at all anymore.

He must have slowed down in the past two years then, because when I saw them in 2010 he was all over the place, almost to the extent he was when I saw them on the Piece of Mind tour. Admittedly he wasn't running from point to point as fast, but good lord, who among us IS? 

[snapple]

I'm still fucking perplexed that Rime isn't in bosk's top 10.

What songs in my top 10 do you think don't deserve to be there?

The Trooper. Rime is my favorite Maiden song. So it's easy for me to rank it I just feel like giving you shit. It's nice to see Fear... on that list. I think it's an awesome track.