I feel like TFF and En Vivo get shunned for the same reasons: You see 'em on a shelf, and you're like "Geez, another one? I can't keep up with this band!", but then you listen and you realize why they keep churning material out.
Yeah, exactly. I wasn't necessarily planning on buying En Vivo. But based on all the high praise and based on my loving the audio of Rock In Rio, I wanted to pick up a live video. So I just went to the local shop to see what they had for reunion-era shows. My choices were En Vivo or Flight 666. En Vivo was cheaper and had more songs I was not familiar with, so I went with it solely based on that fact (as well as your recommendation). I'm REALLY glad I did. Just a spectacular find. And it made me go back and pick up TFF, which, as I've already said, I am also really enjoying. And the interesting thing is that while I really like TFF, I like the live versions of all those song better. I think When The Wild Wind Blows is decidedly better, in fact. The sinister bass and guitar riffing right after the solo sound much heavier and more prominent in the live version. They tend to get buried and muddy on the studio version, and the song has a much different overall vibe as a result. But I prefer the live versions of the others as well.
You know, I've noticed that too. I think, in the studio, Maiden have a tendency to be a bit lazy and under-rehearse before recording. By the time you get to the live show, though, things are much tighter. I've noticed this about a number Maiden songs, in fact.
And, I said earlier, I absolutely love how WTWWB segues into TETMD. There isn't really a segue at all, but those two songs back to back works really, really well for some reason.
OK, here's a different topic to tackle: which Maiden songs have the best lyrics in your opinion? Without doing any research, here are some off the top of my head:
Where Eagles Dare
Revelations
Sea of Madness
Infinite Dreams
Mother Russia
The Thin Line Between Love & Hate
Paschendale
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
El Dorado
Isle Of Avalon
When the Wild Wind Blows
Pretty weird choices, IMO. But, cool idea for a topic. Some of my favorites
Out of the Shadows (Actually, all of AMOLAD is absolutely fantastic, lyrically)
Revelations
Still Life
2 Minutes to Midnight
Wasted Years
The Evil That Men Do
Only the Good Die Young
The Educated Fool
Como Estais Amigos
Blood Brothers
Dance of Death
Paschendale
Montsegur
Age of Innocence
Journeyman
Isle of Avalon
Starblind
When The Wild Wind Blows
Let me also give my general opinion of Maiden so far as well. I know I've expressed that I like a lot of what I've heard over the last few weeks. But let me be crystal clear: I went into this expecting to find some songs that made me say, "Yeah, that's pretty good." If that expectation had been met, I would have been satisfied. But while there are defintely some things I don't care for, and some things that I would say I consier "pretty good," when taken as a whole, I jsut flat out LOVE a lot of what I have been hearing and seeing from this band. This is a grade-A musical discovery for me, and I can't believe it took me this long to really find this band.
EDIT: Hey, I just realized something. Did you guys know there is an Iron Maiden logo in those pics?
Welcome to the club. I got into prog before metal, but once I discovered Maiden, they slowly began to replace DT as my favorite all-time band. I'm confident that they will always be now.