Iron Maiden

[Zzzptm]

Which is also why I don't go through mountains of Grateful Dead bootlegs. I like them, fun band live and all... but even innovation can get repetitive, same songs, night after night.

[Thelemech]

Iron Maiden have a new Live album due 20th Nov : Nights Of The Dead – Legacy Of The Beast : Live In Mexico City.

They've also said they're working on some new songs.

Just bought this a few days ago and I must say that Bruce sometimes sounds pretty strained yet in the next line he is singing like his old days. A very uneven effort, I still enjoy it as I am a Iron Maiden fanboy.

[Charger]

As much as I like Blaze I still think it was the right choice for the band to get Bruce back..he is the voice of Maiden after all..and Blaze has many times stated this as well that in the end he was very happy that Bruce came back to the band...

Also had that not happened masterpieces like Silicon Messiah and The Tenth Dimension wouldn't have happened.

Now the direction Maiden went after Dance Of Death ofcourse is another issue all together. They started to get overly pompous and forgot everything that they used to be and what made them good. But honestly some of that direction was already there when Blaze was in the band...the change in style started with The X Factor...naturally that album was fresh and still sounds fresh to this day unlike the abominations that are A Matter Of Life and Death and Final Frontier which were turds when they came out and are still turds to this day and haven't got an ounce of freshness in them.

Book Of Souls was a move to a better direction (despite having the absolute WORST song Maiden has ever put out Empire of clouds and some other songs being insanly long and repetetive) but indeed suffered from Bruces illness. They shouldn't have rushed the album but instead waited after Bruce had his treatments. But then again with cancer you never know so it was more than possible that he might not have made it...so I surely understand why they wanted to finish the album before.

Bruce's voice and on stage energy ofcourse never fully recovered and that too is more than understandable.

I do hope that before Maiden calls is quits, they would have a show with Bruce and Blaze sharing the stage, much like Helloween did. That would be rather brilliant.

DiAnno on the other hand...

[Charger]

Well the two DiAnno albums are classics DESPITE of DiAnno not because of him!

Ah talking about DiAnno makes me think about Billy as we often had this debate as he was avid DiAnno fan and an equally avid Bruce hater!


Anywho....
As far as The Final Frontier goes, The Talisman and When The Wild Wind Blows are the only good tracks on it...the rest are just not good at all.

Blaze is a great and very capable singer...and his voice has improved a lot over the years from what it was during the Maiden days...but it was an atrocious move from Steve to not tune down the Bruce-era stuff for Blaze whose voice was much deeper to begin with. The live preformances would have vastly improved if they'd done that. Not saying that Blaze was bad on those songs, not at all but some were bit out of his natural range. But then again songs like Afraid To Shoot Strangers and Heaven Can Wait actually fitted better for his deeper voice than Bruce's air raid siren approach.

But the truth was the hardcore Maiden fan base never every would have exepted anyone else than Bruce and would have rather seen the band end than being fronted by another person...which was a really stupid and childish approach but that's what it was...over the past few years the appreciation for Blaze and his albums has increased which is lovely to see. But there still are some who just hate him because he wasn't Bruce.

[Jack the Stripper]

I’ve given my detailed thoughts on the Blaze era over the years so don’t need to beat that horse to death to the same 5-6 people again & again like others do on other albums/bands.

In short: Musically strong but I just never liked him as singer and always thought he was the wrong choice for the band. Has no range or character in his voice to carry the music of Maiden. 

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I don't mind any of the singers but Bruce is easily the best.

The DiAnno albums have their moments and Phantom of the Opera is one of my favourites. Again the Blaze albums have some good stuff on them particularly The X-Factor.

Bruce had his highs with Peice of Mind and Powerslave, but the last two albums before he left (Fear of the Dark and No Prayer for the Dyring) are truly abysmal (IMO!). He returned to form with the reunion albums and while Dance of Death is the best of those I do enjoy much on A Matter of Life and Death and some of Final Frontier, but I can't get into Book of Souls at all.

[Zzzptm]

DiAnno is the Rod Evans of Iron Maiden - Sure he was on the first few albums, but along came a personality with a voice that totally topped him.

[Jack the Stripper]

DiAnno is the Rod Evans of Iron Maiden - Sure he was on the first few albums, but along came a personality with a voice that totally topped him.

In terms of taking the band to another level like Purple going from Evans to Gillan, Di’Anno to Dickinson yes I agree but that’s where the similarity ends. A lot of fans actually like Di’Anno and the first two albums over anything that followed, don’t think there’s nearly the equivalent that prefer Evans over Gillan.

[Charger]

DiAnno is the Rod Evans of Iron Maiden - Sure he was on the first few albums, but along came a personality with a voice that totally topped him.

That is quite right. Although in truth also the rest of the band was still searching for their sound with those Evans albums, but Maiden had pretty much already gotten theirs with DiAnno...so the only negative sound with Maiden was DiAnno's...

[Zzzptm]

Now I'm wondering if Billy would've been disappointed in Whoosh!, since he was also a Di'Anno fan... 

[Charger]

Now I'm wondering if Billy would've been disappointed in Whoosh!, since he was also a Di'Anno fan... 

I can say without a shadow of a doubt he would have hated Whoosh! Billy and good music didn't mix!

[Zzzptm]

Now I'm wondering if Billy would've been disappointed in Whoosh!, since he was also a Di'Anno fan... 

I can say without a shadow of a doubt he would have hated Whoosh! Billy and good music didn't mix!

Ooooooooooooh, you bastard!   Or are you trying to get him to haunt you so you two can share a beer?

[Charger]

Now I'm wondering if Billy would've been disappointed in Whoosh!, since he was also a Di'Anno fan... 

I can say without a shadow of a doubt he would have hated Whoosh! Billy and good music didn't mix!

Ooooooooooooh, you bastard!   Or are you trying to get him to haunt you so you two can share a beer?

Now that would be a dream come true scenario. Although I fear that he'd bring Never Say Die with him and force me to listen to that on repeat the whole haunting beer drinking event..

[Zzzptm]

When you're getting haunted, you have to take the bad with the good!

[Jack the Stripper]

Might be a good idea to move some of the latest Maiden posts to this thread 

Anyhoo, saw something on FB today where they were rating in order the best to worst advanced single releases from the 6 Dickinson/Smith reunion alums from Brave New World through to Senjutsu and thought it would be interesting to get yours.

The Advanced singles(which is the single released ahead of the album) are as follows

The Wicker Man (Brave New World)
Wildest Dreams (Dance of Death)
The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg (A Matter of Life and Death)
El Dorado (The Final Frontier)
Speed Of Light (The Book of Souls)
The Writing On The Wall (Senjutsu)

If you haven’t listened to them for awhile give yourself a refresh, or if you’re not familiar with some of them at all have a listen and post your rankings and thoughts on here.