In defence of No Prayer

[Wrathchild]

I dragged this long-neglected album out the other night and gave it a listen, only to find myself thinking that it wouldn't have been such a disappointment if:

-The production hadn't been quite so (in Bruce's own words) "agricultural." If they wanted to go back to a less polished sound after all the bells whistles (and keyboards) of 7th Son, why not try to recapture the raw, back to basics feel of NOTB and Piece of Mind? This might have been easier to do if it had been recorded in a proper studio rather than 'Arry's garden shed.

- Much as I hate to admit it, Bruce's voice is one of the most obvious problems here. Throughout most of the album he sounds more like Barnesy (GAG!) than the human air-raid siren of old. Compare his vox on "Tailgunner" with those of "Aces High" and you'll see what I mean. Why didn't he just stick to what he was good at?

-The songs themselves are all pretty good, but I'd rather "No Prayer" itself had lyrics that were somehow relevant to the title.
It could have been the story of a man in a hospital bed, looking back over his life just before he dies. The "God give me the answer to my life..." part would have made a great chorus, and perhaps if everyone had worked a bit harder on this one, we'd have an epic to rival "Hallowed."

The cover could also have tied in with the title track, showing Eddie in the robes of a priest, with the usual evil grin on his face as he stands over our friend's bed reading him the last rites. Thoughts?

W

 

[spawn]

I love the title track, but I thought the same thing about Bruces vocals as well, he seemed to be screaming rather than singing. Also, I wish they had written more lyrics, as the majority of it is music, not that thats bad, but I quite liked the lyrical bits

Im not so enraptured about the other songs though, for any other band it would be a pretty good album, but maiden isnt just any other band! They bounced back with Fear of the Dark though, a much better album overall I think.

I love the cover for NPFTD even though it has nothing to do with the song really

I think the only reason its considered to be a bad album is because of the ones leading up to it, I mean Killers, NOTB, PS, SIT, 7th Son are all CLASSIC albums, and compared to them, NPFTD isnt very good

Oh I like that slaughter of your daughter song on there too, though I havent listened to it in ages.

 

[Aces_High]

Yeh

"Bring your daughter to the slaughter" is a classic

Its like Maiden were trying to be 'AC/DC

 

[Icarus]

Speaking of No prayer...I saw this old dude wearing a no prayer t shirt yesterday as I was strolling through the city on my way to uni.

And when I say old I mean old like 40 something
Well its not really that old...just aint to many people around that age that like Maiden, I would have thought. Well at least not in brissy

 

[duellist]

This is the Porn album of the Maiden collection, why?

1. Everybody loves it but wont really admit to it.
2. It is not the best sounding music but quite catchy.
3. It has S&M (hooks), girls coming of age (bring your daughter) and Anal (tail) even though they change that one a bit.

 

[PIV Bassman]

Originally posted by spawn
I love the title track, but I thought the same thing about Bruces vocals as well, he seemed to be screaming rather than singing....
...They bounced back with Fear of the Dark though, a much better album overall I think.

I think Bruce's voice would have been under enormous stress after lengthy tours for Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son and he was devloping nodes on his vocal chords which worsened on Fear of the Dark. You can hear he just can't hit the same notes and doesn't have the same strength as on previous albums.
As for FOTD being a better album than NPFTD you must be joking..... FOTD is the worst Maiden album by a long way in my opinion. Uninspired songwriting and lacklustre vocals from a frontman who was about to jump ship made it a very ordinary effort all round. The only really good tracks on FOTD are Be Quick or be Dead and Afraid to Shoot Strangers. Wasting Love is not bad, but hardly the standard of such classics as Hallowed be thy Name or Aces High.
I would go so far as to say that both X Factor and Virtual XI are better albums - at least Blaze had a go and the music was more interesting!
Anyone for a few repeated listens to Weekend Warrior? Thought not.

 

[phlogiston]

Don't make me join this discussion.......

 

[PIV Bassman]

Ah yes, we've had this discussion/argument before.......

 

[spawn]

Are you mad PIV???
Fear of the Dark, Be quick or be dead and wasting love are CLASSICS (especially fear of the dark, thats one of maidens best songs!!)
I know not all of the songs on fear of the dark are great, but the great ones that are on it make up for them, besides, when you measure it against classics like hallowed, notb, aces high etc. Anythings going to come up short!

Good point about bruces voice, I forgot all about the touring they did in between all those albums, that makes even more sense when you think that they released an album every yeard for about 6 years or something, bruces voice wouldnt have had any time to rest.

Phloggy: Join the discussion, I want to hear your opinion, i missed whatever you argued about last time!

 

[phlogiston]

Ok Spawny, just for you...

A summary of my position on NPFTD:

 

[TRrEiTxIxRiE DTrash]

The title song is brilliant.
Holy Smoke rocks.
Bring Your Daughter is a bit dodgy, but FUN! (People bag it because of its lyrics, you have to remember it was originally done for the Nightmare O Elm Street 5 soundtrack).

The rest is average and I agree with the comments by other people.

As for Bruce's voice, I think he sounds like a gremlin or little monster or something hahaha.

As for Fear of The Dark, I think its better than No Prayer... but I don't like Be Quick Or Be Dead at all, thats probably my all time worst Maiden song.
The title track and Wasting Love are brilliant, and I also love Chains Of Misery.

 

[Icarus]

NPFTD is not too bad...it has some great songs like fates warning, the title track, run silent run deep and bring ya daughter (I love that song hehe), but overall it aint as good as FOTD.

I like all the songs on FOTD except for fear is the key. Repeated listenings of Weekend Warrior?? yeah ok!!!!! I dont mind the song actually and it has a great solo by Mr Murray

It also has judas my guide...a HUGELY under rated maiden song imo.

 

[TinMan666]

Well... I think they're probably 2 of Maiden's weaker albums, but still pretty good.

NPFTD probably has a bit of a bad rep for having a couple of lighthearted songs like Holy Smoke, Hooks in you and Daughter... but when you drag the thing out, you realise that it rocks.

Similar deal with FotD. When you drag it out, you realise how much you enjoy it. It suffered from having a few too many songs on it I think. There are a few songs on there that have some really great parts, but aren't really great songs, if you know what I mean.

Also I think Wasting Love is one of the best songs they've ever done.

 

[Smashed]

Yep-same here,gotta give FOTD the edge over NPFTD.
No particular reason,just think it's a stronger,more consistant album.

 

[Joe Salami]

Guess someone should come in here and side with PIV...

NPFTD is, IMHO, a much better album than FOTD. 'Fear' has no sense of order, and the songs differ so much from what was written before them.

When you listen to Prayer, at least it feels as though the album flows along. With Fear, it begins really well with Quick, Eternity and Strangers, but then loses the plot.

Up until FOTD was released, I knew every Maiden album's tracklist, in order. If someone walked up to me in the street and asked me who wrote "The Apparition", I would not have known (just looking at the album now....).

I don't know if it was because Bruce was unhappy, or because Adrian had left, and therefore hadn't written any material, or Jannick's influence....but FOTD was a really different album, and just doesn't hold me like NPFTD does.

Or maybe I'm just old.

And I really, really hate Wasting Love....

 

[Smashed]

Good argument,except Janick played on NPFTD not Adrian...

 

[spawn]

Originally posted by phlogiston
Ok Spawny, just for you...

A summary of my position on NPFTD:

Haha! Thanks Phloggy

Joe!! How can you hate wasting love??? Whatta great song

 

[Goreripper]

Well, NPFTD was the first Maiden album that I couldn't listen to endlessly from start to finish. The novelty kind of wore thin pretty quickly. 'Daughter...' made me wonder what they were thinking! To this day, I still don't listen to 'Fear of the Dark' much either ... and 'Fear is the Key' is AWFUL! I agree about 'The X Factor'; a very under-rated album, one of those that's appreciated more in hindsight than at first. 'Virtual XI' is the low point lyrically however, and the most boring of their albums musically as well, except for 'Futureal', which rules!

 

[Joe Salami]

Originally posted by Smashed
Good argument,except Janick played on NPFTD not Adrian...

Quite true, but my point was that Adrian was involved in the early writing for the album, before leaving. He co-wrote 'Hooks In You' with Bruce.
Once we get to FOTD, Janick is involved in the writing, and, again, IMO, the album's feel is not as smooth as previous efforts.

Spawny - yeah, sorry about the Wasting Love bit. Just not my style at all. When it was released, I had awful visions of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters". Fortunately, Maiden didn't slip into the vile cosmos that most will agree Metallica did following that album.

 

[spawn]

Yeah, metallica got their head stuck up their arse after the black album (I LOVE the black album though, everything after that I can take or leave so to speak though!)

Dont worry about not liking Wasting Love, for some strange reason, everyone on the planet is different, so we wont all agree on everything