Iron Maiden Albums????

Studio: Powerslave, though Piece of Mind, Number of the Beast, and Somewhere In Time are all right there. Hell, they're all great ('cept for those 2 mid-90s mistakes). Also, Brave New World is being unfairly bashed here. It's the perfectly logical next step AFTER Seventh Son, and almost makes up for nearly a decade of trial and (much) error.

Live: One has to say Live After Death here, simply because it's the benchmark live album that all others will forever be measured against. I also happen to love Rock In Rio because I saw that exact show twice so it's like a high-quality bootleg for me.
 
Powerslave....it's the most consistent Maiden album imo, and it's got the most powerful, grandest feeling to it. Maybe it's just the subliminal influence of the title, or the artwork, or maybe just the mix of soaring melodies and relentless chugging headed-off by some of Maiden's most technical and memorable riffs interweaving between songs throughout the album, but Powerslave was Maiden's best I think.

7th Son Of A 7th Son isn't that far behind.

And i'm not much for live albums either.
 
WOOHOO!!! after the millionth attempt the board actually let me on-markymark musta fixed it for me!!!

imo studio=BNW maidens been my favorite band for alot of years now and ive seen them lots of times. to me the album definately shows the bands maturity as a band-more of a unit than ever before. plus most of the songs have far more personel meaning to me than any of the previous albums-and no i wont bore yall explaining what they are!

live, overall i agree with alot of folks saying they arent much into live albums. rare occasions theres something on a live album thats a truely different version of a song but most live albums are like a greatest hits package-your buying songs you already have.
...after saying that im still going to say LIVE AFTER DEATH though.
it was the 1st and the best and haveing been in the 9th row 2nd night in longbeach at the show most of it was recorded from is something gives it extra points for me.
 
Brave New World was actually the first Maiden album I ever bought and listened to fully (though i'd heard a dozen other Maiden songs before) and though you're meant to favour the first thing you've heard from a band, BNW isn't my favourite.....it's one of my preferred ones because of the grandeur of it and the maturity, but for me some of the songs are overly long. Not in a pleasantly Maiden-esque overly long way, just in an unnecessarily overly long-for-the-sake-of-being-long-songs way. Especially 'Dream Of Mirrors'. I read a lot of reviews on the net about BNW before and after I bought it and I frequently read that song being praised, sometimes even as the highlight of the album.....but I really can't help but skip it every time. It's pointlessly, fruitlessly long. I must say....it's boring. Then again though, Ghost Of The Navigator, Brave New World, Out Of The Silent Planet, and most of the other songs for me are comfortable and energetic to listen to. Bruce's voice is also far better than it was on NPFTD and FOTD.
 
Don't you guys think that anything past No Prayer pretty much went downhill? Yeah Brave New World was a step in the right direction, but Bruce's solo is still better (e.g Chemical Wedding).
 
Originally posted by SculptedCold
Brave New World was actually the first Maiden album I ever bought and listened to fully (though i'd heard a dozen other Maiden songs before) and though you're meant to favour the first thing you've heard from a band, BNW isn't my favourite.....it's one of my preferred ones because of the grandeur of it and the maturity, but for me some of the songs are overly long. Not in a pleasantly Maiden-esque overly long way, just in an unnecessarily overly long-for-the-sake-of-being-long-songs way. Especially 'Dream Of Mirrors'. I read a lot of reviews on the net about BNW before and after I bought it and I frequently read that song being praised, sometimes even as the highlight of the album.....but I really can't help but skip it every time. It's pointlessly, fruitlessly long. I must say....it's boring. Then again though, Ghost Of The Navigator, Brave New World, Out Of The Silent Planet, and most of the other songs for me are comfortable and energetic to listen to. Bruce's voice is also far better than it was on NPFTD and FOTD.

i love dream of mirrors! difference in taste that i respect because you explained why you didnt like it and didnt just say it sucks like most twats do! bruces voice... ive seen maiden at least once every tour since number, not just his vocals but bruces total perfomance on the BNW tour is far better than ive ever seen it before!
 
Originally posted by maestro_al
Don't you guys think that anything past No Prayer pretty much went downhill? Yeah Brave New World was a step in the right direction, but Bruce's solo is still better (e.g Chemical Wedding).

no, i dont think any of that! i think X FACTOR is the best album after BNW. i think no prayer is maidens worst ever album-which still makes it better than most anyone elses albums. includeing all of BRUCE's solo work! i think tattooed was a decent but overly pop metal sounding album and i think Bruces solo work has gotten progressively worse each album since. i think both accident and chemical are very uninspired attempts at a modern well played sound and while i think they both totally succeeeded there, i dont think they sound like anyone cared about the subject matter with the end results of both albums being that they sound great if you dont pay attention to what you are listening to! you can have the most skilled musicians in the world do a great job on songs about a pile of shit, but if none of them cares about a pile of shit the best efforts in the world arent going to make me care about the pile of shit or hear songs about the pile of shit again. im not going to tell people the albums about the pile of shit are good. those 2 albums are a pile of shit and nobody cares about the pile of shit!
 
Hmmmm......Fear Of The Dark could only be 'classic' because it's by Maiden. The only songs that live-up to the earlier classics are the title track, Afraid To Shoot Strangers and maybe Be Quick Or Be Dead imo. Fear Of The Dark is a mighty song but the rest of the record isn't anything special compared to the likes of, well, most of the albums.
 
Somewhere in Time. Simply doesn't get any sweeter with progressive melodies played through two synchronized guitars.

I hate live albums, and Live After Death sucks.
 
MRBEAst, how wrong you are my friend, Bruce's solo is the most inspired metal to come along in years, I don't know what you don't like about it but give it another try, anyways, Powerslave, and Live After Death. or Live at Donnington.
 
Yes - it's a little far-fetched to say Bruce Dickinson is uninspired - and in the same breath stating that X Factor is a great album! It's almost as bad as Virtual XI but not that atrocious....

Whatever the opinion, The Chemical Wedding is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, and anything by IM after Seventh Son is utter crap in comparison.

Even IM know it to be true - otherwise they'd be churning out more Virtual XI's on a yearly basis surely.
 
Powerslave....it's the most consistent Maiden album imo, and it's got the most powerful, grandest feeling to it.
I kind of agree with you there. "The number of the beast" is still my favorite Maiden album, but "Powerslave" is number 2! In "Rime of the ancient mariner" there is a riff that is super simple, but kind of "major" or "grand" as you put it. It's the riff after the narration in the middle of the song. When Bruce starts singing that "The mariner he wished he did, but all of the secrets lived on and so did he" or whatever it is he sings. When he stops singing and the drums come in, this is the riff I'm talking about! One of the closest things in metal to giving me chills (although I didn't mention it in the other thread about that).
I also think Powerslave produced one of their best songs, "Rime of the ancient mariner". I've always like Maiden's epic songs the best. "To tame a land" from "Piece of mind" is their best song IMO, but I think it was with "Powerslave" that they started to make great epic songs. Although "Phantom of the opera", "Genghis Khan" and "Hallowed be thy name" are good songs, I think they didn't produce great epic songs until "Piece of mind", but "Powerslave" is a better album overall.
 
Oh yeah, I'm not too big a fan of "Fear of the dark" either. I think it was the second record I got a hold of by them ("Beast" was the first) and at the time I thought it was great, but when I look at it now there's only "Be quick or be dead", "The apparition" and the title track that I'd put on! "Weekend warrior" is also acceptable. Even though, as I said, their epic songs are what I like best about Maiden, "Be quick or be dead" is one of their best songs imo.
But anyway, it's a matter of taste, so I think it's wrong saying "Fear Of The Dark is NOT a classic. The track maybe, but not the album. No way.", as their is no right and wrong when it comes to taste!!
 
Best studio album: Powerslave, it didn't break a lot of new ground but definitely had their best songs and didn't have the fillers that were in Piece of Mind

Best Live album: Live after Death, a lot of the songs sound so much better then the studio versions
 
Originally posted by JayKeeley

Even IM know it to be true - otherwise they'd be churning out more Virtual XI's on a yearly basis surely.

that an example of you trying to be logical? guess what!
IT DIDNT WORK!!! wheres the IM chemical wedding youre implying they are doing instead? if its so great whys bruce back in maiden? why was bruce touring to promote his greatest hits instead of recording a follow up? if its so great why is it that monty pythons terry jones still cant get any funding for the movie after 2 years?

impress me with your logic now and give me some answers i can believe!

and if you want to hear atrocious pick up skunkworks!