The Worst of Iron Maiden

Loneliness is unreal. The lyrics are weak but not too bad, but the music is amazing. Love it.
shadowmac said:
The weakest Maiden songs had Blaze Bailey on vocals. Even "Clansman", which is a great song, sounds all wrong with his voice. The two albums he sang on had some of the best music Maiden ever made and I can't stade to listen to either one end-to-end cuz his vocals just plain suck.
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You will have a hard time with that arguement here as there are a few Blaze fans about. The man is awesome, and The X Factor is one of the bands best albums.
 
someone once explained to me that TLOTLDR is a metaphor for being in a band like maiden and busting your arse trying to be the most awesome you can. I used to listen to that song a lot when i was working on my solo album and felt like chucking it in due to all the useless motherfuckers who begged me to let them guest on it and then turned out to be useless motherfuckers who'd fail to show up at the studio or whatever. So, it's a fucking awesome song y0.
 
I honestly cannot see how anyone can say Blaze sucks on TXF... that was their strongest album, in all regards, of the 90s.
 
I love the X Factor, people who don't can just eat a poo or something :lol: It is the same invalid arguement IMO as the anti Derrik Green in Sepultura movement, people hating for the sake of it
 
Blitzkrieg said:
Loneliness is unreal. The lyrics are weak but not too bad, but the music is amazing. Love it.

You will have a hard time with that arguement here as there are a few Blaze fans about. The man is awesome, and The X Factor is one of the bands best albums.
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Obviously I disagree on Blaze's prowess, but I'm actually glad to hear that there are many who really like those two albums. As I stated, the music was some of the best they've ever made IMO. Blaze just didn't (doesn't) have the reach that I've come to want and expect from Maiden - IM's been my fave since 1985. Anyway, I was somewhat suprised that Steve Harris chose Blaze over Eduardo Falaschi from ANGRA (whom was in the final 3 choices - Labrie, Bayley and Eduardo were the finalists). Perhaps Steve wanted to distance himself from a guy who sounds too much like Bruce, perhaps it was Falaschi's S. American accent, perhaps being SO British, I suspect that much of it was that Steve required a Brit to replace Bruce - I really don't know for sure, but I always thought that Tobi Sammett would have been the right guy vocally - second to Bruce of course, but Maiden choosing a German vocalist was always highly unlikely; there are still deep-set WWII resentments on the British side.

I've decided to put both those albums in my truck and listen to them again - it's been quite a while. I'll revisit this thread afterward.

ZeeYa, Mac
 
Them choosing a German as a singer wouldn't have mattered that much - and certainly wouldn't have stirred up any WWII resentments; that's somewhat of a source of humour here (as in, giving shit to the germans!). I actually think Steve wanted to distance them from Bruce's *style*, just as they'd done when they'd replaced Di'Anno.

Anyway, will be interesting to see your thoughts on the albums once you've given them a re-listen Mac :)
 
I agree that TXF could have been a tad shorter and there are a couple of weaker tracks on there (as with most Maiden albums), but the quality of the good stuff still lends it to being one of their strongest albums IMO.

shadowmac said:
Blaze just didn't (doesn't) have the reach that I've come to want and expect from Maiden - IM's been my fave since 1985.
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I think this is largely the problem with how Blaze was recieved. People had expectations, and when the choice of vocalist was of a different style to peoples expectations, the guy never had a real chance no matter what they did. They even came up with their best album in many many years, and people still didn't give it the time of day. A real shame that fans couldn't take it for what it was.

Honestly, I can't see TXF being a better album with any of the mentioned power metal style singers on it (Doogie White was another finalist of consideration I believe). Blaze's dark and brooding performance perfectly matches the mood of the album, which I would say was the largest contributer as to why he was chosen, being a Brit probably just helped.
 
I'd put "The Unbeliever" second on my list of underrated Maiden songs ("Hooks in You" being number one). Some great stuff on that album.
 
Been getting back onto a bit of Maiden this week. Listened to NOTB today, and enjoyed it more than usual. Gangland isn't a weak song at all IMO, it is great! It is just surrounded by absolute classics. As much as I like it, I would have to say Invaders is the weakest song on there, followed by Gangland I guess. Awesome album!

Also, quite a shame they weren't able to get Total Eclipse on the original version, it is such a killer track, and the different vibe of it sits well on the album. So heavy! Bruce is such a master. From this being his first written song with the band to Revelations being the second. So awesome.
 
Bruce has no writing credits on NOTB, Run To The Hills is only credited to Steve. The story goes that Bruce was still bound by his contract with Samson, and Maiden weren't able to release anything of his at the time NOTB came out, so Total Eclipse had to be kept for a b-side shortly after. Can someone else verify this?
 
Fuck. Now that I check the credits again, Total Eclipse is credited to Steve, Dave and Clive!? WTF!? I also thought that Gangland was Clive's only songwriting credit. Damn, maybe I was wrong. I have been meaning to watch the NOTB classic album DVD again anyway, maybe that will shed some light.
 
Bruce co-wrote Children of the Damned, The Prisoner and Run to the Hills I believe. I always thought 22 Acacia Avenue would have been one of his as well but apparently not.

I can't listen to the NOTB version of Total Eclipse. For years the live version was the only one I heard - studio version is just too slow for my liking. My NOTB doesn't include Total Eclipse because I don't consider it part of the album that I grew up listening to (same deal with Sanctuary on the debut and Twilight Zone on Killers).
 
From wikipedia:

'Total Eclipse' is a song by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It appears ninth on their 1982 album The Number of the Beast. It and Gangland are the only two songs to be written by drummer Clive Burr.

It was originally left off the album and appeared only as a b-side; however, the band members felt the song was too good to be left off the album and included it in the setlist on the tour promoting The Number of the Beast, and was eventually added to the album on the 1998 CD remaster release.

______


I always thought there was an actual reason it was left off though. Hmm...
 
I think Bruce was bound to Samson's *publishing company* to not write for another band - so after NOTB he simply bought out those publishing rights.
 
He discussed his songwriting credits on NOTB after he left Maiden, in interviews for (I think) Accident of Birth. He said he had a "moral contribution" on those songs, meaning that he co-wrote them. Here, I found a quote:

"I think you could say I had a very big moral contribution to certain songs. Like 'Children of the Damned', 'Run to the Hills' and 'The Prisoner'. Those three songs were the songs in which I had the biggest moral contribution."

http://www.bookofhours.net/bdwbn/bio.htm
 
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