Your ranking of the Maiden albums

[Spruce Goose]

I'm in the mood for some Maiden related threads after just buying my tix to see them... OHHHHH YEEEEAAH!

Ok... So I've been listening to the albums a bit lately and I think at this point in time my list from best to worst looks like this:


Somewhere in Time
A Matter of Life and Death
Brave New World
Number of the Beast
Piece of Mind
7th Son
Dance of Death
Powerslave
X Factor
Iron Maiden
Virtual XI
Killers
Fear of the Dark
No Prayer

To be honest, I haven't really listened to the last 3 albums on my list.
Owned them for years but only really gave each a couple of spins.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

This is the sort of question where the answer will be slightly different every time I answer it, but here goes. I will put them into groups as well...

These would probably remain the top 4 and rotate slightly on occasion:

Number of the Beast
A Matter of Life and Death
X Factor
Somewhere in Time

These are the middle 5, again they would likely remain the middle 5 but rotate around.

Powerslave
Piece of Mind
Dance of Death
Iron Maiden
Brave New World

These would definately be my bottom 5, order depending on which albums get in my playlist more at the time.

7th Son
No Prayer
Fear of the Dark
Killers
Virtual XI

 

[phlogiston]

Oh, except for the first and last ones this could be tricky.

A Matter of Life and Death
Piece of Mind
Dance of Death
Powerslave
Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
X Factor
Brave New World
7th Son
Killers
Somewhere In Time
Virtual XI
Fear Of The Dark
No Prayer

That's about right. The more I think about the harder it gets.

 

[Spruce Goose]

Dance of Death number 3 hey?
Interesting.
Also interesting that you put SIT so far down the list

 

[FerretallicA]

I'll go with the grouping approach as well.

Best two are easy.
Somewhere in Time
Brave New World

The next ones are harder to sort so they can all go together in no particular order.
Number of the Beast
A Matter of Life and Death
Dance of Death
X Factor
Virtual XI
Fear of the Dark
Powerslave

I pretty much stop enjoying Iron Maiden albums after that.
Piece of Mind
Seventh Son of a Seventh Day Adventist
No Prayer For The Dying

Killers and Iron Maiden pretty much burn my ears. If they weren't their first albums I'd probably be even more critical of just how shit most of the songs on those two albums are.

 

[phlogiston]

I really like DoD, even with it's cheesy moments. And I like SIT more than that list indicates really. I'd put it higher, but then I'd have to move something lower.

 

[Spruce Goose]

You don't enjoy Piece of Mind?

It loses it's way towards the end....

BUT

WHERE EAGLES DARE
REVELATIONS
FLIGHT OF ICARUS
DIE WITH YOUR BOOTS ON
THE TROOPER
TO TAME A LAND

are all golden

 

[phlogiston]

Killers and Iron Maiden pretty much burn my ears. If they weren't their first albums I'd probably be even more critical of just how shit most of the songs on those two albums are.

That's crazy talk. You're talking crazy. You're crazy. Craziness.

 

[Priest of Evil]

That's about right. The more I think about the harder it gets.

Yep!
Soo hard, possibly atm:

Iron Maiden
Killers
Powerslave
Piece of Mind
Somewhere In Time
Number Of The Beast
7th Son
A Matter of Life and Death
Brave New World
Dance of Death
Fear Of The Dark
No Prayer

I havent heard the last 2 albums in entirity, well not in last 10 years or so. I never owned them so I cant really rate them.
X Factor
Virtual XI

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I am a big fan of Dance Of Death as well. Some brilliance on there, you can see they really were on their way to the classic album that is A Matter Of Life And Death.

 

[Spruce Goose]

I rate it as well...

The Journey man is such a depature from what the usually write, but it is a bloody top song.

 

[Bucko]

gunna give this some thought prior to posting

 

[Spiff]

Aw gee, this is too hard. The first three are in order, as is the last one, but I've had to group the rest.

Pure awesomeness
A Matter of Life and Death
Iron Maiden
The Number of the Beast

Always felt a bit iffy about these, even though they're good albums...
Killers
Piece of Mind
Powerslave (never could get into this because the best songs sound better on Live After Death)
Somewhere in Time
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Brave New World

Extremely underrated - I have to blame the production, so they're in the third bunch
No Prayer for the Dying
The X Factor
Virtual XI

Could have been great, but only half the songs are really any good
Dance of Death

Despite one or two good songs, I never have liked
Fear of the Dark

 

[Southy]

I can't really Build a list, they are all so good in their own personal way. To me anyway.

On a personal note, if Virtual XI was cropped down and better produced, it would be a truely awesome album, bit of a shame really, just like you lot, it is pretty hard to rate because of that

 

[Spiff]

I can't pick a dud song on Virtual XI, but it's just a bit of a mess overall. Better production, get rid of 28 of the choruses from Angel and the Gambler, and fix Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger and it'd be hard to beat.

 

[Bucko]

Number of the Beast
Piece of Mind
Killers
7th Son
Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
A Matter of Life and Death
Brave New World
No Prayer
Iron Maiden
X Factor
Dance of Death
Fear of the Dark
Virtual XI - dont have it

 

[FerretallicA]

get rid of 28 of the choruses from Angel and the Gambler

Your CD skips there too?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I agree about Virtual XI, it is full of great material, but is still a weak album overall. Strange.

 

[FerretallicA]

Seeing Iron Maiden live changes everything!

I'm actually listening to Iron Maiden more than Dream Theater at the moment. Planets have exploded over smaller things than that. There are some songs I heard on Ed Hunter when I first started getting into Iron Maiden that I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed while other songs that I've neither seen live nor ever particularly liked are sounding so much better simply for being able to imagine what they'd be like to experience live.

Before:

Best two are easy.
Somewhere in Time
Brave New World

The next ones are harder to sort so they can all go together in no particular order.
Number of the Beast
A Matter of Life and Death
Dance of Death
X Factor
Virtual XI
Fear of the Dark
Powerslave

I pretty much stop enjoying Iron Maiden albums after that.
Piece of Mind
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
No Prayer For The Dying

Killers and Iron Maiden pretty much burn my ears. If they weren't their first albums I'd probably be even more critical of just how shit most of the songs on those two albums are.

After:

I can put them all pretty much in order now instead of just groups. Absolutely love the first group of albums:
Somewhere in Time
Brave New World
Powerslave
Seventh Son of a Seventh Day Adventist
Number of the Beast

Fear of the Dark
Piece of Mind
Virtual XI
X Factor
Dance of Death
A Matter of Life and Death
No Prayer For The Dying

Killers
Iron Maiden

The last two still burn my ears. Other than "Wrathchild" and the title tracks of both I could happily go without acknowledging the albums even exist.

 

[Spiff]

AMOLAD is still my favourite, with Fear of the Dark at the bottom.

Been listening to the 80s stuff a lot lately and I've decided I just really don't like Seventh Son anymore.