Tournament of Maiden Solos: the Top 10 video!

Which guitar solo is your favourite?

  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
Sea of Madness and Dance of Death.

The former is the single best solo Adrian Smith ever recorded, something I say without a single doubt. If they worked through/planned all their solo sections like that... (It reminds me of a drawback of not having a guitarplayer write the majority of the songs.) This is what someone who knows his own strengths and weaknesses sound like over section that exists only to put the best possible guitar solo on display. 10/10.
.
Always loved Dave's solo in Dance of Death too. It always felt special, despite being on an album with a ridiculous amount of great solo work. There's some tremolo-work in there, and it's one of the rare solos that still gets me going wondering exactly how he plays it. So for that reason, in combination with being a very pleasant piece both tonally and in note-choices it is a solo that captivates me still.
 
This one was tough, but I decided to go with 7th son. Although I wouldn't be upset at all if Sea or Dance end up winning this group.
 
Sea of Madness is the easy choice. It was difficult to choose between SSOASS and DOD but went with the latter in the end.
 
Of the four "ofs" presented, I vote for the second half. :D Sea of Death.

I'm getting the nagging feeling next time should SIT have its own category. It's even more solo-heavy than I expected and this way it will occupy most of the top 10. :D
 
Eh-hm... :spamkiller:

So, why do you (Cried and people here in general) think it's so? Why Somewhere? Do you think there's possibility the production helped? (Since the album's very 80's sounding - actually the most sounding that way of all their albums - I sometimes get the feeling the melodies stand out nicely then. Even the solos are very melodic. Maybe that was their intention)
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Eh-hm... :spamkiller:

So, why do you (Cried and people here in general) think it's so? Why Somewhere? Do you think there's possibility the production helped? (Since the album's very 80's sounding - actually the most sounding that way of all their albums - I sometimes get the feeling the melodies stand out nicely then. Even the solos are very melodic. Maybe that was their intention)
Click to expand...
Yes, I think the production has lots to do with it. I'm a big fan of how the album sounds. I'm not sure if the songwriting itself is particularly superior though. I think it's purely down to taste.

The obvious criticism is that it's an entirely studio sound & that Maiden, as has been touched upon before (& is the subject of another current thread), didn't manage to successfully transition this to the live setting. How could they? The album was recorded in two different places & was never played like that, in the studio together, anyway. Add to that the questionable road-worthiness of Adrian's custom made Jackson (he used the G-707 guitar synth controller in the studio) & the Roland GR-700 i.e. how tour robust these items were, that were integral to how these tracks sound --& it's little wonder it was hard to recreate live (& to envisage them continuing tour after tour to reproduce it too).

It sounds great, but Maiden are a live band & these tracks rarely feature. I think this is the reason for most of the divided opinion on the album. Doesn't stop the solos being awesome though.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
Yes, I think the production has lots to do with it. I'm a big fan of how the album sounds. I'm not sure if the songwriting itself is particularly superior though. I think it's purely down to taste.

The obvious criticism is that it's an entirely studio sound & that Maiden, as has been touched upon before (& is the subject of another current thread), didn't manage to successfully transition this to the live setting. How could they? The album was recorded in two different places & was never played like that, in the studio together, anyway. Add to that the questionable road-worthiness of Adrian's custom made Jackson (he used the G-707 guitar synth controller in the studio) & the Roland GR-700 i.e. how tour robust these items were, that were integral to how these tracks sound --& it's little wonder it was hard to recreate live (& to envisage them continuing tour after tour to reproduce it too).

It sounds great, but Maiden are a live band & these tracks rarely feature. I think this is the reason for most of the divided opinion on the album. Doesn't stop the solos being awesome though.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't be impossible to recreate live, I'm quite sure (just listen to bands like New Order or something, they do very heavily synthezised music beautifully in a live setting) - they're just not willing to put in the effort/feel that this particular sound is not 'their thing'. Maybe Somewhere in Time represents a moment when the band was pushed into something they weren't really comfortable with, but the result is in my opinion by far the best they ever achieved during their supposed "golden era".

It's easy to put blame on the gear, but even though I've grown up in a time where I feel there's really no limits to what you can get, I still find it hard to believe that a they couldn't have gotten a guitar synth that was suitable for touring and did the sound well enough back then... (It's bullshit to say you need a particular setup - it's all myth in the name of rock n roll. Mythic gear, mythic musicians, mythic guitarplayers, all to disguise that they aren't really more special than the local band playing down the pub - in my opinion.) Not to say possibilities now. It's ridiculous to blame gear/tone. No-one can tell the difference between a high end computer emulated tone and the analogue 'real deal' anymore. Just look at what happened when Accept recorded the whole of Blind Rage with Kempers. Hoffman goes, 'Oh, and by the way... we used no real amps. All modeling.' BOOM. If Maiden insists they can't get the SIT sound live, they're bullshitting.

Would be more acceptable with them coming out and saying that they 'fxkking hate that album'. (Which is a very understable reason for not playing the songs more than they do.)
 
Last edited:
Maturin said:
It wouldn't be impossible to recreate live, I'm quite sure (just listen to bands like New Order or something, they do very heavily synthezised music beautifully in a live setting) - they're just not willing to put in the effort/feel that this particular sound is not 'their thing'. Maybe Somewhere in Time represents a moment when the band was pushed into something they weren't really comfortable with, but the result is in my opinion by far the best they ever achieved during their supposed "golden era".

It's easy to put blame on the gear, but even though I've grown up in a time where I feel there's really no limits to what you can get, I still find it hard to believe that a they couldn't have gotten a guitar synth that was suitable for touring and did the sound well enough back then...
Click to expand...
I know we're not really disagreeing here, but you are putting words into my mouth somewhat. It isn't impossible to recreate live; they could and did take the guitar synths on the road. But, as you say, maybe Maiden just didn't want to drag all that shit around with them tour after tour. Adrian did use a synth for Brighter Suns more recently, & definitely had his GR-20 on SBiT tour for playing Moonchild. I assume the real reason was Adrian wasn't happy.
 
Last edited:
Maturin said:
No-one can tell the difference between a high end computer emulated tone and the analogue 'real deal' anymore
Click to expand...

That's certainly not true. You cannot claim such things just by having an attitude.

By the way, the thing with SiT isn't just synths and amps, it's the inability of Maiden to precisely recreate grooves and tempos that are recorded, because they recorded separate tracks and Martin Birch did the magic. Back then they didn't play as a whole band in studio. CSiT has a lot of harmonies with galloping guitar riffs providing heavy background, which was lacking live. Back then no 3 guitars. And they would screw up the tempo, play it faster, those nice sustained guitar chords would get drowned in speed and it lost a lot. Today they would probably do record version more justice with 3 guitars and original tempo, but there's no chance in hell McBrain can play Caught Somewhere In Time without the aid of double bass today. What's left, if we count out regularly played songs like Heaven Can Wait and Wasted Years, is two other Smith tracks. First, I think that Smith himself isn't so satisfied with the way Sea Of Madness ended up. You can get that feeling from a number of interviews where he was asked about the song. Second, there's a fair chance we'll see Stranger In A Strange Land live again, it's the kind of more laid back, Purpleish material they do today.

SiT tracks like CSiT, SoM, TLOTLDR and Deja Vu work in exact tempo and groove recorded on album. Nothing else actually compares. With Maiden known to actually fluctuate tempos live they'd need to start these songs with in ear metronomes and maintain tempo throughout some very demanding material, which is, I'm afraid, something they will not do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top