About that "pesky happy sound"...

A

Anonymous

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I was just browsing the Commentary, and I noticed that a major comlain about a lot of songs (like Can I play with Madness, Tailgunner, Hooks In You, and From here to Eternety) that they have a "happy" sound. A few years before I said the same, but since I'm listening to power metal like Helloween, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius and the like, I found out that happy sounding songs can be fuckin great, and the aforementioned Maiden songs grew on me.
Well, this is just my opinion.

Cheers!
 
Interesting point. I can't disagree, sometimes the "happy" sound that Baeleron described in those songs do fit a mood. But often, they detract rather than add to a song or album. Can I Play With Madness is a great example. Even if you manage to get through Infinite Dreams, Madness destroys the feeling created by Moonchild. Moonchild is one of those superlative-over-the-fucking-top songs, probably my favourite on Seventh Son.

It's not as bad on No Prayer For the Dying, because the album's only unifying feel is the punkish guitar vein, and that's present on all the songs in the album, save perhaps Mother Russia. If anything, the "happy" critique can almost be brought to its strongest on Dance of Death, against Gates of Tomorrow, which just doesn't fit as well as it might, following the title track.
 
You might have noticed that the "pesky happy sound" expression has disappeared long ago from the Commentary [!--emo&:p--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Whoa, you had to "get through" Infinite Dreams, LC? I can see someone not liking "Can I Play With Madness", I myself don't, and I'm even okay with you not liking "The Clairvoyant", but what did you think was wrong with "Infinite Dreams"? It's not too happy, it starts off with a great feel, and progresses to a fast paced instrumental section. In short, all the ingredients of a great song. And everything aside, it sounds so fuckin' cool! Please make me see where it lost ground on you.
 
The main cause of the "pesky happy sound" (a description I despise) is that the band plays in a major key; most of their songs are in a minor key. To put it simplistically, anything in a major key tends to sound more happy than sad regardless of lyrical content. While no one (to my knowledge) has come up with a conclusive explanation for this phenomenon, it has been true since the major/minor key system was fully codified around the time of J.S. Bach. There seems to be something deep in human nature which makes us perceive songs this way ... but as I said, musicologists aren't fully in agreement why we perceive this.
 
[!--QuoteBegin--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]I will actually now come out and say Seventh Son is my least liked album. I'm starting to really get into the sound of No Prayer and Killers. I think that there's too much synth on Seventh Son, first of all. The guitars seem a bit muted by it to my untrained ears. The songs bore me lyrically. Mythology and fantasy aren't my thing. Some of the songs seem entirely too happy (Can I Play With Madness) and one song in particular just doesn't fit the album (Infinite Dreams). I actually think Infinite Dreams would sound a lot better if it were on Piece of Mind or Powerslave! But the gap from Moonchild to Can I Play With Madness it occupies almost seems to kill the record for me. I really enjoy the sound of Moonchild, and it sets a good attitude for the rest of the album, but Infinite Dreams just kills that mood for me. First few times I tried listening to the album I had to turn it off after Can I Play With Madness or The Evil That Men do, because I just didn't have the desire to hear the rest of the album. When I burned my copy of the CD to take around in my discman (because my precious Maiden CDs rarely leave their cases) I actually burned it without Infinite Dreams.[/quote]

That's my thoughts on Infinite Dreams.
 
well, that explains a lot. to tell the truth, i didn't like SSOASS when i first heard it at all. and yes, Infinite Dreams is ill-placed in the album. It's real place is in Piece of Mind. But it's a great standalone song, nonethless.
 
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