Three in a row.

What is Maidens best run of three consecutive studio albums?

  • Iron Maiden - Killers - Number of the Beast

    Votes: 1 1.8%

  • Killers - Number of the Beast - Piece of Mind

    Votes: 1 1.8%

  • Number of the Beast - Piece of Mind - Powerslave

    Votes: 12 21.8%

  • Piece of Mind - Powerslave - Somewhere in Time

    Votes: 7 12.7%

  • Powerslave - Somewhere in Time - Seventh Son

    Votes: 18 32.7%

  • Somewhere in Time - Seventh Son - No Prayer for the Dying

    Votes: 2 3.6%

  • Seventh Son - No Prayer for the Dying - Fear of the Dark

    Votes: 1 1.8%

  • No Prayer for the Dying - Fear of the Dark - The X Factor

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Fear of the Dark - The X Factor - Virtual XI

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • The X Factor - Virtual XI - Brave New World

    Votes: 2 3.6%

  • Virtual XI - Brave New World - Dance of Death

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Brave New World - Dance of Death - A Matter of Life And Death

    Votes: 11 20.0%
  • Total voters
    55
Albie

Albie

Keeping an open eye on the Weeping Angels.
I've not done a poll before so I thought it was about time to do so and what we have here is a choice as to what is your favourite run of three studio albums.

My vote will go for the trio of Brave New World - Dance of Death - A Matter of Life and Death. Reason: Since the reunion, the band have produced three good solid albums and there really is not a single bad track amongst the three albums. I think this period has to be the most consistent since Number of the Beast through to Powerslave (I toyed with this one, but opted for the above).

So, where does your vote go?
 
The X-Factor-Virtual XI-Brave New World. Three of my absolute favourites, and only Brave New World contains tracks that I'd describe as "weak" or "weak-ish". They also go together pretty well, because of their similar lyrical themes, although not entirely for the musical style (Virtual XI, Brave New World and Dance Of Death have more in common there, I think).
 
Perun said:
The X-Factor-Virtual XI-Brave New World. Three of my absolute favourites, and only Brave New World contains tracks that I'd describe as "weak" or "weak-ish". They also go together pretty well, because of their similar lyrical themes, although not entirely for the musical style (Virtual XI, Brave New World and Dance Of Death have more in common there, I think).
Click to expand...

As soon as I saw that you had posted, I said 'He's got to have BNW and The X Factor in there' :p

This is a tough one, because the ultimate three-in-a-row, for me, would have to take place somewhere from 'The Number of the Beast' to 'Seventh Son'.  Choosing which 3 is very hard, as I would rate 'Powerslave' the lowest out of all of those albums (NotB -> SSOASS), and 'Somewhere in Time' the highest.  As much as I love 'Number...' and '7th Son', I'm going to go with Piece of Mind - Powerslave - Somewhere in Time.  The sheer awesomeness of Still Life, To Tame A Land, Where Eagles Dare, Aces High, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, Deja Vu and Caught Somewhere in Time is just too much to handle.

If I had to choose post-1990, I would go for BNW - DOD - AMOLAD...not that I don't love TXF and VXI, but the three reunion albums just seem so fresh and full...as with Piece of Mind, you get a sense of completion from listening to them.
 
I had to go for NotB-PoM-PS. There's something magical about those early masterpieces. I've been listening to them for so many years that they have ingrained themselves into my soul. With the sole exception of "Gangland", I love every one of those songs.

I almost went with the BNW-DoD-AMOLAD option. It was a very, very, very close second. And I have to admit that in truth, it's probably a tie. So I chose the old sentimental favorites over their modern equals.

It seems to me that many songs pair up nicely from those 2 groups...

Multi-part masterpiece with amazing lyrics: Hallowed Be Thy Name vs. Paschendale
Multi-part masterpiece with vivid story-telling: Rime Of The Ancient Mariner vs. Dance Of Death
Rocking opener: Where Eagles Dare vs. The Wicker Man
Epic Arabian feel: To Tame A Land vs. The Nomad
Modern political commentary: 2 Minutes To Midnight vs. The Legacy
Ancient religions: Powerslave vs. Montsegur
WWII: Aces High vs. The Longest Day
Dave Murray writes a classic song: Still Life vs. Rainmaker

But the matches even continue on the bottom side of things:
Only one song I can do without: Gangland vs. The Fallen Angel
Vastly underrated "filler": Sun And Steel vs. New Frontier
Lower-quality openers that still rock hard: Invaders vs. Different World

So you see, it's almost impossible to choose. I could have gone either way - but like I said above, I slightly prefer the oldies just because I've heard them more.
 
I'm going for The Number of the Beast - Piece of Mind - Powerslave. Piece of Mind is my favourite Maiden album and The Number of the Beast has some brilliant songs even if it's somewhat uneven (my other favourite, The X Factor, was sadly released in between two albums I'm not so fond of). Having settled for those, I decided on Powerslave over Killers in the end. Even though Killers is much more consistent in quality and probably my most played Maiden album lately, Powerslave wins on the strength of a few of its songs, most notably the title track, 2 Minutes to Midnight and Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Brave New World - Dance of Death - A Matter of Life and Death would have had a strong case had the middle one been better.
 
My three would have to include either Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, The X Factor, and A Matter of Life and Death.  But since I can't include two of them in one group, it gets more complicated.

The X-Factor --> Brave New World would be the one if I chose The X Factor.  Fear of the Dark and No Prayer are too weak for me to choose them.  But there is Virtual XI between, which weakens the set somewhat.

Then there is Seventh Son.  Again, it can't include No Prayer or Fear... so the optimal choice here would be Powerslave - Somewhere in Time - Seventh Son.  Very very solid.

And finally, A Matter of Life and Death, which can only be joined with Brave New World and Dance of Death.  Also very very solid.  It's a really tough choice between these and the previously mentioned set. 

In the end, I guess the three newest albums win.  Reasons:
- Three guitarists
- More epics, more progressive
- More band collaboration, less Steve solo tracks* (though admittedly Steve gets a co-write on both BNW and AMOLAD).
- I got these before the older ones.

*= By this, I don't mean that I dislike songs written by Steve.  Quite the opposite, many of my favourites are only Steve's work.

Oh, and an honourary mention goes to The Number of the Beast - Piece of Mind - Powerslave, simply because it's got some of my favourite songs.  But the other two win out because of better consistency.
 
I chose TXF through BNW.  I really like VXI and it'll always have a very good feeling to me, as it's one of the albums I listened to regularly when getting into Maiden.  But The X Factor and Brave New World are both fantabulous.  I would say that the weakest is VXI (sorry, Perun), but that doesn't make it WEAK by any comparison.  People who know me know that I rate VXI as high up as I rate Seventh Son in my little...heirarchy.

Plus you get the full range of later Maiden works, and masterpieces like The Nomad, The Clansman and Sign of the Cross.  How can you lose?!
 
Albie said:
I've not done a poll before so I thought it was about time to do so and what we have here is a choice as to what is your favourite run of three studio albums.

My vote will go for the trio of Brave New World - Dance of Death - A Matter of Life and Death. Reason: Since the reunion, the band have produced three good solid albums and there really is not a single bad track amongst the three albums. I think this period has to be the most consistent since Number of the Beast through to Powerslave (I toyed with this one, but opted for the above).

So, where does your vote go?
Click to expand...



nice topic Albie !!  :ok:

I see very well what you mean, I LOVE the post Brave NW era, too

it's been 20 minutes that I was trying to choose between 1) Iron Maiden -Beast, 2) Beast-Powerslave
and 3) Brave NW -AMOLAD

I voted for the first one finally : Iron Maiden, Killers, Beast

it was a really tough choise *tired smiley*
 
Aye, this is a cool topic.

I went with Powerslave - Somewhere in Time - Seventh Son. Such a strong period for the band in terms of creativity, I think. SO many great tunes: "Wasted Years", "Can I Play With Madness", "2 Minutes to Midnight", "Infinite Dreams", "Alexander the Great", "Aces High", "Ancient Mariner", "Caught Somewhere in Time", "The Clairvoyant"... I could go on and on!

Something else that factored into my decision was the single releases from this era and the B-sides contained on them. I think this was the best period for B-sides, IMO. I liked the cover of Thin Lizzy's "Massacre", the remakes of "Charlotte the Harlot" and "Prowler" with Bruce on vocals, "Sheriff of Huddersfield" is hilarious and we also got the greatest Maiden B-side of all-time, "Mission From 'Arry".

Yes, that was a wonderful period for Maiden, methinks.
 
With my top three albums being 'Brave New World', 'A Matter of Live and Death' and 'The Number of the Beast' I have no choice but to vote for the 'Brave New World' - 'Dance of Death' - 'A Matter of Life and Death' option.
 
Currently, it would be Powerslave - Somewhere In Time - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son because they are the ones that make me dream the most, and what I like in Maiden is this part of "dream" in music. Two years ago, i would have prefered The X Factor - Virtual XI - Brave New World for the first and the third were my first Maiden albums, so I have an emotional link with them.
 
I'll go with Brave New world - Dance of Death - A Matter of life and death. I think this is Maiden's most consistently good run of albums, though Piece of Mind - Powerslave - Somewhere in Time comes dangerously close. This is one of the more interesting topics psted in a while.
 
It's tough to choose btwn the masterpieces of the 80s Powerslave-SIT-7th Son and BNW-DOD-AMOLAD. SMX has an awesome comparison! For me personally, I think I love the classics just a *wee bit* more than the more current stuff. CSIT is just awesome. Powerslave is right behind 7th Son as far as the title track for me. And Wasted Years... :blush:

My 3 in a row: SIT-7th Son-DOD

So my official vote is Powerslave-SIT-7th Son.
 
The best 3 in a row for me was Killers-Number Of The Beast-Piece Of Mind. The period from Killers to Seventh Son contains some of Maiden's best work but there was no way i could pick an option from the poll that included Powerslave, just too much filler material on that album for me outisde of the four classics.

Killers is a very under-rated album in my opinion, lots of overlooked gems on there. Number of the beast and Piece Of Mind are just classic Maiden albums, packed with great material.
 
I choose Piece of Mind, Powerslave, and Somewhere in Time.  This brings me back to the 80's when everything was *Totally Awesome*  Each album here, represents a Maiden concert I attended.  With each year 1983,1984,1985 Maiden's stage design went from good to great and then to Fanfuckingtastic.  The advancement of production was purely exciting to see. 
 
It's amazing how many people seem to be on the verge of tears when it comes to the 'Maiden in the 80's nostalgia'...

...let's face it, the band has never been better than in the current decade, has it?
 
It's amazing how many people seem to be on the verge of tears when it comes to 'Maiden in the 21st century'...

...let's face it, the band has never been better than in the eighties, has it?




;)
 
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