Be The Producer of Maiden

Eddieson

Eddieson

Educated Fool
After several months of writing and rehersals, the boys come in with the songs. Your job is now to take it from there. Whatever happens is up to you.

Suggestions could be:

- Change track order
- Come with mixing and mastering guidelines
- Change title track and / or tour design
- Change singles and / or music videos
- Come with setlist suggestions

The changes can be however small or big you want, either to make it more artistic, commercial or just for your own pleassure; but try to keep it positive (please no "undo the blaze years") ;)

To get it cracking I have a few ideas:

The Man Who Walks Alone

Track list:

01: Be Quick Or Be Dead (1st single)
02: From Here To Eternity
03: Afraid To Shoot Strangers
04: Fear Is The Key
05: Childhoods End
06: Wasting Love
07: The Fugitive
08: Chains Of Misery
09: Judas Be My Guide (2nd Single)
10: Fear Of The Dark (3rd Live Single)

Total Runtime: 49 min

Just by cutting 2 songs the are usually seen as fillers the album feel more focused, and at 50 minutes its more in vein with the length of Powerslave and other classics.

Judas Be My Guide is a hidden gem and by making it the second single and 6th track played live on its tour it would get the recognition it deserves.

The Book Of Souls

01: If Eternity Should Fail
02: Speed Of Light
03: The Great Unknown
04: The Red And The Black (9 min)
05 The Book Of Souls
06: Death Or Glory
07: Shadows In The Valley
08: Tears of A Clown
09: Empire Of The Clouds (15 min)

Total Runtime: 72 min

This album would be even better by having slighly more focused songwriting.

Start out by trimming a few min in both of the albums longest songs. The Red and The Black suffers most in its current lenght, but by cutting one verse and two minutes in its midsection it would flow better. Same goes for Empire of the Clouds, cut a few sections between 7.00 and 12.30 to make it truly fantastic.

The second thing would be to look more critically at the material. When The River Runs Deep and The Man Of Sorrow is by no means bad songs, but sandwhiched between TRATB and the title track, and before the epic EOTC they are not needed. At 72 min the album is much more stremlined.

The third is the production. The boys need to take their time, especially Bruce. Double track the vocals, add vocal harmonies on choruses, and aim for a production closer to BNW.



But thats enough from me for now. Let me hear what you would do!!
 
As much as I may give certain albums and songs grief, I wouldn’t change a single thing in Maiden’s discography. It’s already as perfect as possible.
 
I'd keep all the ideas that were created at the time of the Fear of the Dark sessions. And make a double album. New songs in dark blue.

01. "Be Quick or Be Dead" Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers 3:21
02. "From Here to Eternity" Steve Harris 3:35
03. "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" Harris 6:52
04. "Man of Sorrows" Dickinson 5:44
05. "Fear Is the Key" Dickinson, Gers 5:30
06. "Beyond the Lighthouse" Dickinson, Dave Murray 7:33
07. "Childhood's End" Harris 4:37
08. "Wasting Love" Dickinson, Gers 5:46
09. "Shadow Walker" Gers, Harris 6:56
10. "The Quatermass Experiment" Dickinson, Harris 8:40
11. "The Fugitive" Harris 4:52
12. "Chains of Misery" Dickinson, Dave Murray 3:33
13. "The Empty House" Gers, Harris 9:02
14. "The Apparition" Harris, Gers 3:53
15. "Judas Be My Guide" Dickinson, Murray 3:06
16. "Spheres" Murray, Gers 2:44
17. "Weekend Warrior" Harris, Gers 5:37
18. "The Strange Door" Murray, Harris 3:59
19. "Fear of the Dark" Harris 7:16
20. "Resurrection of Judas" Dickinson, Murray 15:06
 
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Forostar said:
I'd keep all the ideas that were created at the time of the Fear of the Dark sessions. And make a double album. New songs in dark blue.

01. "Be Quick or Be Dead" Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers 3:21
02. "From Here to Eternity" Steve Harris 3:35
03. "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" Harris 6:52
04. "Man of Sorrows" Dickinson 5:44
05. "Fear Is the Key" Dickinson, Gers 5:30
06. "Beyond the Lighthouse" Dickinson, Dave Murray 7:33
07. "Childhood's End" Harris 4:37
08. "Wasting Love" Dickinson, Gers 5:46
09. "Shadow Walker" Gers, Harris 6:56
10. "The Quatermass Experiment" Dickinson, Harris 8:40
11. "The Fugitive" Harris 4:52
12. "Chains of Misery" Dickinson, Dave Murray 3:33
13. "The Empty House" Gers, Harris 9:02
14. "The Apparition" Harris, Gers 3:53
15. "Judas Be My Guide" Dickinson, Murray 3:06
16. "Spheres" Murray, Gers 2:44
17. "Weekend Warrior" Harris, Gers 5:37
18. "The Strange Door" Murray, Harris 3:59
19. "Fear of the Dark" Harris 7:16
20. "Resurrection of Judas" Dickinson, Murray 15:06
Click to expand...

Yesss that last track would be on every fanboys top 10 list ;)
 
Forostar said:
18. "The Strange Door" Murray, Harris 3:59
Click to expand...

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The Book of Souls

Everything is the same except we pull the blankets off the microphones.

The X Factor

Everything is the same but it has the same sound as Fear of the Dark.

The Final Frontier

Everything is the same but everyone sounds like they actually want to be there and the sound is similar to Somewhere in Time.
 
Is the production great? No, I don’t think you can say that. Does it fit? Yes. Yes it fucking does. The songs seem more endearing, the drumming is massive, the bass is audible - technically it’s not good, but it works with the material and I love it. I wouldn’t change a single thing on that album since perfection was already attained in 1995.
 
Lightning Strikes Twice
Futureal (Bayley, Harris)
Lightning Strikes Twice (Murray, Harris)
When Two Worlds Collide (Bayley, Murray, Harris)
The Clansman (Harris)
The Mercenary (Gers, Harris)
Dream of Mirrors (Bayley, Gers, Harris)
The Educated Fool (Harris)
Como Estais Amigos (Bayley, Gers)

Singles: Futureal and The Clansman. The Clansman single would feature an acoustic version of Como Estais Amigos as a b-side.

I would tell the band to cut The Angel and the Gambler and Don't Look to the Eyes of A Stranger, to be replaced by The Mercenary and Dream of Mirrors, which were saved for Brave New World. And also recommend the band to not record at Steve's home studio, Barnyard Studios. Another change would be to arrange some of the tracks in a lower key, for example Lightning Strikes Twice, When Two Worlds Collide and The Clansman. This would allow Blaze to sound better and less strained.
 
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A few off the top of my head:
  • I would remove or remix all the vocal harmonies from the reunion albums. Shirley completely destroyed songs like "The Thin Line..." and "Gates Of Tomorrow" with his god-awful "let's do a single take of the lead and harmony lines and slap them both on the album at the same volume" bullshit.
  • I'd take out those awful faster-tempo sections in "Dream Of Mirrors" and "Dance Of Death".
  • I would remix and remaster the last four reunion albums to clean up the horribly muddy production on Dance Of Death, get some more reverb on the drier vocals and guitars, and get more consistent levels on the instruments.
  • I'd put some more reverb on the guitars and vocals on Piece Of Mind.
  • I'd crank up the guitars in the mix across the board while leaving the bass at lead instrument levels.
  • I would change the band name on the Blaze albums to "'Arry and Davey's Iron Maiden Experience"
 
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