Bruce Dickinson

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Luckily, I have both the U.S. and Japanese versions of the album — 13 tracks, including “Ghost of Cain.” I have no idea how it ended up in a music store in my country (and many years ago, too). Pure coincidence and luck, I guess. And sadly, the The Chemical Wedding version I have includes only “Real World” and not “Return of the King,” which is a total bloody shame.
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Edit: I just logged into my local music store’s website and found the last remaining CD copy of The Chemical Wedding — the edition with all three bonus tracks. Return of the King, here I come! What a coincidence. Ordered!
 
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Azas said:
Luckily, I have both the U.S. and Japanese versions of the album — 13 tracks, including “Ghost of Cain.” I have no idea how it ended up in a music store in my country (and many years ago, too). Pure coincidence and luck, I guess. And sadly, the The Chemical Wedding version I have includes only “Real World” and not “Return of the King,” which is a total bloody shame.
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Edit: I just logged into my local music store’s website and found the last remaining CD copy of The Chemical Wedding — the edition with all three bonus tracks. Return of the King, here I come! What a coincidence. Ordered!
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That’s a good find! Return of the King is one of the few songs I ever bought on iTunes back in the day. I have the best of Bruce so I already have Real World. I don’t care too much for Confeos.
 
“Road to Hell” and “Return of the King” - the reunion-era Iron Maiden albums really feel starved for that kind of short, punchy track. I can’t believe Steve Harris keeps neglecting those compact bangers. After all, he wrote “Wrathchild,” “Run to the Hills,” “The Trooper,” “Aces High,” and “Futureal.”

To me, it feels almost criminal. It’s like after the reunion he permanently switched into a “Maiden-ized Rush mode” or something. Or… maybe he’s been constantly trying to write a new “Fear of the Dark.”

I’m pretty sure that somewhere in his idea vaults he has plenty of great material for shorter, punchy songs. But because those ideas are buried among so many others-and because of his current focus on long epics-those potential bangers never get fully developed or brought to life. Aargh!
 
Azas said:
“Road to Hell” and “Return of the King” - the reunion-era Iron Maiden albums really feel starved for that kind of short, punchy track. I can’t believe Steve Harris keeps neglecting those compact bangers. After all, he wrote “Wrathchild,” “Run to the Hills,” “The Trooper,” “Aces High,” and “Futureal.”

To me, it feels almost criminal. It’s like after the reunion he permanently switched into a “Maiden-ized Rush mode” or something. Or… maybe he’s been constantly trying to write a new “Fear of the Dark.”

I’m pretty sure that somewhere in his idea vaults he has plenty of great material for shorter, punchy songs. But because those ideas are buried among so many others-and because of his current focus on long epics-those potential bangers never get fully developed or brought to life. Aargh!
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Personally I think the fan base would have had the same complaints if Maiden had gone down the short songs route. At some point, like the epics, they would all start to sound the same. After all, there are only so many riffs and chords progressions (especially in the keys Maiden stick with) that you can write. Especially when it is coming from the same group of people.
 
Azas said:
“Road to Hell” and “Return of the King” - the reunion-era Iron Maiden albums really feel starved for that kind of short, punchy track. I can’t believe Steve Harris keeps neglecting those compact bangers. After all, he wrote “Wrathchild,” “Run to the Hills,” “The Trooper,” “Aces High,” and “Futureal.”
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He has also written The Angel and the Gambler and a good number of stinkers over the years! :lol:
 
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GhostofCain said:
He has also written The Angel and the Gambler and a good number of stinkers over the years! :lol:
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In my view, “The Angel and the Gambler” would have been a fun mid-tier—or even slightly above—rocker if it had been kept to a tighter, more appropriate length. The song was overstretched. So this really fits the narrative that Steve Harris was constantly trying to write a new “Fear of the Dark.” It feels like that tendency took hold around the The X Factor–Virtual XI era.

It’s as if he got “infected” at that time—bitten in some dark, abandoned East End alley by a mad, deformed dog of prolonginess, or stung by a bee of excess somewhere near the Barnyard studio. There’s no other explanation. In a sense, Steve seems stuck with an “I need more cowbell”-type illness—only here it’s “I need more repetition.” Sadly, there’s no rock ’n’ roll doctor around to administer the punchy antidote.
 
Azas said:
In my view, “The Angel and the Gambler” would have been a fun mid-tier—or even slightly above—rocker if it had been kept to a tighter, more appropriate length. The song was overstretched. So this really fits the narrative that Steve Harris was constantly trying to write a new “Fear of the Dark.” It feels like that tendency took hold around the The X Factor–Virtual XI era.

It’s as if he got “infected” at that time—bitten in some dark, abandoned East End alley by a mad, deformed dog of prolonginess, or stung by a bee of excess somewhere near the Barnyard studio. There’s no other explanation. In a sense, Steve seems stuck with an “I need more cowbell”-type illness—only here it’s “I need more repetition.” Sadly, there’s no rock ’n’ roll doctor around to administer the punchy antidote.
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Sure he tried to write the new fear of the dark during xfactor and virtual. But imagine,no adrian,no bruce and janick and blaze as "helpers". Angel and the gambler would have been a cool song if it has 3 min.
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
Personally I think the fan base would have had the same complaints if Maiden had gone down the short songs route. At some point, like the epics, they would all start to sound the same. After all, there are only so many riffs and chords progressions (especially in the keys Maiden stick with) that you can write. Especially when it is coming from the same group of people.
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Hmm, I don’t need an album made up entirely of short tracks. But having two or three songs on the shorter side—around 3:00 to 4:50—would be nice. The rest could sit in the 5–6 minute range, topped off with a couple of epics. Something like that.

Also, for example, I don’t really consider The Alchemist and The Pilgrim by Iron Maiden to be true “bangers.” To me, those songs lack a certain attitude or punch needed for that category—but that’s just my personal take.

Edit: Now I’m listening to “Abduction” by Bruce Dickinson — a top-tier banger, if you ask me. Also “Silver Wings.” If Iron Maiden were ever to release a Powerslave II, “Silver Wings” should definitely open that album—ha ha.
 
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Azas said:
In my view, “The Angel and the Gambler” would have been a fun mid-tier—or even slightly above—rocker if it had been kept to a tighter, more appropriate length. The song was overstretched. So this really fits the narrative that Steve Harris was constantly trying to write a new “Fear of the Dark.” It feels like that tendency took hold around the The X Factor–Virtual XI era.

It’s as if he got “infected” at that time—bitten in some dark, abandoned East End alley by a mad, deformed dog of prolonginess, or stung by a bee of excess somewhere near the Barnyard studio. There’s no other explanation. In a sense, Steve seems stuck with an “I need more cowbell”-type illness—only here it’s “I need more repetition.” Sadly, there’s no rock ’n’ roll doctor around to administer the punchy antidote.
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My thought on The Angel and the Gambler has always been that Steve wrote a complete "live participation" song and bafflingly recorded it in the studio, a la the much-extended Sanctuary from Live After Death.

To its credit, though, it's a good driving song if you can just kick back and cruise with it (when your mind isn't looking to pick anything apart), IMO.
 
I honestly think it's safer for Maiden to go "longer songs" route. With longer songs there is more room for creativity (whether they use it or not), but woth shorter ones you kinda have to nail and main riff and chorus and solo to make it worth, otherwise it would become parody of their older self.
My personal opinion onwards:
I know some fans have praised "Days of future past" and it has definitely grown on me, but it doesn't reach NEARLY standards of shorter Maiden hits, would take "Speed of light" any day. If Maiden continued to limit themselves on short cuts, they would end up like Judas Priest. I'm not that huge fan of them, they grew on me a lot, but they are what some are expecting Maiden to be. They did technically experiment more with their sound, but they mostly stayed the same in my eyes. I like last 2 albums from them, but only a couple of songs which I listen for a period then forget totally. To me they kinda became one trick pony lately. You can say that for Maiden too for sure, but it's just my opinion cause I like Maiden better. I think Maiden had better run since reunion, than JP had overall.
 
Ledges Bitten In Dust said:
I honestly think it's safer for Maiden to go "longer songs" route. With longer songs there is more room for creativity (whether they use it or not), but woth shorter ones you kinda have to nail and main riff and chorus and solo to make it worth, otherwise it would become parody of their older self.
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I agree. I think it is comparable to the fact that tragedy is easier to write than comedy.
 
So you could also say they’re choosing the safe route with “complicated” epics while completely avoiding the challenge of writing truly kick-ass short songs. (I do agree that a short track has to be nailed perfectly—tight and spot-on—otherwise it just turns into filler or a forgettable, meh song.) In that sense, it feels like Iron Maiden are leaning toward scale over precision.
 
Azas said:
So you could also say they’re choosing the safe route with “complicated” epics while completely avoiding the challenge of writing truly kick-ass short songs. (I do agree that a short track has to be nailed perfectly—tight and spot-on—otherwise it just turns into filler or a forgettable, meh song.) In that sense, it feels like Iron Maiden are leaning toward scale over precision.
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Well yeah, I think after 17 albums, safe route is the way for any band. I prefer longer storytelling epic songs, so I favor Maiden any day over JP. JP' safe route is short kick ass songs (which are mostly not so kick ass imo, but talking objectively here). Contrary, JP made longer songs - entire Nostradamus ( which I like) and Lochness song. Does it fit them - wouldn't say so. You can't say that for Maiden, because Maiden made songs in today's style in every era of the band.
 
Yeah, but Iron Maiden also had plenty of great banger-type songs during their golden years. The question is: why did they stop making them? Why fix what isn’t broken? (I remember Steve Harris saying he’s not really into that style anymore—which is a shame, and a big loss for us as fans.)
 
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