SIT or SSOASS ?

SIT or SSOASS

  • Somewhere in Time

    Votes: 17 45.9%

  • Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

    Votes: 16 43.2%

  • Any other Maiden album

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Adrian Smith

    Votes: 4 10.8%
  • Total voters
    37
SSOASS miles better.

EDIT: I like mckindog's scale:

Great
CSIT, WY, HCW, SIASL, Moonchild, ID, CIPWM, TETMD, SSOASS, Clairvoyant, OTGDY

Excellent
TLOTLDR, ATG, Prophecy

Good
SOM,

Decent

Not a big fan
DV
 
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Somewhere in time. No contest.
SIT is their most consistent album and their defining masterpiece from 1980s.
 
SS contains some of the heaviest, darkest, and most atmospheric music they did to that date. However it also has most sleazy and commercial moments. The song that should've tied the story of the album came out fillerish, and it is most known for its acoustic outro. SiT has some flaws - mainly the bad lyric of its epic proper. But the oscillation between that groove metal present in the title track and Bon Jovi moments in Evil that men do, are too much for me. Maiden did not commericialize but that's how that song came out on the album - bland, synth riden and too of a love affair. Live it's a powerful gallop moment. Just like CIPWM. Both are great live tracks that happen to be radio friendly (so is RTTH, FOI, Trooper, WY, etc...) so I won't put any evil thoughts there but for me SiT is a simply more cohesive metal experience.
 
For consistency, stronger lyricism and containing the song that got me into Maiden, I'd give this to Seventh Son.
 
First of all I honestly don't want to sound elitist on this post or to offend anyone. It deals with people nitpicking on SSOASS or SIT.
Well.. let's see. I'm sure for oldies like me that started to listen to Maiden during the mid eighties (with Bruce already as a frontman) there's the common sense that all the albums the band released during that decade are almost flawless (Hell! IMO I can only spot 2 bad songs during that period: Gangland and Quest For Fire). That doesn't mean the rest of their catalogue is subpar. I really love The X Factor and what they've done in the last 15 years (I even consider some records like AMOLAD to be at an higher level than some of those classics).
So my 3 favorite Maiden albums are SIT, Powerslave and SSOASS (with POM an inch below this trio). That being said I think that there are no weak songs on those 3 albums, especially SIT and SSOASS where every single song is on such a level of quality it's scary! So let's see the 2 main "defects" some of you are pointing at these 2 albums:
  • CIPWM and WY are a bit commercial: perhaps... so what? They sound like Maiden 10000% and they're absolutely gorgeous compositions (it's Adrian Smith in his prime, for Christ's sake!!!!). And if you call these songs radio friendly I don't know what youl'd call songs like Running Free, Wrathchild, Run To The Hills, Flight Of Icarus, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Bring Your Daughter, From Here To Eternity, Wasting Love, Chains Of Misery, Judas Be My Guide, The Angel And The Gambler, 2 AM, The Wicker Man, Wildest Dreams, Rainmaker, Different World, The Final Frontier, Coming Home, Speed Of Light or Tears Of A Clown... and especially the most lalala theme the band has ever composed and is arguably their most well known song: Fear Of The Dark (strip it from its intro and it's a 5 minute hit single in desguise) that is considered by many (not me, although being a good tune) a masterpiece. There's nothing wrong with a song being radio friendly if it's amazingly constructed and its simplicity stems from a process of rounding edges to the absolute essential of its genius. And regarding that, both CIPWM and WY are among the best metal songs ever . Remember there's 2 types of music when it comes to radio and sales: the one that's "good" because it sells and the one that sells because it's good.
  • These 2 albums don't sound much like Maiden... they're sell outs because they have too much synths and keyboards: You wanna know what is a sell out commercial record full of synths and keys made by a top Metal band? Listen to Judas Priest's Turbo. And then compare it to SSOASS (with that occult, supernatural driven ambience) or SIT (intense, fast and futuristic)... see how turbo aged horribly and how these 2 albums only grew a couple of wrinkles here and there.Plus they feature all the elements that made the Maiden sound since Phantom Of The Opera. And since when does adding keyboards makes a record less Maiden and more commercial? Wanna know what I think is really un-Maiden and radio lalala (that happens to have zero keyboards)? Rubbish like Wasting Love, From Here To Eternity, Age Of Innocence or Hooks in You. Don't believe me? Just listen to it without Bruce's voice.
In sum: I think every Maiden fan should pay HUGE respect to these 2 records. Even if they're not your favorites. Hell: check my case! TNOTB is hardly in my top 10 but I won't go around saying it's a crap or even meh album... I know damn well it is one of the 80's Metal cornerstones! And yes... I'm sick of listening to HBTN but I know damn well it's one hell of a composition! The fact an album is not quite your cup of tea or that you're sick of listening to it doesn't mean it's weak! If someone would ask me to rank TNOTB regarding its impact and importance in Maiden legacy and Metal history I would put it undoubtly at the top 3 (if not at number 1!). So I think that every single album this guys made during the 80's is almost flawless and any major defect you may detect on them besides a couple of songs is absolutely unjustifiable . Don't get me wrong... I don't want in anny way to shape your opinion. I only want to state how these 2 albums should be hugely respected and to stress the absolute difference between stating an entirely valid opinion like "SSOASS/ SIT is not among my favorite 10 Maiden albums" and blasphemous stuff like "SSOASS/ SIT is not one of their 10 best Maiden albums".

Peace.
 
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My issue with Maiden’s work in the ‘80s is literally that they always have some weaker songs on them (except Powerslave, because the weakest songs on there are still awesome). SiT is pretty strong, but its highs aren’t as good as SSoaSS. Even though the latter album isn’t quite as cohesive, it still wins over in the end.
 
Somewhere In Time. I love both but SIT is just special . It brings yourself in another world ...Where time and space has no importance anymore. Alexander The Great, TLOTLDR, Sea Of Madness, DejaVu and the Title Track are absolutely 5 of my absolute favorite tracks ever
 
I've been just thinking how Juanita is on par with best moments from Master of Puppets the album ;)
 
IMO Iron Maiden, Killers, Powerslave, SIT, SSOASS, The X Factor, AMOLAD and TFF are the 8 albums that don't feature a single weak song per se (I'm even of the opinion that Killers, SIT, SSOASS, TXF and AMOLAD) don't even feature anything that can be labeled boring or predictable) . 5 out of those 8 were released during tghe 80's. Of course that doesn't automaticly make them my absolute 8 favorites (Piece Of Mind is my at my top 5 and TFF isn't even in my top 10). Then again... it's a matter of opinion. But I think there's blatant stuff to be taken in account. Namely: a) if one crappy song tarnishes an entire record what to say about albums with several weak songs like Fear Of The Dark, Virtual XI, Brave New World or Dance Of Death... and that doesn't compromise them in my ranking at all - as matter of fact DOD is in my top 10. b) If a single crappy song downgrades an entire album is it fair to say that Piece Of Mind and The Number Of The Beast are not 2 of the most important metal albums ever released? IMO it makes no sense.
 
I remember an interview with Steve in 1986 where he says that this time in the SIT album everything is perfect. Because there are songs on the previous albums that they (or at least Steve) were not so happy with and were not as strong as the others - TNOTB (Invaders and Gangland), POM (QFF and Sun and Steel) and Powerslave (FOTB ..... for this song, if I'm remember correctly, he said that it could have sounded a bit better).
 
Side 2 Powerslave is bombastic. Really not a good choice to omit playing Village live. Side 1 starts epic but then the bulk of it...

I won't rant about fillers on Powerslave but consider it starts with Aces High/2MTM and then goes into a triplet of songs where

1) the only lyrical theme is swordfighting
2) 2/3 mid tempo songs without much chug, energy loss
3) great melodies on the lyrical tracks
4) the instrumental, although technically good (esp the drums), melodies aren't that catchy and the Duellists midsection is way better

What I would do is definitely mix up FOTB and Duellists into a 7/8 minute epic that's #4 on the album, move Village to #3 and drop Losfer Words down before Powerslave.
 
Zare said:
What I would do is definitely mix up FOTB and Duellists into a 7/8 minute epic that's #4 on the album, move Village to #3 and drop Losfer Words down before Powerslave.
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I personally love Losfer Words and think the other 3 songs that never got live play are really good on their own. They only got one problem and let me illustrate it with this picture:
tuts_daniel-sone_adelson-ex1.jpg

Here we are presented with a curious optical illusion. Pay attention to both squares maked with a blue dot. Although the upper one seems darker in truth they have exactly the same hue. That's kind of what happens with those 4 songs. In all honesty they're quite good compositions. What determins its underrating is being placed inbetween 2 of the most amazing combos ever made in Metal: Aces High/ 2 Minutes and Powerslave/ROTAM.

Kalata said:
Because there are songs on the previous albums that they (or at least Steve) were not so happy with and were not as strong as the others - TNOTB (Invaders and Gangland)
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Although the chorus being really atrocious, the rest of the song is nothing short of amazing and I find it quite odd that Steve Harris thinks it's crap due to a) it was entirely composed be him b) having one of the best bass lines of their reportoire.
 
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karljant said:
Although the chorus being really atrocious, the rest of the song is nothing short of amazing and I find it quite odd that Steve Harris thinks it's crap due to a) it was entirely composed be him b) having one of the best bass lines of their reportoire.
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You talk about ''Invaders'', right ? I also think everything in it is superb (aside from the chorus) - a really short rocker full of energy and a great way to start the album. Although, I prefer ''Gangland'' to it, which is criminally underrated.
 
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