Any Ideas On A New Album

Adrian deserves all the praise given him. He is Adrian Smith, after all.
But I think it's fair to say this forum sometimes creates the perception we take Steve for granted.
There should be no doubt he is the heart of our favourite band.
 
I think that in fact Murray and Smith are better than Iommi, but Iommi haves this important advantage that he is one of the most influential guitarist of all times...
 
I' m certainly not in a position or even a mood to forbid anything and Bashing Steve is certainly allowed (not too much though :D), but not for such reasons. We now got the extremely inspired guitar player, soooo prolific, sooo creative, sooo cute I suppose:rolleyes: , whose incredible talent is restricted by the mean, sadistic, narrowminded bassplayer who allways makes the bad decisions:mad: . If Steve had let Adrian take the commands, Iron Maden would have become a crossover beetween AC/DC and Def Leppard. When he was first fired, what did he become ? Did he break new grounds for Metal of even rock music ? No, but Steve did.
 
harrisdevot said:
For some of you (and that's an old debate), Adrian is to be credited for all the good things in Maiden, and Steve has to be blamed for the rest. Are you serious ? I'm always surprised when I read some comments about "the most creative member", the "only perfectionnist", and all that stuff. I think he is GIVEN more space, but he is rightly kept under control. Has he invented Metal or what ? Is he the new Tony Iommi ? I mean, he is not even the best guitar player in Maiden, and he is certainly not the best songwriter : how could a man who has penned 3 songs on his own (yes, three !) be awarded that title. I understand unconditionnal admiration, but I cannot understand why any discussion on Maiden's music ends with a Steve bashing by some of you. Yoiu will rightly say that I myself am bashing Adrian. Yes, but Maiden is Steve's band, and that makes a huge difference.
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Congratulations, you have officially created a controversy where there was none. No one is bashing Steve or saying Adrian is to be credited for all good things Maiden. That's absurd, and I challenge you to find a single serious post on this thread [EDIT: hell, on this entire forum] that bashes Harris' contributions to Maiden. (His solo album is another matter, of course, but I didn't love Adrian's side project either.) Your last two posts might be the silliest posts I have seen in this forum in a long, long while.
 
mckindog said:
Adrian deserves all the praise given him. He is Adrian Smith, after all.
But I think it's fair to say this forum sometimes creates the perception we take Steve for granted.
There should be no doubt he is the heart of our favourite band.
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You're giving harrisdevot's deranged rantings WAY too much credit.
 
I didn't intend to create a controversy : I reacted to some comments. I must say yours are not really tempered. But I appreciate the honor of beeing credited for "the silliest posts in a long time", and "deranged rantings" sounds like a very good idiom. Thanks for taking care of my mental health.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
You're giving harrisdevot's deranged rantings WAY too much credit.
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Now I certainly don't want to do that. ;-)
But I, for one, have rarely posted praise for Steve. I just take it for granted that I dont need to.
I mean, why would I frequent an Iron Maiden site if I didn't think he was pure awesomeness?
And my impression is most other regular posters feel the same.
 
Well, I'm sick of people bashing Abraham Lincoln and giving William Seward all the credit for freeing the slaves and saving the nation.

Preposterous, isn't it?

Let's bring this thread back to reality. I simply pointed out that it wouldn't surprise me if Adrian Smith only had one more Maiden album in him. Frankly, looking at the video again, it wouldn't surprise me if Steve Harris had only one more Maiden album in him. And, as an olive branch to harrisdevot, OBVIOUSLY once Steve decides to hang it up, the band is done. The same cannot necessarily be said about Adrian, though it is possible that, if any of them chose to leave at this point, the others might just say to heck with it. Put another way, although the band certainly COULD survive the departure of any one member except Steve, who is OBVIOUSLY essential, I nevertheless doubt it would survive. I put the over/under on future Iron Maiden studio albums at 1.5. (EDIT: And I'll take the under.)

A while ago, someone else posted the provocative notion that it may all depend on Nicko, who (a) is the oldest and (b) has the most physically demanding job. I agree with that, and I don't think Steve would ever replace Nicko at this point.
 
William Seward? Isn't he the guy who gets all the credit that really should go to Captain Jean-Luc Picard?
 
I must confess, I don't get the joke with the misspellings. And I never watch Star Trek. But Shatner is a national treasure:
 
Goddamn it, he's Canadian?!?!?! When will those whiskey-swilling Canucks stop coming to the US and taking our entertainment jobs? Send 'em all back. (Except maybe her.)

Same goes for the fookin' Aussies.
 
harrisdevot said:
For some of you (and that's an old debate), Adrian is to be credited for all the good things in Maiden, and Steve has to be blamed for the rest. Are you serious ? I'm always surprised when I read some comments about "the most creative member", the "only perfectionnist", and all that stuff. I think he is GIVEN more space, but he is rightly kept under control. Has he invented Metal or what ? Is he the new Tony Iommi ? I mean, he is not even the best guitar player in Maiden, and he is certainly not the best songwriter : how could a man who has penned 3 songs on his own (yes, three !) be awarded that title. I understand unconditionnal admiration, but I cannot understand why any discussion on Maiden's music ends with a Steve bashing by some of you. Yoiu will rightly say that I myself am bashing Adrian. Yes, but Maiden is Steve's band, and that makes a huge difference.
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I'm almost certain I would deeply regret getting involved in this, but I just can't shrug my shoulders and move on after reading this.
Are you seriously thinking that the fact that Steve is the boss means that everyone else should immediately drop to their knees and kiss the tip of his shoes? Steve cannot function without a band and he could never have achieved what he has without the rest.

I do think that Adrian is the most creative member of Maiden, and I don't mean creative as in "prolific". Creativity can never be achieved without experimentation and imagination and I believe that Adrian's way better at that. Now you claim that Adrian has written three songs, but this is awfully wrong. The fact that Steve is credited for many of the songs simply reflects the fact that he has contributed to the lyrics or with a part of the song. But he himself says that Adrian comes up with the main ideas most of the time.

Another thing - Steve claims that he feels a lot of pressure when they are writing for a new album and he is relieved that he does not have to write as much any more but can concentrate on the production. Adrian, on the other hand, says that writing is his favourite part of the job. Which of these two sounds more creative?

You know, the fact that you're the one who always jumps into a thread, accusing people of disrespecting Steve, while in fact you are showing nothing but disrespect for Adrian, seems to me as a sign that you have something very personal against Adrian. Hmm, I wonder what this might be..
 
harrisdevot said:
Has he invented Metal or what ? Is he the new Tony Iommi ? I mean, he is not even the best guitar player in Maiden, and he is certainly not the best songwriter : how could a man who has penned 3 songs on his own (yes, three !) be awarded that title. I understand unconditionnal admiration, but I cannot understand why any discussion on Maiden's music ends with a Steve bashing by some of you. Yoiu will rightly say that I myself am bashing Adrian. Yes, but Maiden is Steve's band, and that makes a huge difference.
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I'll try to be basic to give my stance on this discussion.

1. You don't have to invent something to be fantastic at it.
2. He is the best guitar player in the band. (my favorite rock/metal guitar player of all time, actually)
3. He may not be the best songwriter on his own, but with the help of a great arranger (Steve Harris, that is) he comes up with the best stuff, especially after Reunion. And I certainly can recognize a riff or a melody Adrian writes, the same with Steve. Steve himself says that it's mostly Adrian who comes up with main ideas. (like Ariana has adressed to)
4. I have nothing against Steve, he's the reason why this band has been this successful. But on some issues he's right and on some he isn't and I'm not gonna ignore them just because everything he has done.
5. Adrian has the right to be involved in everything, because for me, he's the reason why Maiden is that succesful after their Reunion. Steve is ALWAYS a reason why Maiden is succesful, but Adrian is as much of reason as he is now. The best songs of the Reunion era had H credits on them (Starblind, Paschendale, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, Isle of Avalon, These Colours Don't Run, The Longest Day, Lord of Light, The Wicker Man, Coming Home, Mother of Mercy) probably the only Reunion songs that can be considered among the best that didn't have Adrian on their credits are Brave New World (Murray), Ghost of the Navigator (Gers), Rainmaker (Murray) and The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (Murray).
6. You may go ahead and say "But all of those songs also have Steve Harris on their credits !". That is true, but we all know that he's more involved in the arranging part than creating stuff. I'm pretty sure he arranges the songs using the material others come up with and adds the parts he created to make the song better flowing. (like bridges, maybe intros etc.)

I certainly do not think Steve is the most creative member of the band right now simply because the songs he writes on his own are NOT special anymore.
 
I have a double feeling about all this. Let's put everything in perspective:
mckindog said:
Now I certainly don't want to do that. ;-)
But I, for one, have rarely posted praise for Steve. I just take it for granted that I dont need to.
I mean, why would I frequent an Iron Maiden site if I didn't think he was pure awesomeness?
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Because you are a fanboy of Adrian Smith. ;)

And on a more serious note: More than a few people turned their back on Maiden when Adrian left and when he returned they ran back, shouted hallelujah and acted like nothing important happened in between. Since the reunion it's all about Adrian and Bruce. So indeed, sometimes it feels that the bulk of the people take Steve and the rest for granted, in comparison.
The Flash said:
anymore.
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Indeed. Anymore.

Adrian was the best songwriter on The Final Frontier, you could say this was also the case on A Matter of Life and Death. He wrote one of the best songs on Dance of Death (I still think the title track is better though), but on all other albums, other people wrote the best songs. Even in 1988. The Evil is a fantastic track from SSOASS. But I prefer the long ignored title track, Infinite Dreams, The Clairvoyant and Only the Good Die Young. Even in 1986. I find Sea of Madness the best song from Somewhere in Time, but his other two I do not rate higher than Deja-vu or any of the Harris songs (apart from Heaven Can Wait).

So, I actually dig one element of harrisdevot's post. Let's not make Adrian too important.

At the same time, I wish the band members themselves should realize that Adrian is important enough to be taken seriously. He is the man of the moment. That is, if he still is. We still have to see how big his contributions are on the next album. But surely: All in all, I think Adrian is the most creative songwriter since 2006 (and the most interesting guitar player on The Final Frontier, and probably also on Somewhere in Time). And since we live now and not in the past, this should count, when looking at the next album.
 
To Cornfed Hick : thanks for the olive branch, I take it.
To Ariana : I've got nothing against Adrian on a personal level (why should I ?). I just prefer Dave as a soloist, and Steve as a songwriter. And I'm not to fond of his general attitude : something always seems to bother him. That fact that I don't rate the Final Frontier that high has influenced my thoughts on Adrian recently : I find many riffs rather weak compared to their previous productions. But, all in all, I would say that the only maiden members that sometimes bothers me are Bruce (for his bigmouthed attitude) and Janick (for his stage performances). I just think that he should'nt be given too much importance.
To the Flash. I agree with most of your comments, but Steve is not only the arranger in Maiden. As an arranger, he has never been credited : he arranged all Maiden songs in the eigthies and was not credited on all. They all made clear that he is writing what they call the "melodies", i.e. the vocal melodies. And I think that when you listen to them, this is recognizable. I personnaly can't differentiate for sure a riff written by Adrian from a riff by Steve, but if you have a clue, please give it to me.
 
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