Best Eddie

Mosh said:
But I wish they'd use the image on the vinyl gatefold as the cover instead (Eddie holding the heart with the Mayan backdrop).
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I disagree. I think the minimalistic approach to the album cover works very well, because it creates an air of mystery that suits the album as a whole very well. It virtually invites you to open the cover and listen to the album to find out what it's all about.

Having said that, the whole TBOS cycle has produced some immensely good artwork, including the sleeve mentioned by Mosh. Although there have been some good (AMOLAD, BNW, NPFTD) and great (FOTD) covers as well, there has not been a general art concept this good since SSOASS. By this, I mean a basic visual motif that is followed through on album and single covers, tour posters and so forth. TXF has something like that and is quite consistent, and it gets the atmosphere alright, but I'm not overly fond of the motif itself.
 
I really like the surrealism of 7th Son, definitely a pinacle of genius on Derek Riggs's part. I'd agree TBOS is great, the best since 7th son. It could also be the best Maiden music since that record all those years ago. No coincidence the artwork is so good because it was done by Mark Williamson of Marillion fame.

I also like most things Melvyn Grant did for the band, but dislike his attitude towards Derek Riggs.
 
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Can you see if my votes were registered? Did the survey but had a connection issue as I submitted it.
For me, its hard to beat 7th Son, LAD and Piece of Mind. Book of Souls is the best in a long time too. Honourable mention to Killers, Stranger, Madness and A Real Dead One. VXI, re-done debut and TFF are the worst by a country mile. I like TXF explicit cover but the other stuff from that album is utter goat.

Overall best of the best of all time? Tough. Live After Death. Maybe.

Worst? Has to be something/anything from TFF.
 
Some really interesting votes so far. Someone gave Killers a 4, two people gave NOTB (album) a 4, a 3 for SIT, 5 5s for SSOASS, a couple people hate FOTD, a 2 for BNW, a 10 for DOD, a 1 for TBOS, people agree Beast over Hammersmith is perfectly average as 10 people picked 5, SBIT has one 1 and one 10, 2 5s for The Trooper...the SSOASS singles are really evenly distributed, like they are going to come out perfectly average.
 
Are we supposed to grade the incarnations/designs of Eddie or just the way he looks on a given cover?
 
Srogyy said:
Are we supposed to grade the incarnations/designs of Eddie or just the way he looks on a given cover?
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I recommend basing it on a combination of the Eddie himself, the cover he is on, and whether or not the cover fits the contents. Not what's actually on the album. There's like 80 of them so just go with your gut.
 
I never liked the NOTB eddie, nor did I care for the "hell" motif (it just looked drab and didn't lend itself to an interesting stage production).
 
OK, I voted quite instinctively, without thinking too much. Gave 10s to all incarnations of cyborg Eddie (SiT, SiaSL, SBiT), because he's my favourite. Seventh Son, Aces High, Powerslave and Live After Death Eddies got very high marks as well. Two Virus Eddies got 1. They're ugly and creepy in a bad way. :P (Although I really like the one on the green background - I think I gave him an 8.) Stock Eddies, like the one on TNotB, landed around the neutral 5.
 
Perun said:
I disagree. I think the minimalistic approach to the album cover works very well, because it creates an air of mystery that suits the album as a whole very well. It virtually invites you to open the cover and listen to the album to find out what it's all about.
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This is true, but I think they could have achieved that air of mystery with more than a plain background. In addition to Eddie, I love Maiden's album covers for whatever world he happens to be in. Obviously we get that inside the album though, so it isn't a major disappointment. I'll take that over the unfinished sketches inside TFF any day.
 
Mosh said:
This is true, but I think they could have achieved that air of mystery with more than a plain background. In addition to Eddie, I love Maiden's album covers for whatever world he happens to be in. Obviously we get that inside the album though, so it isn't a major disappointment. I'll take that over the unfinished sketches inside TFF any day.
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I agree with this. Although I don't hate TBOS cover, I think the success of any given Eddie comes down to his environment as well as the character design. Imagine SSOASS without the weird arctic lake tundra or SIT without the futuristic landscape, they wouldn't have the same effect. TBOS tour and interior album art is stellar and I think putting Eddie within his environment would've made the cover more successful.
 
Yea I don't hate the cover either, the plain black is cool. But I was pretty underwhelmed with it when they announced the album.
 
I still don't like the plain black background for TBoS Eddie. Compare it to the intricate artwork on Powerslve or SiT... :(

But in the end it's the music that matters.

Live after Death Eddie is probably the best. TXF Eddie is the worst.
 
I normally would agree. The extra detail on albums like SiT and Powerslave really add to the immersion factor, and I think TBoS should have gone a similar route if they were only releasing it as a standard jewel case CD format...but with the larger digipack format, I think the black background creates an aura of mystery that invites you to open the packaging to "get the goods" and soak in the whole lost explorer/Mayan jungle vibe.

Though it's funny to type that because no one really cares about physical packaging anymore.
 
I feel otherwise RE Book of Souls. As someone who has been indifferent to most of the reunion Eddies I was nicely taken with the bare, stark, raw BOS |Eddie. It was, for me, a modern twist on the early Riggs stuff with a mysterious, sinister vibe. I am a fan of reunion era music but this is the first recent Eddie that has hooked me too. I think BNW & AMOLAD Eddies suit the the albums very well but good Eddies? Naw, not really. I have never bought a t shirt since 2005, which was a World Piece Tour replica, because I thought they were all shite. Whoever gave the red light to the TFF stuff needs beat with a briar
 
I figure I'll leave the thread open for another week or so, then collate it and post some responses.
 
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