Bruce Dickinson

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Zare said:
No I wouldn't say that - Harris wrote Tears of a Clown which is a 100% fit and sometimes the delivery reeks of Balls to Picasso (the who motivates the motivator line). I think even Dickinson commented on that change of approach.

TRATB I straight out ignore. It's like a casual fans dream song based on 1980s but without any regard of actual day and age. Only thing redeeming about it is that it's on a double album.
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True, Tears is totally in his comfort zone. Red and the Black, like I said, I'm 95% in it just for that instrumental section. I hate the verses.
 
CA Bryers said:
Steve clearly doesn't know how to adapt his writing to Bruce's changing voice, and Kevin's Steve's yes-man by the look of things. Roy Z has always had a knack for getting the best out of Bruce's voice, and he doesn't seem to be the sort to blow smoke up Bruce's a$$ if he thinks Bruce doesn't sound his best. Granted, the work we've heard out of Bruce/Roy was at a time when Bruce's voice was at its apex, so I guess we'll see when/if this new one gets released.
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agree 100% That's why Maiden needs 'tough guy' producer. Which would say: 'this doesn't sound good; Bruce struggles there; throw this song part out; Steve, stay away from the mixing desk' and etc. Don't want to sound overly negative, but I am disapointed about Maiden's post reunion album production choices. Literally, at this point I would prefer sterile Andy Sneap's take on it. I want POLISHED and precise studio effort.. Steve is legendary bass player and songwriter but he's not a good producer. Looking back, Adrian was right about wanting to evolve Seventh Son progressive ideas, but Steve chose to go 'full retard' with No Prayer. Sometimes Steve needs to listen to no-man instead of yes-man.
 
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Poto said:
Bruce writes hard vocal lines too. The chorus of Speed of Light, Death or Glory, some parts of Empire of the Clouds. I suppose the difference between the two is how many words they squeeze into each line.
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I thought about that today a day or two after my comment up above. There are definitely parts of Empire of the Clouds that Bruce kind of hits the wall as to high notes that still sound good, and Empire was all him. But again, if that had been a solo song, I do believe Roy Z would've said, "you know, let's try something else" in those parts.
 
Azas said:
agree 100% That's why Maiden needs 'tough guy' producer. Which would say: 'this doesn't sound good; Bruce struggles there; throw this song part out; Steve, stay away from the mixing desk' and etc. Don't want to sound overly negative, but I am disapointed about Maiden's post reunion album production choices. Literally, at this point I would prefer sterile Andy Sneap's take on it. I want POLISHED and precise studio effort.. Steve is legendary bass player and songwriter but he's not a good producer. Looking back, Adrian was right about wanting to evolve Seventh Son progressive ideas, but Steve chose to go 'full retard' with No Prayer. Sometimes Steve needs to listen to no-man instead of yes-man.
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It's a bummer Bruce got complacent with the sound, since a top-notch producer was his primary demand for coming back. And I still think BNW has a great, vibrant sound. After that, though, the overall production quality has just been dipping every time. There are parts of BoS that sound like they're demos.
 
CA Bryers said:
It's a bummer Bruce got complacent with the sound, since a top-notch producer was his primary demand for coming back. And I still think BNW has a great, vibrant sound. After that, though, the overall production quality has just been dipping every time. There are parts of BoS that sound like they're demos.
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Can you share any specific moments that you feel like demos?
 
I've been listening to a LOT of his solo stuff. & oh MY GOD IS HE GOOD!!
Video for Abduction cracked me up. Is that woman doing what i think she is?? xx
 
PhantomOfTheOpera said:
Can you share any specific moments that you feel like demos?
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Hard to say exactly since I'm no audiophile--just a layman who knows when there's some polish to the production of a song/album and when it sounds borderline garage-y. If Eternity Should Fail, for instance, sounds worse to me than No Prayer, and Bruce notably hated the sound of that album.
 
The verse in Man of Sorrows after the drums comes in sounds like a demo to me, as an example. Not just the production - a lack of rehearsal before recording is propably a cause of this as well.
 
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CA Bryers said:
Hard to say exactly since I'm no audiophile--just a layman who knows when there's some polish to the production of a song/album and when it sounds borderline garage-y. If Eternity Should Fail, for instance, sounds worse to me than No Prayer, and Bruce notably hated the sound of that album.
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I might try. The drums are a single live take, at least until the breakdown. There's a small error in the keyboard intro. It's not easy to hear what each individual guitar is doing. The drum pattern changes on choruses. All of this adds to the "live studio" feel and I don't mind it.

Live they've stabilized the drum arrangement (ride pattern is used on all choruses), guitars have a more distinct role (texturing instead of low end chug - I'm not fond of this decision at all) and the song is tighter.
 
Nice and relevant motivational speech in the first half. I know that he is addressing "his audience" but a large portion of the people aren't creative to an extent of getting the bills paid.
 
IESF is an interesting example in how bad production makes a song that should sound a bit different - a bit exciting, even - feel dull, limp and lifeless. It's a Bruce Dickinson solo track never intended for Maiden in drop D (actually it's just Adrian and Janick in that tuning anyway) but it just kind of sounds just like every other Maiden track thanks to the atrocious production on that album.
 
Azas said:
At this point is pretty obvious, they should tune down. Even on studio albums Bruce struggles to a degree. To my non english speaking ears, he often whines (that's how I perceive it, when he struggles with too many words, or too high notes) On his solo albums he sounds so much better.
Just compare how he sounds on If Eternity Should Fail and Red and the Black. All that rap, air grasping and sgueeking is not good, Steve must reevaluate his lyrics writing skills.
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What solo albums? You mean these songs that were recorded 15 to 30 years ago? DUH!
 
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