Bruce's Solo Discography Ranked - The Complete List

Jer said:
I did happen to give a 1 rating to "Dracula" and I think "Lickin' The Gun", because both are terrible. I see the point you're making, but the good news is that for relative rankings it doesn't really matter that much what absolute scale people use, as long as the ratings relative to each other are valid.

For example, if someone else's ratings were all between 5 and 8 because they're comparing these songs to every musical piece created by humankind, the collective ratings will still sort themselves out, since their 5s would line up with my 1-3's, and their 8s would line up with my 8-10's. It might skew the shared average, and it'll reduce the fidelity of this other person's input, but the relative effect for each song is going to be similar. If the output is a relative ranking, then the final average score won't matter. If you wanted to use this same data to compare against a different data set for Maiden albums or something like that, then it would be a problem, but that's not what this is.

Where you really risk throwing things off is if people rated each album in a vacuum, where the best song on every album got a 10/10 even if one album's best song was nowhere near as good as another album's best song. Since the intent of the data is to rank across all of Bruce's albums, that would ruin the input.
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Between 5 (or even 4) and 10 is more realistic. Since Bruce is one of our favourite artists.
Number 6 said:
No, you can't, because then there would be no point in having a 1-10 scale.
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A scale is used to have grades with a meaning. But it does not imply you have to use all numbers.
Number 6 said:
Let's say the minimum score you'll ever give is 6. Then why not make it a 1-5 scale?
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If this were a 1-5 scale, I'd probably use 3 (or 2) - 5. It all depends on the meaning one gives to a number. I look at Bruce in an absolute way. Just as I look at all other music getting reviews in a metal magazine where grades have the same meanings.
Number 6 said:
The numbers are there for we to use them however we like. I choose to look at it in "the relative way", you choose to look at it in "the absolute way". That's fine.
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This is sounding better already.
Number 6 said:
Just don't come picking on us because we disagree. Honestly, I don't know if you meant to sound like it, but every time you try to discuss about something it's like you're trying to sound superior and uselessly intelectual. I apologize if I got the wrong end of the stick, but that's the impression I get.
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I accept you apology.
Number 6 said:
As for the rest of you arguments, yes, I did pay attention to them, and I still don't agree. Removing the "best" word doesn't change what I think, it's still making you sound intolerant. You think the criteria a person chooses to use to vote on a specific poll defines what they do and don't like, or how much they like something. I think it doesn't, so what? It's not a fact that "the right way is the absolute way" like you're trying to imply with your arguments. No one needs to (and no one should) change their point of view to adapt to what you think it's "easier" and "less confusing".
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No one needs to change a point of view but it isn't forbidden either when there's different insight. At least, don't be ashamed to change point of view.
People just could read what I explain and perhaps it makes sense to them. If they don't want that, fair enough.
 
Jer said:
Where you really risk throwing things off is if people rated each album in a vacuum, where the best song on every album got a 10/10 even if one album's best song was nowhere near as good as another album's best song. Since the intent of the data is to rank across all of Bruce's albums, that would ruin the input.
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You do not have to give one album's best song a 10. Only do that when it is an outstanding, excellent, magnificent song. That said, it is possible to give several 10's and 9's for lots of songs (from whatever album) since Bruce is our favourite singer. I think that the parameter "album" is distracting. Just put all these songs in alphabet or something (anything that helps) and then start ranking.
 
Allow me to clear this up:

Vote however you like so long as you’ve got peace of mind doing it that way.

I like voting relatively and in absolutes. I did a mixture of both here. I never went lower than 5 on an album track and gave 1s and such to non album tracks I really don’t care for.

This is all relative, of course, but if you want to vote in absolutes, that’s cool. If you want to vote relatively, that’s also cool. I’m fine either way and so long as they accurately depict your feelings on the songs neither way will truly mess up the rankings. :)
 
I gave the bulk of TCW, AOB and TOS 10s because they're among the best metal songs I've ever heard. And to a bunch of B-sides too.

I don't think I graded below 5. I don't think I should since the negative domain (1-5) is for songs I find bad and annoying. There aren't any here.
 
A bit of an update on the ratings:

While the song with nothing but 10s is still leading (if my head-math is correct), there's only one song left that hasn't received any votes below a 9. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......
 
Diesel 11 said:
A bit of an update on the ratings:

While the song with nothing but 10s is still leading (if my head-math is correct), there's only one song left that hasn't received any votes below a 9. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.......
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It would be interesting to see which songs are those.

Thanks for your hard work compiling all these votes.
 
Accident of Birth:
  1. "Freak" - 10/10
  2. "Toltec 7 Arrival" - 9/10
  3. "Starchildren" - 10/10
  4. "Taking the Queen" - 8/10
  5. "Darkside of Aquarius" - 10/10
  6. "Road to Hell" - 9/10 => I don't feel Maiden at all on this track. Maybe a little bit on the main riff, but nothing more;
  7. "Man of Sorrows" - 10/10
  8. "Accident of Birth" - 10/10
  9. "The Magician" - 9/10
  10. "Welcome to the Pit" - 8/10
  11. "Omega" - 10/10
  12. "Arc of Space" - 10/10
Bonus track:
  • "The Ghost of Cain" - 9/10 => could've been a part of the original album without feeling off, either musically or lyrically.
 
Skunkworks:
  1. "Space Race" - 8/10
  2. "Back from the Edge" - 7/10
  3. "Inertia" - 9/10
  4. "Faith" - 8/10
  5. "Solar Confinement" - 8/10
  6. "Dreamstate" - 8/10
  7. "I Will Not Accept the Truth" - 9/10
  8. "Inside the Machine" - 7/10
  9. "Headswitch" - 7/10
  10. "Meltdown" - 7/10
  11. "Octavia" - 6/10
  12. "Innerspace" - 8/10
  13. "Strange Death In Paradise" - 9/10
This album doesn't flow well. It drags, and the more we near the end, the longer it seems to be. However, the songs are not bad at all, and many of them are even better than I remembered.

Bonus tracks:
  • "I'm In a Band With an Italian Drummer" - 2/10 => because at least it's fun(ny);
  • "Rescue Day" - 8/10
  • "God's Not Coming Back" - 8/10
  • "Armchair Hero" - 7/10
  • "R 101" - 5/10
  • "Re-Entry" - 6/10
  • "Americans Are Behind" - 6/10
 
Skunkworks has gotten fewer ratings than any of the other albums. Not one many seem to come back to a lot. Myself included actually. And I hate that because whenever I'm listening to it I love it, lol.
 
I haven't given it any 10s, which was fairly surprising to myself. However, re-listening to it after some time did help improve on my initial impressions (which weren't very good). I'm liking Bruce's solo albums much more now, but then again I was still a child when I listened to them. Okay, not a child, but I was about 13, 14 or so, and these albums are not really appealing to those ages, lol. I liked the most well-known songs ("Tears of the Dragon", "Tattooed Millionaire", even "All the Young Dudes") and I used to laugh my ass off at the "Killing Floor" video (still do), but that was pretty much it.

By the way, now that I'm re-listening, my "best" list needs a slight update:

Number 6 said:
  1. The Chemical Wedding
  2. Tyranny of Souls
  3. Accident of Birth
  4. Skunkworks
  5. Balls To Picasso
  6. Tattooed Millionaire
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Accident of Birth is better than Tyranny of Souls. And judging by what I remember from Balls To Picasso, it might surpass Skunkworks as well. I highly doubt Tattooed Millionaire is going to leave the bottom though.
 
Accident of Birth VS Tyranny of Souls is definitely something I'm often struggling with myself. Outside of Kill Devil Hill, AOB has plenty of songs that are better than Tyranny's. But it also has some lower points and is a very inconsistent album. Change the tracklisting and it wouldn't matter. TOS is more consistent and all its songs are great, more or less.

Both are genuine classics though, and both fall short of the glory of The Chemical Wedding.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Accident of Birth VS Tyranny of Souls is definitely something I'm often struggling with myself. Outside of Kill Devil Hill, AOB has plenty of songs that are better than Tyranny's. But it also has some lower points and is a very inconsistent album. Change the tracklisting and it wouldn't matter. TOS is more consistent and all its songs are great, more or less.
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Wow, that's interesting that you find AOB to be inconsistent and TOS not. I can't think of a single song on AOB that I'd call weak, but "Soul Intruders" and "Devil On A Hog" immediately come to mind as weak on TOS.
 
Soul Intruders is definitely weaker but it's still a good song. Devil On A Hog would be weaker if Bruce didn't manage to pull it off as well as he did.

Both are better than Taking The Queen. The biggest thing about AOB is the tracklisting. It seems more random than any of his other albums (though I kinda like it for that). TOS's is better assembled.
 
Diesel 11 said:
The biggest thing about AOB is the tracklisting. It seems more random than any of his other albums (though I kinda like it for that).
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I always thought it was on purpose, since the album sounds extremely chaotic throughout. Kinda goes with the (loose) thematic backdrop.
 
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