Bruce's versions of Di'anno and Bayley era songs

TAC said:
I would love to hear a Bruce version of The Educated Fool. I think he would slay on that chorus.
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Bruce needs to do the Edge of Darkness. I'd be quite happy to see Maiden bust out an obscure track from the Blaze era on the next tour. Lord of the Flies on the DOD tour might be Maidens most surprising ever setlist choice.

The fact Bruce (and Adrian) are willing to do material from when they weren't in the band is just another example of how Maiden leave other bands in the shade.
 
So far I've only heard two Blaze songs done by Bruce, The Clansman and Lord of the Flies, and one Di'Anno song, Iron Maiden. I plan on listening to the others soon, but as for these three... Bruce does a great job, but I've always preferred studio versions of Maiden's stuff (with the exception of Blaze's ATSS) so maybe that colors it, but I honestly prefer the originals. Nice job, just not as good.
 
Diesel 11 said:
So far I've only heard two Blaze songs done by Bruce, The Clansman and Lord of the Flies, and one Di'Anno song, Iron Maiden. I plan on listening to the others soon, but as for these three... Bruce does a great job, but I've always preferred studio versions of Maiden's stuff (with the exception of Blaze's ATSS) so maybe that colors it, but I honestly prefer the originals. Nice job, just not as good.
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Update: Listened to Rock in Rio SOTC, and nope, original's still better.
 
I'd just like to clear up a misconception that appears to have perpetuated throughout this thread about the Iron Maiden Spotify rankings.

Basically, no Blaze track actually does well in the Spotify rankings. The Clansman (VXI recording) is the highest, but is ranked at #67 and gets beaten by 2 or 3 separate versions of Fear of the Dark, Run To The Hills and The Trooper. Di-Anno tracks do a bit better, with Wrathchild making it to #25, but the rankings are still dominated by Bruce, with a mix of the big classics and the tracks from the latest album.

Those two tracks are only the second and third most streamed of the tracks from Rock in Rio. Which makes perfect sense, because if you're going to listen to specific tracks (rather than the whole thing, which makes no difference to the internal ranking of the albums tracks) from Rock in Rio it's much more likely to be the ones that you can't hear on any other live album. Sure, they still get beaten by the RiR version of Fear of the Dark but that specific recording is pretty iconic and so I don't find that result surprising either.

As an aside, I would be careful putting too much stock into the rankings. Tracks #1 and #5 are both the 1998 remastered version of FOTD, from the remastered album and Ed Hunter respectively. RTTH has both the #6 and #13 spots (and several other lower down), and would probably overtake #3 and #4 (SOL, IESF) if you could collate these.
 
Operations666 said:
Bruce's live version of SotC is way, WAY better. Same with The Clansman. Bruce is just such a superior singer to Blaze in every way. He makes those songs come alive. Blaze just is.. wrong for any Maiden song.
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I completely disagree. Blaze isn't as good as Bruce, but I think he's great nonetheless. Maiden has never had a bad singer.
 
Zare said:
It's way, way better, because of Smith.
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I actually think the Rock In Rio version would sound better without Adrian's drop D guitar in the middle of the mix. It makes the whole sound so blurry for me, because of that heavily distorted guitar sound he used at the time.
I also miss Dave's clean chords when Janick plays that melody (9:33-9:51), which brings variation.
 
Get a 5.1 mix and disable appropriate channel, you'll see that 90% of the song seems emptier without Smith. That's one moment where guitar sounds overlap, the rest of the song benefits a lot.
 
Diesel 11 said:
So far I've only heard two Blaze songs done by Bruce, The Clansman and Lord of the Flies, and one Di'Anno song, Iron Maiden. I plan on listening to the others soon, but as for these three... Bruce does a great job, but I've always preferred studio versions of Maiden's stuff (with the exception of Blaze's ATSS) so maybe that colors it, but I honestly prefer the originals. Nice job, just not as good.
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Diesel 11 said:
Update: Listened to Rock in Rio SOTC, and nope, original's still better.
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Here is the rest for you to listen and rate then. ;)

EDIT: this is even handier:
 
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srfc said:
Bruce needs to do the Edge of Darkness. I'd be quite happy to see Maiden bust out an obscure track from the Blaze era on the next tour. Lord of the Flies on the DOD tour might be Maidens most surprising ever setlist choice.

The fact Bruce (and Adrian) are willing to do material from when they weren't in the band is just another example of how Maiden leave other bands in the shade.
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Edge of Darkness and Fortunes of War with Bruce on vocals would be nice.
 
Zare said:
Get a 5.1 mix and disable appropriate channel, you'll see that 90% of the song seems emptier without Smith. That's one moment where guitar sounds overlap, the rest of the song benefits a lot.
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Well, duh. Dave and Janick are not playing the exact same stuff as on the album just to make room for Adrian. (Are they even using the same setups/tones as they did when it was just them?) Compared to studio version and earlier live version, the Rock in Rio only has got better quality recording and production going for it.

TheTalisman said:
I actually think the Rock In Rio version would sound better without Adrian's drop D guitar in the middle of the mix. It makes the whole sound so blurry for me, because of that heavily distorted guitar sound he used at the time.
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It's a mudfest. But is he really playing in Drop D? Sign of the Cross is in E minor/G major.
 
Maturin said:
Well, duh. Dave and Janick are not playing the exact same stuff as on the album just to make room for Adrian. (Are they even using the same setups/tones as they did when it was just them?) Compared to studio version and earlier live version, the Rock in Rio only has got better quality recording and production going for it.



It's a mudfest. But is he really playing in Drop D? Sign of the Cross is in E minor/G major.
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Guitars on RIR:

Cream Strat = Drop D
Sunburst Strat = Standard
LP Custom = Standard
 
TheTalisman said:
I actually think the Rock In Rio version would sound better without Adrian's drop D guitar in the middle of the mix. It makes the whole sound so blurry for me, because of that heavily distorted guitar sound he used at the time.
I also miss Dave's clean chords when Janick plays that melody (9:33-9:51), which brings variation.
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This is funny because I personally love the heaviness. It completely demolishes the original on that front alone, with guitars that sound enormous and give much needed grunt to the tune. Bruce's delivery is spot-on too, though he is definitely stretching it a little with the low notes at the end (and also the intro). Otherwise he's perfect on it if you ask me.

I will admit that Blaze probably could compete if the song was tuned down to D or something, but even then I imagine his usual problems with staying on key would pop up. It's really a shame because his deep, dark tone of voice does have its place; on Afraid to Shoot Strangers he's leagues above Bruce, but even there he's not quite pitch perfect.
 
Ruflux said:
This is funny because I personally love the heaviness.
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It's not the heaviness I have issues with, it is what Maturin called, "the mudfest" I don't like, which is created partly by his guitar tone, but also by the production as a whole. I prefer these two:

They tuned to E♭ and I think that Blaze sounds much better than on the studio version because of this. It would have been better with keyboards though.

I also really like the version from Nijmegen 2000 because of Bruce's strong performance:
And listen to how loud Janick's guitar is to the right on this bootleg! :ok:
 
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