Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown

Can't argue with that.
Maiden's worst songs are like angels singing compared to everything popular today, and a hell of alot of other bands too.
 
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Songs #130 & 129

130. The Assassin (No Prayer for the Dying) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ZlRUbdoa8
"I watch your every move, study the things you do, and the pattern of your ways"

It happens too often that I come across an Iron Maiden song that begins auspiciously with verses that are pretty good, but instead of the chorus heightening the listening experience, it becomes a total letdown. The only thing that "The Assassin" really has going for it is that the lyrics are somewhat well written compared to the rest of the album, and that it fits the subject impeccably well along with the mood of the song. In that regard, it's the complete opposite of what I said about "Sun and Steel" a while back, which was a thinly developed song. Otherwise, both songs are musically comparable by being listless, having notably poor choruses and completely lacking any sort of ebb or flow whatsoever.

Even though the songwriting is decent, I can't imagine a cool and composed cold-blooded assassin being "in a cold cold sweat" though. Or maybe I'm thinking about Assassin's Creed too much. Hehe. Just saying.
129. When Two Worlds Collide (Virtual XI) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOjhkEmEmUI
"Now I can't believe it's true and I don't know what to do, for the hundredth time I check the declination"

Before anyone points it out, this really is the first appearance by a song from the band's most defamed album on this countdown; and yes, I know that "The Angel and the Gambler" is on the same album. Anyway...

If Blaze was trying to go for something profound, it sounds like he had the right idea. He just dropped the ball by being too literal. So as much as someone such as myself would want to think that the entire song is a big metaphor for something insightful, I'd have to conclude that there's simply not much room for interpretation here. It's exactly what it looks like at face value: A sci-fi song about a big ass asteroid hitting the planet like Deep Impact, Armaggedon and all that jazz. Now, while not all songs benefit from sounding deep, this one could have been improved by being more enigmatic since it already had the mood to crank it up a notch if it were. It might neither be one of the most impressive examples of the band using that soft-loud dynamic nor is it particularly appealing musically... but potentially complementary nonetheless.
 
I agree with your interpretation of 'The Assassin'.  I used to like it much more than now.  A better chorus would have improved it immensely, and minus Bruce's laugh following.  I'm also glad you rated WTWC as the lowest VXI song, which is another song that I like much more than now.  Thought I'd give you props as I criticized you last time.  :)
 
I think the only good parts of the Assassin are the chorus and the intro, I personally think the verses are the weakest link.  I can see why many people dislike it though.
 
  Bro, I completely admire you as a Maiden Fan.  The effort here is immense, the consumption of time and homework involved is unimaginable.  But when the list began with such a classic as "Quest for Fire" at the bottom??  No way man.  The song rocks.  The lack of historical accuracy has been discussed many times here.  It has never affected the value of the song as a rocking Heavy Metal classic at all.

    I am enjoying the list, and the subsequent thread immensely.  However, lets get serious for a minute.  Quest for Fire is not as good a song all around as ANY of the others?  This makes me very suspicious.  The bottom say, 75, at least, would not contain anything from Peice of Mind.  Not an over allegiance to any one album, just common knowledge.  So what is so wrong with dinosaurs anyway?
 
bornless1 said:
  Bro, I completely admire you as a Maiden Fan.  The effort here is immense, the consumption of time and homework involved is unimaginable.  But when the list began with such a classic as "Quest for Fire" at the bottom??   No way man.  The song rocks.  The lack of historical accuracy has been discussed many times here.  It has never affected the value of the song as a rocking Heavy Metal classic at all.

     I am enjoying the list, and the subsequent thread immensely.  However, lets get serious for a minute.  Quest for Fire is not as good a song all around as ANY of the others?  This makes me very suspicious.  The bottom say, 75, at least, would not contain anything from Peice of Mind.   Not an over allegiance to any one album, just common knowledge.  So what is so wrong with dinosaurs anyway?
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OK.  Suspicious of what?  There is no "common knowledge", maybe common opinion.  Still ranking songs is a subjective value choice.  You may agree with Vala or not but your choices are not any better or worse than his.  That having been said, I'm glad you're enjoying his ranking and reviews as well.  It is always nice to know what another big Maiden fan thinks of the songs. 
 
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Song #128

Genghis Khan said:
Vala is clearly under pay of someone higher up in Maiden's management.  :help:
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Damn, I've been discovered! :D


128. Judgement of Heaven (The X Factor) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jL9Gwt-270
"A silent prayer to God to help you on your way"

Okay, so I'm letting the cat out of the bag: I like metered rhymes. I like a song with good lyrical flow. Sometimes, it's even unhealthily appealing to me. If I'm listening to rap or pop music, smooth and slick lines have already won half the battle as far as I'm concerned. Oh, and I love Dr. Seuss. The dude's a genius: "All ready to put up the tents for my circus / I think I will call it the Circus McGurkus / And NOW comes an act of Enormous Enormance! / No former performer's performed this performance!" – If I Ran the Circus (1956) --- Fucking genius. I'm going to raise my kids on this stuff.

“Judgement of Heaven” though is not fucking genius as far as songwriting is concerned. Not even close. Not even close to close. Not even... … ...well, you get the point. I like the pensive theme, but it's a clumsily written song. Almost frustratingly graceless actually, and the end of almost every line lands with an awkward thump on my ears (at end of every verse at the very least grates on me). The music in general has that visceral, gripping aggression that's a great trademark of the Blaze era, but it unfortunately couldn't save the song. Dave's solo is especially enjoyable though, and I'll probably remember this track just for that.
 
Forostar said:
Which aspect(s) of this song are clumsily written in your ears?

The lyrics?
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Not the content per se, but the rhyme and meter of the song in general feels very forced and awkward. The only thing they actually rhymed were the two segments that comprised the second-to-the-last lines of each verse (although I don't think rhyming "way" with "way" counts)
 
  The bottom line is this.  Any Maiden fan or rock fan worth his or her salt will tell you the bottom of the list would be primarily consisting of songs from the Blaze era and Fear/No prayer tunes.  I do see a spattering of these songs in the bottom of the list, but the Quest for Fire thing is still ruining it for me.  Quest should be in the top 100 at least.  Without going over the whole catalog, I'd say around 40th all time best for Quest'. 

      I do completely agree with Bring your daughter being in the arm pit of your list..Its garbage Maiden.  Dead last of the 'real Maiden' songs for me.  {Real Maiden being the non Blaze era.}  Sun and Steel is the worst song on "Peice" but still should not be so low.  Wildest Dreams is an under rated tune and should not be below 120 on this list.  Other than these and the under rating of Twilight Zone, you are okay so far.
 
bornless1 said:
  The bottom line is this.  Any Maiden fan or rock fan worth his or her salt will tell you the bottom of the list would be primarily consisting of songs from the Blaze era and Fear/No prayer tunes.
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Most likely, but I am a Maiden fan since 1985 and I'd put several songs from AMOLAD in the bottom, hands down.
 
Killers, FotD, and some stuff from DOD and SIT for me. Some Blaze stuff, but not any more than any other album.
 
  This is all such a matter of taste.  I cannot for the  'life' of me figure how anyone doesn't love AMOLAD.  While others don't understand my hatred of the Blaze era...{BLAH!!} Although this is a fun, entertaining and addicting thread and topic, it is almost an evil one as well!!
    The underlying denominator here is, we all love Maiden.  I find it hard to put down my favorite band, and anything they do.  I just believe some of their songs are...not as great....as others.
     
     The reason for me that the end of the list should have Blaze era and No Prayer/Fear songs almost exclusively is this;  My belief has always been that not only did the product suffer with Blaze/Without Bruce and H, it was also uninspired writing during these times as well.  
   It has always seemed to me that the remaining members went into studio thinking the end may be near, and the product was not going to be up to par anyway.  Therefor the writing, in addition to the actual sound, suffered.  This is a majorly contended theory in these circles, and I'll probably get trashed again here, but this is my belief.  As for the Fear/No Prayer era...just a bad path turn, trying the raspy raw sound.  Not nearly as bad as the next two albums though.  NOT NEARLY!
 
I can get some of that for NPFTD and especially FotD, and even partially for VXI, but I would be very hard pressed to call TXF uninspired. I think that it has some of the best songs ever. Sign of the Cross is incredible (most people will agree to that), and I have always loved The Edge of Darkness.
 
Any album that has Bruce singing on it starts the game one goal up; few if any on this site would argue that point.
But it's just one element of many that come into play.
And I agree it's the songwriting element that is most important.
No Prayer, Fear and VXI — along with Killers — have the least inspired songwriting in the catalogue. No H, and a missing or distracted Bruce are the most obvious reasons.
In my mind, however, X-Factor is different story.
The songs, for the most part, are excellent.
But the dark place Steve was in, coupled by the bleaker feel of Blaze's voice, versus Bruce's certainly made it a downer — especially compared to the epic feel of the golden era.
It's wrong to call it uninspired — quite the contrary. But it is nothing close to inspirational.
And if you want your Maiden to soar (like most of it does), you're not going to find that here.
 
I want to pose a rebuttal for most of the comments made recently, but I'm having a hard time doing so since it's so much a matter of taste than anything else. I've already put NPftD and FotD as my bottom two albums already so obviously I like them less than the Blaze era albums, which I think get too much unwarranted criticism. They're certainly not top-shelf Maiden material, but better than the early 90's albums at least. And I agree with mckindog's and LC's assessment of TXF. There are some well-written songs there, but the bleak atmosphere of the album is something that some fans just didn't get used to.
 
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