Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown

valacirca said:
Interesting. I wonder if those results could still be found in the archives... or where the song placed on previous survivor battles. Also... I should really get in on this whole "You Know Who" thing. I have an idea who you guys are talking about, but I have no idea what happened to make you folks refer to him that way :p
Click to expand...

There is no choice actually.  Automatically, his name is changed thanks to Mods.  This was done after he decided to leave and pursue his private interests.

Jonszat said:
http://forum.maidenfans.com/index.php?topic=5758.0

There are some rankings I found in my forum browsing. IMO, LC's 2nd list is better than the first purely on the basis that in the first The Clansman is apparently Maidens 52nd best track. Pfft.
Click to expand...

This is the list I was referring to.  Notice that on the second review, 'Be Quick or Be Dead' is listed as #137/138.  Anyway, I don't agree, but that's what voters at that time decided. 

We shall see how LC's new list, Vala's list compares to the old one.  I'm really curious, as most of the voters are not the same.
 
Genghis Khan said:
There is no choice actually.  Automatically, his name is changed thanks to Mods.  This was done after he decided to leave and pursue his private interests.
Click to expand...

He has reached semi-mythic proportions, and that was the point.
 
It doesn't matter to me one way or another how his name appears.  I know that IMC is his and that's the reason I joined Maidenfans when I did.
 
Same here. The Duke and I were discussing some Iron Maiden song or another, googled it, and up came the IMC. That was when it was still on Truemetal.org.
 
I spent a whole year reading the song commentaries before joining.  I especially enjoyed all the background work on 'Revelations'.
 
Be Quick or Be Dead is one of my personal favourites. It's kind of addicting. So, yes, I absolutely disagree.

I may be in the minority here, but I really like Wildest Dreams's chorus.
 
I think Wildest Dreams is a cute song, surely it isn't groundbreaking but it isn't as bad as most say. The verses are ok, I like the chorus, Adrian solo is cool. The lyrics aren't great true, but as a whole I actually like it.
 
I'll work up a post on them over the next few hours. I have to remove the bsides from the 2006 rankings and republish them.
I also apparently have 2006 numbers that Mav published and have since been lost.
 
Wildest Dreams is pretty cool. It might not be one of the best on DOD, but it's really uplifting and flows great. The chorus is very enjoyable as is Smith's solo.
 
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Album #15

Album #15 - No Prayer for the Dying

im_amoladeath19.jpg


The good news: Even at their worst, the great thing about Iron Maiden is that they're still much better than most bands at their best.

The bad news: This IS Iron Maiden at their worst.

Sure, the album is filled with memorable riffs, a handful of good solos and catchy choruses that offer fleeting glimpses of where they left off, but the fact is that this release marks the end of the band's classic era and the start of an awkward change in direction.

It's been said a lot that the biggest reason for the failure of this album is the departure of Adrian Smith and his replacement with Janick Gers. I don't share the sentiment. I find it hard to believe that a seasoned 5-piece group can go from stringing together some of their best albums to releasing one of their worst albums just by replacing one member; and it's not as if Janick is a bad guitarist. He's certainly different from H, but he's far from being either terrible or terrible for the band. In fact, considering the direction that the band took, it seems more like Janick's cup of tea.

The biggest reason why this album fails is because for the first time in their career, Iron Maiden chose to be generic. Just looking at the tracks, one can see that the length of each of the songs are oddly and safely within less than a couple of minutes of each other. Listening to them then makes it evident that the band simply took less chances. “Let's do away with the mandatory epic and just throw in another song or two in there for good measure, shall we?” Well, the resulting collection of songs ends up feeling flat and gravely in want of some assortment and diversity. The range of musical styles here is just too narrow to make it interesting.

On a slightly brighter note though, the themes tackled in the songs are at least your typical Iron Maiden fare: War, religion, politics and even a bit of mythos. Unfortunately, where the grandiose operatic sound of their 80's albums perfectly complement the subject matter, No Prayer for the Dying's straightforward rock style waters down whatever substance there is in these songs. This is why the album ends up feeling shallow and even silly at times (Hooks in the ceiling for that well hung feeling? I think I'll pass, thank you very much). It lacks the sort of gravity and weight that made their previous albums strikingly imposing. Gone are the sprawling epics and soaring vocals. In its place, we find Bruce's raspy and gravely side (intriguingly just in time for the grunge explosion) to go along with a host of rudimentary rockers.
 
Vala, that's a spot-on take of NPFTD for me.
Now if we only agree on your song list... :innocent:
 
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Song #140

140. Fates Warning (No Prayer for the Dying) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr_2Kl6KF-4
"Why is it some of us are destined to stay alive / And some of us are here just so that we'll die?"

I have to give credit where credit is due: The intro on this track creates a fitting atmosphere for the song and the galloping entrance by the rest of the band shows a lot of promise. The solos are also pretty great and the back end of Dave's in particular gives the song some much-needed life especially when complemented with the one Janick's does immediately following it.

Unfortunately, even though it's a well-written song, the instrumental parts are left to carry the load dropped by the rest of the track. The music that accompanies the verse, the chorus and that unfortunate bridge section are quite drab. It's a bit disappointing when you actually look into the song because the lyrics are good, the intro seemed to be the start of something interesting and the solos are memorable even for someone like me who's not really into solos.
 
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Song #139

139. Nodding Donkey Blues (B-Side) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgvFge-Go0U
"I mean she was big, she was fucking huge! Enormous!"

I actually regret putting this track this low because I really enjoy listening to it. NDB is such a fun, groovy and loose number with an awesome piano solo that I can't help it, and why would I want to?! I love the blues and Iron Maiden does it with that heavy chugging blues melody. It's pretty cool.

The only problem is that the band just went so off-tangent with this novelty track that I can't hold out to drop it higher on the list any longer. Just look at what's it about: A fucking huge (enormous!) girl... aaaaaand yeah... that's about it. They were obviously shooting the bull, doing it in a humorously cheeky manner and got a fun, catchy ditty out of it. I like it, but it's not worth bumping higher up on this chart.
 
This is why the album ends up feeling shallow and even silly at times (Hooks in the ceiling for that well hung feeling? I think I'll pass, thank you very much).
Click to expand...

While I put NPftD low on the list; I don't quite put it at the bottom. I agree with your assessment for BYDttS in particular though. I really do not like that song. I think this was the band's (failed) attempt to recapture some of the feeling and themes from their first 2 albums. You know; nothing too serious, just in your face rocking songs. I really think that is what they were going for at the time.
 
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Songs #138 & 137

138. Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter (No Prayer for the Dying) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdRyaR71HKU
"You just pray that I'll be waiting  'cause you know I'm coming soon"

While I'm a huge proponent of good music over good lyrics, I'm still aware that there's still something to be said about the synergy between the two. Having great synergy can make a bad song decent and an excellent song sound like a classic. Unfortunately, this one fails terribly in this area.

Written for the fifth installment of the Nightmare On Elm Street film series, “Bring Your Daughter...” hardly has that dark atmosphere that one would imagine it should have. For something that deals with fear and would work great with an unsettling mood, it appears annoyingly upbeat and even slightly anthemic with an exasperating chorus. It lacks a sense of substance that could have been remedied with the right music to complement the content. As it is, it not only seems like a lazily-written piece, but an awkwardly-sounding one as well.

I certainly don't think that it has the distinction of being the band's first #1 song for its musical qualities... … ...it must have been the press.
137. Sun and Steel (Piece of Mind) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWrtQx7gBG0
"The way of the warrior you took it as your right"

Iron Maiden makes great war and battle themed songs; and for the most part, their patented galloping pace and relentless intensity work for it perfectly. For “Sun and Steel” however, it doesn't feel like it should have played out the way that it did. Having been based on the life of legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, it would have benefitted more from a smoother and restrained atmosphere to give it the type of noble grandeur befitting such a warrior. As it is though, it feels too heavy handed - as if the sound would have been better off for a song about... I don't know... Conan the Barbarian?

This song for me is a wasted opportunity. I'm not as huge a fan of some of the band's epics as most Maiden fans I've seen, but with “Alexander the Great” at least you could feel the epic weight of the song and how much larger-than-life the person behind it was. This one is unfortunately much too thinnly written for the potentially interesting story it could have told.
Two songs because I missed posting one yesterday :p
 
Sun And Steel is one of Maiden's most underrated alongside Age Of Innocence, Public Enema Number One and The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top