Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown
- Thread starter valacirca
- Start date
valacirca
Trooper
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Songs #105-103
105. Run Silent Run Deep (No Prayer for the Dying) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DU32myDHbM
"Warriors in secret sleep, a merchantman's nightmare"
The good thing about this song is that it sounds like 80's Maiden more than anything on No Prayer for the Dying. The unfortunate thing about it is that it sounds like it could be a filler track from the albums of that era. You know... the type that one would put alongside “Sun and Steel” and “Gangland” or in the middle of Fillerslave
and some of the other less heralded songs of that chapter in the band's history. There's an easy familiarity with the frantic pace, galloping rhythm, eastern-colored melodic overtones and Bruce even brings out the soaring vocals in parts amidst the otherwise strained, gravely delivery. One can easily imagine it being on Powerslave even though there's nothing epic or special about it to make it stand out in that album. So on the record where it comes from, it's somewhat north of average, but still not that great.
104. Sea of Madness (Somewhere in Time) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47gxm1m2jus
"Like the eagle and the dove / Fly so high on wings above"
I'm all for heavy-as-fuck tunes, but I don't dig the wild guitar crunch and dirty tones here because a lot of the intricacies that might otherwise propel the song take a backseat to the noise and chaos of it all. The intense drumming of Nicko is brilliant and easily the best thing on this track, plus there are good melodies throughout the song, but all the elements seem like they're clashing with each other instead of blending together. The pairing of such a savage style with the prevalently reverb-and-synth laden sound of Somewhere in Time is especially odd. Instead of the melancholic synths balancing out the riotousness of the song, it ends up fighting it for attention and doesn't help my appreciation for this track. I understand that were probably going for that "mad" feeling in the song; but even though they were able to achieve that, it doesn't help the musicality.
103. Flash of the Blade (Powerslave) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02AkdlLf-gU
"And now you'll wreak your vengeance in the screams of evil men"
Bruce does a good job here in matching the thrilling atmosphere of the verses and performing those soaring harmonies in the chorus; but as a whole, this song is largely uninteresting. Even though the band tries to convey a feeling of suspense from the distinct intro riff, and they roll with it throughout the track, nothing about the song excites me. With the way that they build up the energy in track as they progress from the verse and chorus to the instrumental section, I guess it's supposed to get me going, but it doesn't. It ends up being one of the closest definitions to what an “average Maiden track” is if ever I was asked to namedrop one.
105. Run Silent Run Deep (No Prayer for the Dying) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DU32myDHbM
"Warriors in secret sleep, a merchantman's nightmare"
The good thing about this song is that it sounds like 80's Maiden more than anything on No Prayer for the Dying. The unfortunate thing about it is that it sounds like it could be a filler track from the albums of that era. You know... the type that one would put alongside “Sun and Steel” and “Gangland” or in the middle of Fillerslave
and some of the other less heralded songs of that chapter in the band's history. There's an easy familiarity with the frantic pace, galloping rhythm, eastern-colored melodic overtones and Bruce even brings out the soaring vocals in parts amidst the otherwise strained, gravely delivery. One can easily imagine it being on Powerslave even though there's nothing epic or special about it to make it stand out in that album. So on the record where it comes from, it's somewhat north of average, but still not that great.104. Sea of Madness (Somewhere in Time) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47gxm1m2jus
"Like the eagle and the dove / Fly so high on wings above"
I'm all for heavy-as-fuck tunes, but I don't dig the wild guitar crunch and dirty tones here because a lot of the intricacies that might otherwise propel the song take a backseat to the noise and chaos of it all. The intense drumming of Nicko is brilliant and easily the best thing on this track, plus there are good melodies throughout the song, but all the elements seem like they're clashing with each other instead of blending together. The pairing of such a savage style with the prevalently reverb-and-synth laden sound of Somewhere in Time is especially odd. Instead of the melancholic synths balancing out the riotousness of the song, it ends up fighting it for attention and doesn't help my appreciation for this track. I understand that were probably going for that "mad" feeling in the song; but even though they were able to achieve that, it doesn't help the musicality.
103. Flash of the Blade (Powerslave) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02AkdlLf-gU
"And now you'll wreak your vengeance in the screams of evil men"
Bruce does a good job here in matching the thrilling atmosphere of the verses and performing those soaring harmonies in the chorus; but as a whole, this song is largely uninteresting. Even though the band tries to convey a feeling of suspense from the distinct intro riff, and they roll with it throughout the track, nothing about the song excites me. With the way that they build up the energy in track as they progress from the verse and chorus to the instrumental section, I guess it's supposed to get me going, but it doesn't. It ends up being one of the closest definitions to what an “average Maiden track” is if ever I was asked to namedrop one.
Blade and Silent look like they are in about the right spot —lower end of the good songs.
Madness is a great, great song that seems to polarize fans on this board.
It looks like you're seeing the same things I am, but reacting to most in a completely different way.
Madness is a great, great song that seems to polarize fans on this board.
It looks like you're seeing the same things I am, but reacting to most in a completely different way.
bornless1
Messiah Supreme. True Leader of Men.
The notion that "flash of the Blade is "uninteresting" is unfathomable to me. As awesome as you have been in your descriptions of the songs so far, you have swung and missed here. Flash is an unyielding firestorm of kick a$$ metal from beginning to end. The song rocks. Period. Powerslave is without filler. The short list of songs on that album are top notch all the way, and Flash is no exception.
Run Silent Run deep on the other hand is perfect here on your list. I never liked the lyrics to 'Run' at all. The heavy guitar parts are the only highlight for me. Your Sea of Madness description is interesting in that the song experiences some infighting. I had always thought it got a little lost among the hits on the album, and was a tad underrated. But you shed some light on what may have been a factor in its lack of popularity. Good vision on your part.
Run Silent Run deep on the other hand is perfect here on your list. I never liked the lyrics to 'Run' at all. The heavy guitar parts are the only highlight for me. Your Sea of Madness description is interesting in that the song experiences some infighting. I had always thought it got a little lost among the hits on the album, and was a tad underrated. But you shed some light on what may have been a factor in its lack of popularity. Good vision on your part.
valacirca
Trooper
By that, I take it that you like the madness and chaos of it allmckindog said:
It's polarizing? I seemed to think that SoM was quite well received here and that I'm in the minority.Some of the songs in this area of my list are songs with merits that I could recognize but are just not appealing to me, and FotB is a prime example of that. It's like a woman that has a great body and a pretty face but lacks that certain appeal to make me appreciate her beauty or consider her sexy and attractive.bornless1 said:
valacirca said:By that, I take it that you like the madness and chaos of it all
I do like the madness and chaos of it all. I also like the way the way the bittersweet melodies clash with the anarchy. For me, instead of drowning each other the melodies kind of rise out of the chaos — a light in the black kinda thing. The most similar song in that aspect would be Purgatory, which I also rate dramatically higher than you do. I also think the futuristic synth sound is an asset — it gives the song that Blade Runner feel that symbolizes the album.
The song got eleven 10s in its daily song thread. But it also got eight marks of 6 or lower. From what I've seen, 10s aren't given real easily on this board, which means a lot of people really love this song. Conversely I'd say most people give 75 per cent of the songs a seven or higher. And that mean a lot of people also rank it as low or lower on their list than you do on yours.
That's why I say polarizing.
Forostar
Ancient Mariner
Jed said:Uh...you're roughly a third of the way through the catalogue and the tone of your reviews is still mostly negative...when are you gonig to start showing some love?
Well noted. I can only conclude that Maiden is not his favourite artist. This might even be an understatement.
Don't understand me wrong, there's nothing wrong with liking 1 or 5 or 10 or even 100 artists better than Maiden.
But such reviews (with a high use of "uninteresting") are a logical consequence, and it explains this picture better.
Invader
Ancient Mariner
I find his approach quite logical. If he said that every song is good and interesting and lovely, it would make for boring explanations. Starting the countdown with "Quest for Fire: awesome song, but the least awesome from Maiden" would not really motivate people to follow his countdown. I'd say anything in the bottom half should be explained why it's worse than over 50% of Maiden songs, and that's far easier to explain with criticism than with praise.
valacirca
Trooper
It's just one place higher. The difference is almost negligible.Abas said:
Yeah, I enjoy and admire Maiden a lot as well as appreciate their albums very much, but there are a lot of artists and albums that I hold in higher regard. On the "best albums of the new millennium" thread, I might be the only one who posted a list without any Iron Maiden album included.Forostar said:
valacirca
Trooper
Hey thanks Perun 
I do appreciate the conflict and dissent in the sense that it produces more interesting discussion than agreement and accord, so that might help with my tolerance for the "hate." Although to be honest, relative to my years of exposure to all sorts of forums and message boards on the internet, I don't find a lot of the reactions on this thread to be particularly hateful Any reaction is better than no reaction at all, I think.
I do appreciate the conflict and dissent in the sense that it produces more interesting discussion than agreement and accord, so that might help with my tolerance for the "hate." Although to be honest, relative to my years of exposure to all sorts of forums and message boards on the internet, I don't find a lot of the reactions on this thread to be particularly hateful Any reaction is better than no reaction at all, I think.
bornless1
Messiah Supreme. True Leader of Men.
Please don't misinterpret the critiques of the list as hate, Val. This list is outstanding, and I think I speak for most of the forum when I say it is something we look forward to daily. What will be next on Vals list?..Will Val post a couple more songs today? Very interesting stuff, no hate. !!!!!! Keep up the great work!! And don't snap!! LOL!!
valacirca
Trooper
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Songs #102 & 101
102. Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger (Virtual XI) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsu_gtf5tzg
"...somebody's watching when the light goes down"
I always thought of this song to be a sleepy-sounding tune even though it gets going somewhat after a minute or so. I guess some of those who like the song would say that it builds-up nicely; but for me, it just meanders aimlessly and doesn't really feel like it builds up to anything. It goes on in a dragging pace very repetitively for an overlong eight minutes such that when it ends, I feel totally unmoved. Now that I think about it, I should have placed this track considerably lower on this list, which is the first time I've felt this way towards a song on this countdown. This is probably misplaced and it probably will be repositioned once I revisit this list sometime late next year because I'm really not too crazy about anything on this track – not even the riffs and instrumental sections, which are the best parts of it - although I believe I liked it more before than I do now. It's one of those tracks that doesn't get better with age.
101. Face in the Sand (Dance of Death) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA4KnZriECY
"So I watch and I wait and I pray for an answer"
To close out the bottom 50 of this list is a song that I've considered hit-and-miss due to it having elements that I distinctly enjoy and dislike. I love how the song starts of with that atmospheric Scottish highland vibe played to a waltzy rhythm in ¾ time similar to how I feel the title track from Dance of Death begins. I love Nicko's use of the double bass to give the song a frantic feeling. I also appreciate the thoughtful lyrics contained in the song. On the other hand, I'm not at all a fan of how the synths are used here because they seem pandering and take away from how natural and organic the song could have sounded (an analogy is how The Beatles' “The Long and Winding Road” sounds much better to me without the orchestral arrangement). Overall, there are no effective hooks and there's nothing that's especially catchy or gripping but the song has enough charming elements to make it pretty good.
102. Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger (Virtual XI) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsu_gtf5tzg
"...somebody's watching when the light goes down"
I always thought of this song to be a sleepy-sounding tune even though it gets going somewhat after a minute or so. I guess some of those who like the song would say that it builds-up nicely; but for me, it just meanders aimlessly and doesn't really feel like it builds up to anything. It goes on in a dragging pace very repetitively for an overlong eight minutes such that when it ends, I feel totally unmoved. Now that I think about it, I should have placed this track considerably lower on this list, which is the first time I've felt this way towards a song on this countdown. This is probably misplaced and it probably will be repositioned once I revisit this list sometime late next year because I'm really not too crazy about anything on this track – not even the riffs and instrumental sections, which are the best parts of it - although I believe I liked it more before than I do now. It's one of those tracks that doesn't get better with age.
101. Face in the Sand (Dance of Death) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA4KnZriECY
"So I watch and I wait and I pray for an answer"
To close out the bottom 50 of this list is a song that I've considered hit-and-miss due to it having elements that I distinctly enjoy and dislike. I love how the song starts of with that atmospheric Scottish highland vibe played to a waltzy rhythm in ¾ time similar to how I feel the title track from Dance of Death begins. I love Nicko's use of the double bass to give the song a frantic feeling. I also appreciate the thoughtful lyrics contained in the song. On the other hand, I'm not at all a fan of how the synths are used here because they seem pandering and take away from how natural and organic the song could have sounded (an analogy is how The Beatles' “The Long and Winding Road” sounds much better to me without the orchestral arrangement). Overall, there are no effective hooks and there's nothing that's especially catchy or gripping but the song has enough charming elements to make it pretty good.