Dedicated to no5 for no specific reason

Your favourite 5th track?

  • Phantom of the Opera

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • Genghis Khan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • The Number Of the Beast

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • The Trooper

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • The Duellists

    Votes: 2 6.9%
  • The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

    Votes: 1 3.4%
  • Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

    Votes: 5 17.2%
  • Fates Warning

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Childhood's End

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Look for the Truth

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • When Two Worlds Collide

    Votes: 1 3.4%
  • The Mercenary

    Votes: 1 3.4%
  • Dance of Death

    Votes: 2 6.9%
  • The Longest Day

    Votes: 5 17.2%

  • Total voters
    29

Invader

Ancient Mariner
I felt like doing a random poll, so I decided to have a poll of a specific number of track.  First I thought 3, but then I saw a post by no5 and decided to dedicate this to him just for the hell of it. :D  So, the number is five; your favourite of the tracks shown, and reasons please :)
 
Wow. This is a really tough choice. I've given this poll a great deal of thought, and I managed to eliminate most of the choices from consideration. For me, the two best songs in this group are "The Number Of The Beast" and "Dance Of Death" - though I will say that "Phantom..." and "The Longest Day" weren't far behind.

"The Number Of The Beast" has no weaknesses. It is basically a perfect song: concise and lean, with no dead weight.

"Dance Of Death" could arguably be shortened, but its length gives time to develop a sense of drama which TNOTB doesn't quite achieve. The lyrics tell a more interesting story, but I still cringe every time I hear "and I pranced". In other words, the strengths which could otherwise lift it above TNOTB are offset by weaknesses that drag it back down.

So my vote, after much deliberation, goes to TNOTB, with a giant consolation trophy to DOD.


Edit: and after making that vote, I notice that Invader didn't vote when he started the topic. Shame on you, Invader! :p
 
Invader said:
I felt like doing a random poll, so I decided to have a poll of a specific number of track.  First I thought 3, but then I saw a post by no5 and decided to dedicate this to him just for the hell of it. :D  So, the number is five; your favourite of the tracks shown, and reasons please :)


thanks Invader  :ok:

well if the list stays like it is I would choose without hesitating "the phantom..."
it's one of Maiden's top 5  :bigsmile: songs for me ; as solid as it gets, as fresh as it gets
I like so much its lyric theme, and the music fits so well with it -a headbanger's classic  :wub:

BUT
do you really think that we can consider it as no5 ?
I mean in the original release, it was no4 right ?
-for Genghis Khan and Beast though, things stay the same-

what do you think about that ? you will let Phantom in the poll,
or you will replace it with Trasylvania ??

so, I'm saying not to vote for the moment and wait for your answer

-----
*edit*

Eddies Wingman has now voted for it, so it's meaningless to wait for a possible revision of the poll ....so my vote (the 5th vote* :bigsmile:) goes definetely to the phantom of the opera  :)

[*]
Total Voters: 5
 
Re: Dedicated to _____no5 For No Specific Reason

Among all the 5th songs from every Maiden album as stated on the poll I vote The Mercenary from the album Brave New World. It's a great song in my opinion.
 
Re: Dedicated to _____no5 For No Specific Reason

thousand_suns said:
Among all the 5th songs from every Maiden album as stated on the poll I vote The Mercenary from the album Brave New World. It's a great song in my opinion.

Uhm, didn't you claim The Mercenary to be a weak song in a different thread not so long ago?
 
I want to give a little comment on each song:

Phantom ... is easily the best song from this album and a real classic.
Genghis Khan is one of the better tracks from Killers, although I prefer the title track and Killers is not one of my favourite Maiden albums.
The Number ... is a great song, but only third in my ranking of songs on the album, behind Hallowed ... and Children of the Damned.
The Trooper ... the coolest twin guitar solo of them all, and overall a song that deserves all the good things said about it. Love it.
The Duellists is by many regarded as filler. I have never agreed with that. The instrumental section in the middle is among the best parts on Powerslave. However, the song isn't up there with the two final tracks.
The loneliness ... has great music but somewhat boring lyrics, still one of my favourites from SIT.
Seventh Son is one of my favourite songs by Maiden, the guitar solos and melodies in this song are awesome.
Fates Warning is not more than an OK song, methinks, there are both worse and better songs on No Prayer.
Childhoods End is not one of my favourites, I see it as one of several fillers on FOTD, an album with only a few really good songs.
Look for the truth - well, I have lately come to like The X Factor more and more, including this one, but the album contains several songs that I like better. For instance Sign of the cross and Fortunes of War.
When two worlds collide is not my favourite from VXI, but a good song. I like it. Not much more to say than that.
The Mercenary is one of the least memorable songs from Brave New World, although I maybe judge it harder because it comes in between my two favourite songs on the album.
Dance of Death is a good song, but there are better songs on DoD. But nice melodies, I like the solos too, and the lyrics are entertaining (not thought-provoking, not deep, but it was never the purpose of this song).
The Longest Day gets credit for the lyrics and for the instrumental part, which are great. It is a little repetitive, but hey - that goes for several songs in this list.

Five of the songs stand out from the rest, when I must decide. Phantom of the opera, The Trooper, The loneliness of the long distance runner, Seventh Son of a Seventh son and The Longest Day. Well ... if I must pick one, today's choice is ... Phantom of the opera!
 
This comes down to three - Number of the Beast, Dance of Death and Longest Day.

Number of the Beast I have grown to love over recent years after a decade or so of not. Longest Day is such a good song also and one of Maidens best war themed songs.

But Dance of Death is easily, in my opinion, one of Maidens best songs. The way the song builds and it's great story gets my vote over the above two. And it's so good, I can even forgive the Spinal Tap bit in the middle. :D
 
having read more carrefully all the posts here, I would like to comment about some other great songs -that I could had choosen if Trasylvania was in no5 instead of The Phantom of the Opera.

I really enjoyed SMX's post -so f**kin well written- and I appreciated Wingmans' effort....


here we go :

Genghis Khan : awesome. its intro, with the thundering drums by Clive Burr, its melodies, and mostly its spontaneity* make it the best maiden instrumental for me (with ides of March very close)

---
[*]for those who don't know, Genghis Khan was originally recorded as a filler (!!!!!!!!!!!) during Killers sessions


the number of the beast : yeap, a great song, I'll pick SMX's words as they are :

SinisterMinisterX said:
"The Number Of The Beast" has no weaknesses. It is basically a perfect song: concise and lean, with no dead weight.

7th son of a 7th song : objectively is a perfect song : the central song of a concept album, but yet it stands lyrically by itself. it's a small drama, a small rock opera this song, equally "with no dead weight"

Dance of Death : again I'll pick some SMX's quotes to expande them a bit

SinisterMinisterX said:
"Dance Of Death" could arguably be shortened, but its length gives time to develop a sense of drama which TNOTB doesn't quite achieve. The lyrics tell a more interesting story, but I still cringe every time I hear "and I pranced"....

yeap, first of all it could be shortened -when 7th son -the other drama-long song of that list- doesn't gives that emerge ...."pranced" = ??  :huh: :blink:
the story is really interesting, BUT :
1) it gives a déjà vu feeling especially in the beginning-see Fear of the Dark lyrics
2) the salvation of the drama (when the spirits /demons look somewhere else and our hero manages to escape) is given to us a little quick with no further explainations -with other words they are a few script holes in the story line
the reasons why I wouldn't had choosed Dance of Death

so I'll had to choose between Khan and Beast, and for this exact moment --> Genghis Khan
 
Invader didn't vote when he started the topic. Shame on you, Invader!

I didn't vote when I started the poll because I thought it was a pretty difficult choice and I didn't want to influence the first poster in the direction of any particular choice (which can happen even subconsciously).  So I decided to hold my vote.  Of course, I could say I forgot, but that would be a boring reason. :p

Anyway, for me it's an almost impossible choice between Phantom of the Opera,  The Trooper, Dance of Death, and The Longest Day.  Seventh Son, The Number of the Beast, and Childhood's End get honourary mentions, but I just feel they don't quite reach to the standards set by the others.

Phantom of the Opera has absolutely brilliant instrumentals that are only passed by a select handful like Hallowed Be Thy Name and Sign of the Cross.  Its quality is pulled down by the singing, which, even with Bruce, doesn't just seem anything special.  No, this song is all about the instrumentals.

The Trooper was once my favourite Maiden song, and even now is among the top.  It might be overplayed, but no other song gives me the same surge of adrenaline as this.  It is amazing because of the sheer raw power of the song, and for being so great live.

Dance of Death is Janick's songwriting at its best, and tells a story very well.  It is a complex song, epic, and it gives vivid images, an ability which is matched by few other songs.  And there just is that magic unknown ingredient that makes a song good. 

The Longest Day is a brilliant war epic that, in my opinion, matches Paschendale's mood and emotion.  The two could almost be considered partners.  If only Maiden made a third war epic on their next album, then I could consider them a trilogy.  The Longest Day also gives images well, and it has great singing by Bruce.  And again, it just has that "thing". 

In the end, I'll take the "commercial" route and say The Trooper, because it is the only non-epic out of the bunch.  The three epics are too hard to compare.
 
It's really hard, my choice was btwn 7th Son and Dance Of Death.

Both songs are killer! But in the end it's 7th Son. Outstanding instrumental section! I love watching it on You Tube...don't have Maiden England yet. That will change when it comes out next year  :yey:
 
Eddies Wingman said:
The Duellists is by many regarded as filler. I have never agreed with that. The instrumental section in the middle is among the best parts on Powerslave. However, the song isn't up there with the two final tracks.

But those tracks are not in this poll, so don't take that into consideration! :)

I have difficulties with choosing between The Duellists and SSOASS. :-/
 
SD93 said:
I am the first one to vote for trooper why is it unpopular

Unpopular? I would guess most people on this board would rate it high, but take a look at the other songs on the list. A lot of great songs. Remember Maiden have 14 studio albums, and all of them have several great songs. Yes, even Fear of the Dark (probably my least favourite Maiden album) has that. That a song doesn't lead a poll like this doesn't mean it's unpopular.
 
I voted for ''Seventh Son'' - its just such a great song, especially the intro and the great instrumental section at the end.  I know that many people would say the exact same thing about Phantom, and that's up there for sure, but I'm just not so keen on the studio version.  Compared to, for example, live versions from the Early Days tour, the studio recording just seems too fast.  Slowed down a bit (and with Bruce singing), I think it imporves.

The only other serious contender for me is "The Longest Day", which is a great song and my second favourite on AMOLAD (after Out of the Shadows), but I think Bruce's vocals are a bit indistinct for my tastes.

As for the others, I just generally don't like NOTB (which I know is heresy), the last verse just seems a little lame, lyrically, and the rhymes in general are a little poor in my opinion.  The Trooper  - great song, great solos, but I've heard it just a couple of times too often to like it as much as SSoaSS
 
Well, so many good songs there :) I've chosen "When Two Worlds Collide". I got Blaze's "Alive in Poland" DVD recently which brought the song to my attention :) "Look for the Truth" would be the second.
 
At first I thought this would be a very difficult poll to vote on, so many great tracks! But then I reread Invader's post and he is asking for our FAVORITE song.... While which is better than the other can be debated forever or at least a couple of hours, my favorite hands down: The Duellists
 
Back
Top