Different World

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How good is Different World on a scale of 1-10?

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The fact that it's co-penned by Smith doesn't mean much. In the end, it's Harris who takes all the parts and combines them. As we can clearly see on Making Of A Matter Of Life And Death, Adrian says that he wrote the riff in 7/4 as a part of "bigger" song. If we dissect parts, we only have few - the main riff, the simple chords behind the verses/chorus and the pre-solo harmony. Therefore and IMHO, Harris is responsible for the typical opener form of this track.

And it's very fucking good. Not breathtaking, not revolutionary, just damn good. Better than Wickerman, miles ahead of Wildest Dreams, and way better than Final Frontier. 8
 
Re: Daily Song: Different World

mckindog said:
After reading the other comments, I'm inclined to suggest it may be riskier for Maiden in some ways to attempt a good hooky rock song simply because there is a formula and a fan base that expects the band to avoid it.
Their chances of being considered bland and unexceptional are higher if they don't nail it — I submit Wildest Dreams as exhibit A.
Think about this: Isn't formula for post-reunion Maiden the extended slow-then-fast-then-instrumental-then-slow epic (FTGGOG, No More Lies, Brave New World, The Longest Day, Dance of Death, Dream of Mirrors etc...)?
In that context, is it fair to slag Different World for being formulaic when the only Maiden songs that fit that formula in the reunion era are Wildest Dreams, The Wickerman, New Frontier and The Final Frontier (minus Satellite 15)? The Wickerman is a deserving classic, but its status is helped because it was exactly what the fan base craved in 2000 — something that brought them back to Aces High and Wasted Years.
I think Different World is nearly as good, but its rating is reduced somewhat because expectations had changed and because of the different texture of that particular album.
No, it doesn't sound like the rest of AMOLAD. Thank God for they had the courage to add some variety.
Click to expand...

I agree with this entirely. I think there are two propositions here, one verifiable and one just opinion:
- People on this list like the longer songs better (can be verified)
- Maiden just write better long songs (opinion)

My feeling is that their short songs can be fantastic, but that they have a higher miss rate with the short ones than the long ones. Statistically speaking, that's probably due to Fear of the Dark and NPFTD skewing it, but there you have it. That being said, I think that they may have been following a formula of a short rocker to get you hooked at the beginning (hell, we know they like to have balance on their albums, one of the reasons Alchemist is on TFF was because they felt they didn't have a straight-ahead rocker), but there is nothing wrong with that... would Powerslave have been better if Rime of the Ancient Mariner was the first song? I argue it would have much tougher to get through the whole album!

This might be perhaps off topic, so to bring it back, if Maiden followed a short-rocker-to-start formula, they continued it with this album. And Different world is a better song than Wildest Dreams. But I would argue that it's better than some of the long ones on AMOLAD (including the Legacy, that one grates on me to no end). Again, I think the brilliance of Maiden is getting an epic quality in songs that are shorter. That I think is a sign of genius... not every song needs to be Rime, and not every album needs tohave Tales from Topographic Ocean length.
 
Really catchy song, gives a great energy, far better than Wildest Dreams but not in the same class (not even close) with The Wicker Man. 7/10.
 
A very respectable opening track, sounds larger than life as does the whole of AMOLAD album, Excellent vocals and I really like the lyrics, nice rocker, 8/10.
 
9.

By far the best opener since Sign of the Cross. By which I mean to say, I think that this song is the best opener on the reunion albums. While both The Wicker Man and Wildest Dreams have more interesting and grabbing opening riffs, they loose me quite early - which Different World does not. It is a song that has a strong chorus, great verses and a killer guitar solo. Can't ask for more in a straight forward rock-song.
 
7.

The verses are great, bridge and solo are nice, the chorus is catchy, but overall it's kinda boring. A decent rocker, but not very memorable.
 
In my opinion it is too slow.On the other hand the chorus and pre-chorus are just too long and boring. No real feeling there.The lyrics are plain bad.I think that having H and Steve on music and lyrics respectively can't give a good opener.I mean H is good in slower songs and Steve is just getting worse with his lyrics as time goes by.Really nice although typical H solo though
 
Starts the album with a bang! Quite similar to the other Smith/Harris opening tracks, rocking and to the point. It is better then Wildest Dreams but not as good as The Wickerman.

The riff is heavy and the lick over it is cool. A similar lick plays in the background of the chorus and is really cool.
The vocals on the verses are great, but Bruce sound a little strained at the high chorus and little dull on the low pre chorus thou.

Always though that this felt a little out of place on the album, and that maybe the album should start with a more typical song from the album to set the mood(a la Sign Of The Cross on The X Factor), but the song has grown on me lately and I think it fits the album more now.

7/10
 
If DW is considered a great rocker and a solid opener what is Aces high then?!;
 
The thing that's always let this down for me is the chorus. There's a strong beginning, then I find the chorus an anticlimax. I can't make up my mind about that video too, with cross-eyed animated Bruce
 
Brigantium is it me or did you actually mix Different world and Wildest dreams videos? However I think that one of the major issues with the choruses in AMOLAD was that in deed they seemed to slow the songs down for no reason...oh wait there is an animated video,I completely forgot about this one. Well, I guess most of us would like to erase it from our memory,right? It however funny how the animated videos they have done make no sense at all...TFF was actually good though
 
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