If Maiden played Bruce's solo songs live...

SinisterMinisterX

SinisterMinisterX

Illuminatus
Staff member
...which songs should they play?

We all know this won't really happen, aside from further performances of Bring Your Daughter. I've always thought of that as Maiden covering Bruce, no matter what 'Arry 'Arris and Rodrick Bleedin' Smallwood would have us think.

I was just listening to The Tower. The instrumental section in the middle, with all the harmony stuff. There's 3 guitars there and a very Harris-like bassline. It occured to me: Maiden would rock the Baby Jesus out of that song live, if they ever dared.

Of course the Bruce songs with H are strong candidates, but there's got to be some good ideas in the rest. Could you imagine Iron Maiden playing Tears Of The Dragon? :eek: :edmetal:
 
I am not sure how Nicko would deal with this material. Quite some songs have a very different groove from Maiden's songs, I am not sure if Nicko could do such style.

Some songs are more straightforward and are better options, but not per se the better songs.
Accident of Birth could be done, one amigo playing the rhythm underneath the harmony guitars.
 
I'd love to hear Book of Thel from Maiden but it's not going to happen even if they would play Bruce's songs.
 
It'll never happen. This is a hypothetical.

Silver Wings. Though, I think Steve would rewrite the bass work, and the song would become even more of a monster than it already is. The third guitar would improve it as well.

King in Crimson. Again, I think it could only sound better than it does now. Steve and Nick both would add so much to this track.

Darkside of Aquarius. Just awesome.
 
I don't think they'd play songs out of standard tuning (maybe they'd make an exception for drop D).  In a hypothetical scenario, the most likely candidates would probably be Tears of the Dragon, Road to Hell and The Tower.
 
I think it would be nice for them to play Kill Devil Hills. :lol:
I know they won't play it, or any Bruce's solo stuff, but one can dream.
 
It would be sweet if Bruce would do a solo show opening for Maiden. Of course, that would be way too much stress on his vocals.

Some songs I would love to hear: Son Of A Gun, Cyclops, Tears Of The Dragon, Space Race, Meltdown, and anything from AOB and CW. And just about anything from TOS.
 
There are not really that many songs from Bruce's solo repertoire that naturally translate to Iron Maiden's sound and style.  This is not surprising, because Bruce embarked on a solo career to do something different than Maiden was doing.  The songs identified by SMX and LC are among the few that could translate, though they probably would require some rearranging.  I also think that "Abduction" from Tyranny of Souls could be re-worked into a strong live Maiden song.  But many of my favorite songs by Bruce, such as "Kill Devil Hill," "Chemical Wedding" and "Omega" for example, don't really strike me as Maiden songs.  (Of course, neither would have "Satellite 15"...)  Even "Abduction" would require a reworking of the music in the verses, though the chorus seems ready-made for Maiden.       
 
Forostar said:
I am not sure how Nicko would deal with this material. Quite some songs have a very different groove from Maiden's songs, I am not sure if Nicko could do such style.

Some songs are more straightforward and are better options, but not per se the better songs.
Accident of Birth could be done, one amigo playing the rhythm underneath the harmony guitars.
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What ?? Bruce's solo material has quite simplistic drumming, nothing compared to the drumming in Maiden's stuff. It would be a piece of cake for Nicko to play these songs.

Anyway thankfully Iron Maiden will never play any of Bruce's material , which sounds like B'rate Maiden effords with more "modern" (like downtunng which i despise) elements. (and i know that a small vocal  minority worships these albums).
 
johnglen said:
What ?? Bruce's solo material has quite simplistic drumming, nothing compared to the drumming in Maiden's stuff. It would be a piece of cake for Nicko to play these songs.
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+1
Nicko wouldn't have any problem with most of the songs.Soul Intruders would be the only problem - apart from that I can't think of another - the rest would be piece of cake really.


johnglen said:
Anyway thankfully Iron Maiden will never play any of Bruce's material , which sounds like B'rate Maiden effords with more "modern" (like downtunng which i despise) elements. (and i know that a small vocal  minority worships these albums).
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-2
I wish you had ended your post before that.  :p
 
johnglen said:
What ?? Bruce's solo material has quite simplistic drumming, nothing compared to the drumming in Maiden's stuff. It would be a piece of cake for Nicko to play these songs.
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I wouldn't underestimate these drumparts. Quite some of these songs have groovy patterns with fast combinations with bass and snare drum, and lots of hi-hat, where Nicko relies heavily on his ride cymbal work. I'd say Clive (in good old shape) would fit better to these songs. He could play a constant beat in a tight manner.

Soul Intruders features double bass drumming, that's difficult for Nicko as well.
However, it's not true that "only songs with double bass are difficult".

Just check out the drum patterns in Book of Thel. For a few people this may sound simplistic, but to drum such a tight patter for a longer time is no chicken shit. Nicko isn't the tightest drummer. He is a looser drummer who brings in variation, which fits in Maiden songs, especially live.

Many Bruce songs call for a different approach, more stability and consistency, all in service for the tight groove.

I am not saying that Nicko is a worse drummer than the Bruce Dickinson drummer(s), I am also not saying that Maiden songs are easier to play than Bruce songs. What I am saying is that there are different drumparts, and different drummers, with different styles.
 
Dave Ingraham is a killer drummer, he'd smoke Nicko any day. Nicko is very overrated, he was never able to replace Clive Burr who's in Ingraham's league.
 
Well actually there's a blast beat in Abduction that Nicko will never be able to do.


But Nicko is a far better drummer, his just awesome, and not being able to use double bass drums have nothing to do with that fact.
 
Cosmiceddie said:
Dave Ingraham is a killer drummer, he'd smoke Nicko any day. Nicko is very overrated, he was never able to replace Clive Burr who's in Ingraham's league.
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Clive is more in Ingraham's league, stylewise.
But Nicko has qualities Clive didn't have. Again I say it's a matter of different styles, rather than better/worse.
Even though this matter edges this subject I'm afraid SMX won't like it if this topic will turn into a "who was the best Maiden drummer", we have another topic for that.
 
Johnglen might consider people who love Bruce's albums to be a vocal minority; unfortunately, I'd say people who love Bruce's albums are in the majority here.

It should also be noted that both AOB and CW charted at the bnrmetal best-of in their respective years, at #2 and #4 respectively.
 
Also, if you check the reviews they were given then you'll find that Aob, Cw and ToS are consistently considered as great metal albums.
 
  Please Johnglenn, Bruce and his solo efforts cannot be described a "B rate Maiden".  That moniker  already belongs to the Blaze era. Bruce's solo stuff is not B rate anything.  It is first class metal, just not the same as Maiden, and not as good.  But awesome in its own right.  I have always thought of many of the Bruce songs as Maiden-esque, if ever so slightly modified.  I have often let the mind wander and fantasize the Bruce songs are new  Maiden songs.  Many could be.
 
I remember thinking that Son of a Gun was better than anything on No Prayer for the Dying right after No Prayer came out. Now I'm not so sure, but it would be a good Bruce song for Maiden to play, but only if they give Janick's solo to Adrian. :bigsmile:
 
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