IRON MAIDEN ALBUMS SURVIVOR: POWERSLAVE WINS

Satisfied?

  • Total voters
    26
Or Seventh Son; which is a pretty stellar album apart from the one shitstain called Can I Play With Madness? Somebody got problem with SiT synths, however no problems with this AOR synth-driven commercial p.o.s
 
Come on guys, back to the technical discussions regarding Somewhere in Time.

Personally, I like the sound of the album. Maybe it is the one Maiden album it's easiest to place at a certain point in time, but to me, that doesn't matter.

I see there was a comparison to Turbo. Well, maybe both Maiden and Priest got a bit caught in the middle in the late 80s. Many of the NWOBHM bands faded, the more "hair metal-ish" bands (bad label, but bear with me) stayed hairy, thrash was on the rise, and you'd soon have Guns'n'Roses. Maybe the production and sound of SIT was a honest attempt at sticking to their guns while taking some inspiration from the general trend of 80s rock music - more synths and effects. Anyway, the album still had good songwriting, there are plenty of great melodies, some catchy choruses and maybe the best guitar soloing of any of their 80s albums.

So why on earth did I vote against it? Well, I simply feel AMOLAD is a (slightly) stronger album. Just like SIT, it has many good melodies, some great solos, and in addition it has more lyrical depth (my one gripe with SIT - most songs on SIT have very simplistic lyrics).

Let it also be said, I think these 5 albums are, in fact, the 5 best Maiden albums.
 
jazz from hell said:
Let's clarify a few things @Zare :


Of course the actual synthetic sounds (or samples) are independent from the interface you control them with. Your point is still incorrect. If the drummer played on a modified computer-keyboard that had the possibility to control all these technical parameters you talk about, the result would end up sounding differently than if he played on just a regular computer keyboard, and it would certainly also end up sounding different if he played on a 'real' electronic drumset, even though the samples are the same and even though he can control all the same parameters, because obviously he would just play it differently. Same thing applies to synth guitars vs keyboards. The interface/instrument you use to control midi makes a huge difference.
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Not true. We're talking about a communications protocol through digital medium. Precisely the same information can be created using different sources (controllers). Resolution is low, there's a finite number of 'feels'. Information sent by pressing a key on digital piano can be easily recreated by plucking a string MIDI controller.

Please end this discussion, SiT goes away and that's it.
 
Well, I get you guys really like the sound - and mind ye, I'm not all that opposed to it myself, I simply think it makes the album a tad monotonous and I must be in a mood for it, more than with SSOASS which has also 80's production, but a much subtler one (and please remember that SIT used to be my #1 album for a looooong time - nearly ten years, IIRC) - but do you seriously insist that the sound can't be a bit controversial? In spite of how specific the sound is?
 
MindlessPieces said:
For me, the "dated" aspect of SIT is the sound, rather than song structure.
If you were making an album today, you would not want it to sound anywhere near like SIT.
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Yeah I know you meant the sound. My point stands.

I don't give a damn what you'd want to do today, when I'm talking about an album made in 1986. That's the point. Don't want to repeat myself, but do you look at a cup from Antiquity and say "you wouldn't want your cup like that today, so it makes this one less valuable"?
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Well, I get you guys really like the sound - and mind ye, I'm not all that opposed to it myself, I simply think it makes the album a tad monotonous and I must be in a mood for it, more than with SSOASS which has also 80's production, but a much subtler one (and please remember that SIT used to be my #1 album for a looooong time - nearly ten years, IIRC) - but do you seriously insist that the sound can't be a bit controversial? In spite of how specific the sound is?
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Controversial? It's guitar synthesisers they were using, not xylophones. How is it any more controversial than using a keyboard? If one calls the actual sound of the synthesiser "static" then you don't know what you're talking about. That's all I was saying.
The Flash said:
Yeah I know you meant the sound. My point stands.

I don't give a damn what you'd want to do today, when I'm talking about an album made in 1986. That's the point.
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Indeed. Did anyone even mention song structure anyway?
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
Indeed. Did anyone even mention song structure anyway?
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I was going against the very concept of being "dated" and MindlessPieces came up with a reply that ignored the very premise of my argument and continued with his own paradigm.

In other words, I don't really know why he quoted me.
 
Cmon guys, you talk about SIT like it's full of synthesizers (guitar or otherwise) or something. It's actually pretty understated and in the background
What I personally don't like is the guitar sound
At that time, they (for whatever reason) became enamoured with GK 250ML amps. Those are transistor amps that have nowhere near the dynamics of tube amps (so they sound a bit flat), and they have distortion, chorus and echo effects built in, and they just HAD to have all of them on all the time. Well, distortion with chorus is the very definition of 80's cheese (the guitarists among us will know what I'm talking about), and constant echo just makes the rhythm parts sound flabby and not defined. Plus, probably Martin had to improvise, although he surely made it sound the best it could.
On 7th son they laid off of those effects a bit, so it sounds much more solid and tight
Anyway, on SIT the drums and bass sound great as always, Bruce is not in the mood, but doesn't sound very processed to me, so the guitars are the main culprit. A few synths in the background don't make it anywhere near Turbo
 
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