IRON MAIDEN REFERENDUM 2020: Results -> Hallowed Be Thy Name wins for the 5th time!

[The Flash]

I find it it's usually non-musicians that overblow the intents of musical choices in a narrative sense. Not meant to be a put down toward non-musicians, or @Perun or his interpretation, but it is an observation that I make quite frequently.

Last week I heard someone (a non-musician who, by all visible evidence, didn't know anything about guitar playing) talking about whether the little fret noises on Windowpane by Opeth were meant as sounds of raindrops dropping on the window. No, it's just the sound the guitar makes that they didn't care to edit out during mastering.

 

[karljant]

Counterpoint: Music can be interpreted in all sorts of ways by the listener, even ways that the original artist didn’t envision. Just because Steve wasn’t conscious about such a decision doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not there. It’s up to the listener to feel it for himself.

As they say: beauty is on the beholder's eye. And rightfully so. There's a reason why music (albeit having norms) is art and not an exact science.

 

[LooseCannon]

I love both album but... saying the calm down intros is SIT origin-ed?
Seriously???

Yes, it starts there, as you just so kindly noted. Compare to the albums previous, which have...between none or a couple, SIT starts the "every song with one".

Look at Seventh Son:

Moonchild - acoustic intro ends at 0:22 and the main riff doesn't really kick in until 1:25.
Infinite Dreams - soft intro that doesn't hit a riff until 0:26, and it doesn't get heavy until 1:05.
Can I Play With Madness? - 3 second spoken word intro.
The Evil That Men Do - slow intro until that kickass riff kicks in at 0:30.
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - I mean this one starts off bombastic, but does it have speed? No, not right away. That starts at 0:26, and you can make a case that it doesn't *really* go fast for awhile longer.
The Prophecy - Soft intro until 0:45.
The Clairvoyant - Bass intro until 0:10, guitar doesn't hit until 0:20, and we don't get to full speed until 0:28.
Only the Good Die Young - Right into things.

I mean that's a huge expansion of slow intros over SIT, but then go back and compare to Powerslave:

Aces High - that sweet, sweet intro riff, fuck I love this one, that lasts until 0:24.
2 Minutes to Midnight - right into business.
Losfer Words - 3 seconds.
Flash of the Blade - lead guitar solo, but right into business.
The Duellists - straight away.
Back in the Village - straight away.
Powerslave - if you include the howl/heartbeat intro, this takes until 0:20.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner - you start 13:39 of damn near perfection with that killer opening riff. Hold on for the ride.

There's a very clear delineation between Powerslave and Somewhere in Time.

 

[Cat Milk Supreme]

I can almost hear them sharpening their paper knives

 

[Black Wizard]

I can almost hear them sharpening their paper knives

Loading their digital pistols.

 

[Cat Milk Supreme]

Loading their digital pistols.

Correct.
Although they may laugh at you and me. Or maybe not. That would be worse.

 

[karljant]

Wasted Years, Stranger In A Strange Land, Heaven Can Wait, Sea Of Madness... intros... seriously????


As for 7th son it's completely acceptable since it's a CONCEPTUAL ALBUM. Even being so 3 out of 8 songs practically get going from second 1.

P.S. how in hell can someone spot an intro of any kind on any Powerslave song other than Aces High and the title track?

 

[karljant]

Correct.
Although they may laugh at you and me. Or maybe not. That would be worse.

just because of that...

 

[karljant]

Loading their digital pistols.

There you go:

 

[LooseCannon]

As for 7th son it's completely acceptable since it's a CONCEPTUAL ALBUM. Even being so 3 out of 8 songs practically get going from second 1.

So concept albums are allowed to have slow intros, but regular albums aren't? I'll tell the music police, they'll be really glad to finally have the line drawn on where they can make arrests.

 

[karljant]

Yup... because every well known conceptual album is completely devoid of intros... riiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

[The Flash]

Yup... because every well known conceptual album is completely devoid of intros... riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Not sure what point you thought LC was making there, but it sure as hell ain't the one you're responding to.

 

[KidInTheDark666]

For once I want to be the one to say this: Let's get back to the actual topic of this thread.

 

[Mosh]

Don't feed the troll

 

[karljant]

Not sure what point you thought LC was making there, but it sure as hell ain't the one you're responding to.

this one:

o concept albums are allowed to have slow intros, but regular albums aren't?

The point here is that every single conceptual album structure is deeply rooted in the intro/ interlude structure to serve as movements to the narrative where other albums are not. But even that is a deviation of the main point: how The X Factor was the first album to bring long acoustic intros in a systematic fashion to the Maiden repertoire (a trait that continued ever since).
And even that was a side note that wasn't even introduced by me in a thread dedicated to pick songs between Virtual XI, AMOLAD and BNW.

So I'll make Kid InTheDark666's words my own:

Let's get back to the actual topic of this thread.

 

[Diesel 11]

SiT is the first album to start using more intros in its songs. Not every song has one, but a good number of them do: the title track, Heaven Can Wait, Loneliness, Deja Vu, Änd Alexander all have an intro before the rest of the song really kicks in.

 

[The Flash]

Don't feed the troll

I don't think he is trolling. There are just some serious reading comprehension issues going on.

 

[Black Wizard]

The point here is that every single conceptual album structure is deeply rooted in the intro/ interlude structure

I think Mastodon's 'Leviathan' is a concept album but doesn't meet your criteria.

 

[Perun]

I am glad to see such a well defended positive view on the album, but I liken that first point to literature professors assigning meaning to works of art that were never intended by the author. If that’s the takeaway you get from those poorly produced, too loud “string” sections, I’m glad you enjoy them, but I cannot in any way believe Steve thought that deeply about their purpose.

I find it it's usually non-musicians that overblow the intents of musical choices in a narrative sense. Not meant to be a put down toward non-musicians, or @Perun or his interpretation, but it is an observation that I make quite frequently.

I know you guys aren't attacking me personally, but let me still defend my point of view here: It's what I hear when I listen to the songs. Whether it was intended or not is irrelevant to me at this point. This is supposed to be art, after all, and art has always exposed itself to interpretation. So maybe it works "accidentally", but it works for me, and that's why I think it's good. Yeah, I'm not a musician. I can only guess at what goes into composing a song. I'm just a listener. I never claimed anything else.

 

[Night Prowler]

Eliminated after Round 10:
Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger - 26 votes
The Angel & The Gambler - 25 votes
Lightning Strikes Twice - 20 votes
When Two Worlds Collide - 20 votes
Virus - 20 votes