Iron Maiden studio album 17 rumours and speculations

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LooseCannon said:
It does look better without the football. But I never did mind it.
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I'm not a huge fan of the artwork myself, I think the Eddie is crap (which is always a fatal flaw for a Maiden cover) and I don't think the overall colour scheme is great, but the concept is decent. But the most common complaint you see is there's a football pitch on it.
 
KidInTheDark666 said:
What's wrong with the artwork? I think it looks cool with all the red.
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I think it's a great album cover. The red colour suits it. Without the football pitch also looks great, but it's not a problem. Eddie is important (which is great).
Diesel 11 said:
Maiden have never released a truly terrible album. Even their worst have good moments.
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There's no such thing as a bad/terrible/worst Maiden album... ;)
 
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The_7th_one said:
he would let people sing the chorus:

Chorus:
(he put the mic to the crowd)
Crowd: Lightning strikes twice!!!
Bruce: What???
Crowd: Lightning strikes twice!!!
Bruce: Come on come on
Crowd: Lightning strikes twice!!!
Bruce: I can f***ing hear you
Crowd: Lightning strikes twice!!!
Bruce: Yeaaaah!
:lol:
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I think it would look more like:
Chorus:
(he put the mic to the crowd)
Crowd:
Bruce: What???
Crowd:
Bruce: Come on come on
Crowd:
Bruce: I can f***ing hear you
Crowd:
Bruce: Yeaaaah!
 
Kalata said:
There's no such thing as a bad/terrible/worst Maiden album... ;)
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There is such a thing as a worst Maiden album. Even if you think their worst is nonetheless a great album, it’s still their worst. Worst is obviously still subjective, but it exists.
 
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srfc said:
I'm not a huge fan of the artwork myself, I think the Eddie is crap (which is always a fatal flaw for a Maiden cover) and I don't think the overall colour scheme is great, but the concept is decent. But the most common complaint you see is there's a football pitch on it.
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Eh. The vr football pitch does explain the meaning of the album title. I'm not overly fond of the album cover, but it always made sense to me what it was trying to convey.
 
Gotta love Virtual XI fan debate!

As for the artwork, I've always had bit of a soft spot for it. I think the whole visual theme for the record is rather well constructed, even if the 90's PC game graphics don't necessarily suit an Iron Maiden album booklet too well. The football pitch looks a bit off there, since the cover is otherwise rather sinister, but I kinda like the apocalyptic scene and some of the details in the VR world anyway. The Eddie is very well drawn and definitely and interesting concept, but probably a bit too weird. Still, I think it's not that bad of a cover art, quite the opposite, but along with the lackluster material and the production the overall package is a bit off indeed.

I think there's a bunch of very good songs and ideas on the record. For example, I think that Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger has some cool things going on and the attempted atmosphere, harmonies and whatnot are great. It just falls down very, very flat. The same goes for most of the songs, really. They all have some good, or even great things and ideas, but the production, "quality control" when it comes to arrangements, running times, tightness etc. and overall execution fails.

I like the attempted melodic and very atmospheric feel in the songwriting on that record, but I have to agree with the biggest VXI critics about it being the lowest point on their discography when it comes to being innovative, inspired and powerful sounding. I haven't quite decided if it's my least favourite album, but admittedly it's their least powerful sounding album.

However, some live versions give nice contrast to the original recordings. The Clansman, as overrated as it might be, is a very powerful and evoking when played live and Bruce's wider range and much more elaborate delivery gives it a huge boost in depth and edge when compared to the album version, really elevating the song to a whole new level. When Two Worlds Collide (a bit stretched that one is, though) and Lightning Strikes Twice, while enjoyable as they are, also have that huge potential to be much better if they weren't crushed by the lackluster dynamics and production of the album. Futureal is a quality rocker and Como Estais Amigos is a great song too and could have been part of the live set, but I think they wanted to go with already familiar Afraid to Shoot Strangers instead, especially since even without Amigos there were six new songs going to be played anyway. It's a bit unfair that Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger enjoyed a small stint in the set, The Angel and the Gambler and The Educated Fool were dragged on for the whole tour and Amigos ended up being the only song on the record never to be played live by Maiden. Blaze has pulled it off rather nicely on in own shows though!

Oh, that got stretched a little bit (how fitting... :p ) I need to save my more constructed views and comments to the actual review post for the representative VXI thread, but there you go...

This is probably the most far fetched connection I've came up for a while, but just saying, I still believe that the album #17 might have a bit lighter colours on it's visua layout, probably something relatively close to the red/green colours scheme of VXI, or just something rather light and etheric, along the lines of Brave New World. We've got some rather dark album covers and visual themes recently, so it might be that #17 is a bit more colourful thing.

Desperate attempt at connecting my stretched VXI analysis to the album #17 discussion, haha.
 
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Excellent write-up! I agree that the actual songwriting/DNA of the songs is fantastic. It's embryonic Brave New World. Songs like Don't Look Into The Eyeballs Of Strange Creepy Men sound like they were intended to be Fear of the Dark pt2, at least in music progression and lyrical theme. Futureal is one of their better album openers and absolutely flattened by the production. The drums are flat/lifeless/Lars-like, the production is extremely tame, the guitars are thin, and the choruses are a touch repetitive. And yet it's still firmly Iron Maiden and I do greatly enjoy the album. I was even listening to it in my car this morning on the way to work.
 
The_7th_one said:
What about the remaster of the album in CD or vinyl, it sounds better than the original? Thanks in advance
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There are some noticeable differences. Mainly in the quieter sections of the songs. More clarity.

I think that VXI is judged quite harshly. The album has a clear theme and the songs connect well together. Ok the repetition is hard work in places but Brave Nee World is littered with repetition as well. (Not as bad as TAATG though!)
 
I was really surprised at how much VXI pops on the Ed Phones. Granted, that may be the case for any good sound system, but as these seem tuned specifically for Maiden, they bring a lot of clarity and edge/bite back to the guitars. But even without them, the remaster does seem to have a touch more "punch" than the original release.
 
Still no new album news then?

Haven't been able to see if there's been anything posted on the official FC forum as I let my membership lapse (FC renewal tee looked pants)

I did see on reddit someone was at Bruce's book show in Dublin and he said that they'll definitely play ATG live at some point (maybe an addition to LOTB3? Or something for a future tour?)
 
Perun said:
Eh. The vr football pitch does explain the meaning of the album title. I'm not overly fond of the album cover, but it always made sense to me what it was trying to convey.
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I think it would have been a great cover without the Iron Maiden logo (it is unlikely they would ever release any record without the logo on the cover, though)
 
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