Iron Maiden studio album 17 rumours and speculations

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Maiden really don't compare IMO. Throw Billy Joel on the list instead, man hasn't written a song since the '90s.

Let's be honest, if Maiden were really a "cabaret band", they wouldn't put out '90 minute records and include the bulk of them in their album tour setlists. How many other bands do that? Priest played like two songs from Firepower in each leg of its tour. Maiden played 7/11 songs from TBOS on its tour. Priest's songs were like three-five minutes each. Maiden's range from five to thirteen minutes. Additionally, the band is including two songs from their least popular era, and two songs from the 'current' era. Totaling up the runtimes, that's a full 30% of the band's two hour set. The other 70% is understandably taken up by the band's classic era, but I feel like if they were really just out to sell nostalgia they wouldn't bother with including that 30% at all.

I'm not saying we can't criticize Maiden; in fact I do think they can be criticized for banking the possible last days of the group on a touring schedule that is continually being altered due to the pandemic. I really wish that they would put out some new music and not keep extending the tour. But a lot of you guys have already seen the band countless times over the years. I've seen Maiden just once in the twenty years that I've been alive and it was one of the best experiences in my life. I think other people deserve the opportunity to get that too. When the LOTB cycle is finally over and we get a new album and 50% of the main setlist of that tour is comprised of brand new songs - like it was for TBOS - I'm really excited to hear the cabaret act moniker thrown about then.
 
Yax said:
Shirley himself is great. . But it isn't so because of Shirley.
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The three biggest issues I have over all the Maiden studio albums are the following
1. Hallowed be thy name - the intro drumming is off time.
2. Empire of the Clouds - "The engine's drum" is very poorly and clumsily overlaid - Shirley?????!!!!!!
3. The vocal layering on The Final Frontier makes Bruce sound painfully strained. Maybe that was the intend based on the storyline of the song, but sounds very bad. Jorn's version of Final Frontier is much better (By the way I don't get annoyed by the intro of Maiden's version because I cut it off so don't have to endure it)

My issues with live performance DVDs are
1. Too many of the same songs appear in all of them
2. The camera cuts about too often and too quick. I'd like this to slow down, I'd like to see what is going on, rather than feeling dizzy.
3. Lately they are pieced together from multiple nights/shows and so ridiculously the band members attire and equipment change from shot to shot. Hence no continuity, no sense of being at a cohesive night at a Maiden concert.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Let's be honest, if Maiden were really a "cabaret band", they wouldn't put out '90 minute records and include the bulk of them in their album tour setlists. How many other bands do that? Priest played like two songs from Firepower in each leg of its tour. Maiden played 7/11 songs from TBOS on its tour. Priest's songs were like three-five minutes each. Maiden's range from five to thirteen minutes. Additionally, the band is including two songs from their least popular era, and two songs from the 'current' era. Totaling up the runtimes, that's a full 30% of the band's two hour set. The other 70% is understandably taken up by the band's classic era, but I feel like if they were really just out to sell nostalgia they wouldn't bother with including that 30% at all.
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The runtime comparison is fair, although not seen as a strength to all, but over the course of less than two years of touring Judas Priest played 8 songs from Firepower. That’s more than half the newest album represented, which is pretty damn good for a veteran act.
 
Yeah, I never got the "Maiden puts out 90-minute records with 18-minute songs on them!" line of thinking. They put out exactly one album like that so far and it occupies an 11-year period of no other new music by the band by itself. Even still, album runtime is a bad measure anyway because not everyone agrees longer = better. I doubt that songs like Shadows of the Valley or The Man of Sorrows would be significantly worse if they were a little shorter, for example. Or The Red and the Black, if you want another obvious example.
 
Ruflux said:
Yeah, I never got the "Maiden puts out 90-minute records with 18-minute songs on them!" line of thinking. They put out exactly one album like that so far and it occupies an 11-year period of no other new music by the band by itself. Even still, album runtime is a bad measure anyway because not everyone agrees longer = better. I doubt that songs like Shadows of the Valley or The Man of Sorrows would be significantly worse if they were a little shorter, for example. Or The Red and the Black, if you want another obvious example.
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For sure.

Red and the Black specifically would be better if it were shorter, like 0:00.
 
Ruflux said:
Yeah, I never got the "Maiden puts out 90-minute records with 18-minute songs on them!" line of thinking. They put out exactly one album like that so far and it occupies an 11-year period of no other new music by the band by itself. Even still, album runtime is a bad measure anyway because not everyone agrees longer = better. I doubt that songs like Shadows of the Valley or The Man of Sorrows would be significantly worse if they were a little shorter, for example. Or The Red and the Black, if you want another obvious example.
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Everyone before a new Iron Maiden album: "I hope there's short rockers on it."
Everyone after a new Iron Maiden album: "These short rockers aren't as good as Run to the Hills/Trooper/Aces High/Wicker Man! :mad:"
 
Ruflux said:
Yeah, I never got the "Maiden puts out 90-minute records with 18-minute songs on them!" line of thinking. They put out exactly one album like that so far and it occupies an 11-year period of no other new music by the band by itself. Even still, album runtime is a bad measure anyway because not everyone agrees longer = better. I doubt that songs like Shadows of the Valley or The Man of Sorrows would be significantly worse if they were a little shorter, for example. Or The Red and the Black, if you want another obvious example.
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My point isn’t that the quality is necessarily good (although I think it’s a GREAT album), the point of runtime in the context of live shows is absolutely an argument against why they’re not a cabaret act (but merely have classics tours every other cycle, which is a big distinction). To load up half of your setlist with new material is something not many old bands seem to do these days, but Maiden has been supporting their newest material on every single tour which is the biggest statement against them being a novelty act at this point in their career.
 
LooseCannon said:
Everyone before a new Iron Maiden album: "I hope there's short rockers on it."
Everyone after a new Iron Maiden album: "These short rockers aren't as good as Run to the Hills/Trooper/Aces High/Wicker Man! :mad:"
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I don't see how that relates to my point and I don't see the hypocrisy in your strawman either. A lot of people have expressed their interest in shorter, punchier songs like the band's biggest hits were in the 80s. Wanting those songs to also be really fucking good and catchy just like those hits you mentioned seems like a natural continuation from there, no?
 
There's no use in hiding
Got to keep on trying
Can't take no more lying
This is the last!

There's no time for crying
When some of us are dying
None of us decide
What is our fate
 
Ruflux said:
I don't see how that relates to my point and I don't see the hypocrisy in your strawman either. A lot of people have expressed their interest in shorter, punchier songs like the band's biggest hits were in the 80s. Wanting those songs to also be really fucking good and catchy just like those hits you mentioned seems like a natural continuation from there, no?
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Oh I'm just pointing out that it doesn't matter what the band does, people won't be happy.
 
LooseCannon said:
Oh I'm just pointing out that it doesn't matter what the band does, people won't be happy.
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Fair enough. I don't see the flaw in wanting more songs like Wicker Man, Trooper etc. although I will recognize that it's a rather unreasonable expectation from a band that's been active for closer to 50 years.

Diesel 11 said:
My point isn’t that the quality is necessarily good (although I think it’s a GREAT album), the point of runtime in the context of live shows is absolutely an argument against why they’re not a cabaret act (but merely have classics tours every other cycle, which is a big distinction). To load up half of your setlist with new material is something not many old bands seem to do these days, but Maiden has been supporting their newest material on every single tour which is the biggest statement against them being a novelty act at this point in their career.
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I dunno about that, honestly. You'd have a better argument if they released more new music more often and spent more time touring on that new music in the last decade. Sure, they dedicate a fair amount of space on their setlist for new songs, typically (although due to the gaps between albums I find that a bit hard to qualify - they played all of AMOLAD on its tour but that was 15 years ago, whereas they only played five songs out of ten on the TFF cycle) but on the TBOS cycle for example they also didn't play any other reunion era songs outside of Blood Brothers. Which is about as close to a modern classic Maiden will ever get, so it's not like it's a deep cut just for the hardcore audience.
 
Ruflux said:
Fair enough. I don't see the flaw in wanting more songs like Wicker Man, Trooper etc. although I will recognize that it's a rather unreasonable expectation from a band that's been active for closer to 50 years.
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Well, the band has written those and people complained, you know?
 
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