It's gotta be tough being Dave Murray

Forostar said:
He is brighter than a thousand suns.
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He's certainly brighter than thousand_suns.

GhostofCain said:
Truth to be told, he is not the most prolific of writers...

On a personal note, I find Adrian's and Jan's songwriting much stronger than Dave's, so there is no surprise to me that Mr Murray on the pink oboe does not get to play the songs he has co-written live that often.
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Indeed. Dave is easily the weakest songwriter in Maiden (not counting Nicko). He also shoots himself in the foot when it comes to energy because most of his songs have lengthy, chill bluesy solo sections and that's just not what Maiden is about in a live setting.

Dave is a player, through and through, and there's nothing wrong with that. He tries his hand at songwriting every now and again and is occasionally very successful, but mostly mediocre. Some people are just players, more in tune with the instrument than with the compositional aspect of music.
 
Irony left aside, SirRobbins made an interesting remark. This lack of live exposure is even more surprising when one considers that Harris is his usual partner in writing. I remember being so deluded not to hear Déjà-vu live in 1986.
 
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MrKnickerbocker said:
He's certainly brighter than thousand_suns.



Indeed. Dave is easily the weakest songwriter in Maiden (not counting Nicko). He also shoots himself in the foot when it comes to energy because most of his songs have lengthy, chill bluesy solo sections and that's just not what Maiden is about in a live setting.

Dave is a player, through and through, and there's nothing wrong with that. He tries his hand at songwriting every now and again and is occasionally very successful, but mostly mediocre. Some people are just players, more in tune with the instrument than with the compositional aspect of music.
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This
 
Forostar said:
I take Deja-Vu over every song Smith or Gers have ever (co-)written, bar Sea of Madness.
I take Brave New World over every song Smith or Gers have ever (co-)written, bar Sea of Madness and The Unbeliever.
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IRYO, but those are two of Dave's best writing contributions to the band. There are maybe a handful of Murray songs I'd love to hear, those two included, but the rest I'm very happy they've never (or rarely) brought out on stage.
 
Not even Judas Be My Guide? Pffff. Also I'd easily take Man of Sorrows, Public Enema Number One, Fates Warning, The Prophecy, Lightning Strikes Twice, Still Life, Twilight Zone, Total Eclipse, Charlotte, Rainmaker and Breeg over most songs they do nowadays.
 
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MrKnickerbocker said:
Dave is easily the weakest songwriter in Maiden (not counting Nicko)
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With all respect, and without the slightest agressivity, I'm amazed by this comment. His melody lines are often, very often more interesting than Smith's. He has had his weak moments (on No Prayer), but most of his songs are really interesting and bring something to the albums. Sure, he is not consistent, mostly, I guess, because he is a lazy man (and this is not a compliment). But when he tries, he often hits the spot. I've never heard/read of a song of his that has been rejected by Harris, which means something.
 
Forostar said:
Not even Judas Be My Guide? Pffff.
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I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED.

Anyway, I find Dave's songwriting very hit and miss. IIRC, the only tracks of his that I miss being played live would probably be Thin Line and Judas. Maybe Deja Vu.

I don't particularly like TMWWBK, but I admit it would be interesting to hear it performed live.
 
Forostar said:
Not even Judas Be My Guide? Pffff. Also I'd easily take Man of Sorrows, Public Enema Number One, Fates Warning, The Prophecy, Lightning Strikes Twice, Still Life, Twilight Zone, Total Eclipse, Charlotte, Rainmaker and Breeg over most songs they do nowadays.
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Sure, the Murray songs I'd really love to see (or see again) live would be Judas, Rainmaker, BNW, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, and Deja Vu. As I said, that's a handful. I could take or leave Breeg or Still Life in a live setting. Yeah, it'd be neat to hear them, but I wouldn't trade them for more energetic songs or songs I far prefer.

harrisdevot said:
With all respect, and without the slightest agressivity, I'm amazed by this comment. His melody lines are often, very often more interesting than Smith's. He has had his weak moments (on No Prayer), but most of his songs are really interesting and bring something to the albums. Sure, he is not consistent, mostly, I guess, because he is a lazy man (and this is not a compliment). But when he tries, he often hits the spot. I've never heard/read of a song of his that has been rejected by Harris, which means something.
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I will not deny that Murray has written some great, interesting melodies, but he also writes a lot of incredibly similar melodies. He's wildly inconsistent in his songwriting and, IMO, does not have a great ear for how to actually arrange riffs in a song. For instance, the transitions between different sections in TMWWBK, the incredibly boring palm-muted chord during the entire verse of The Man of Sorrows, his desire to start nearly every song with a mournful melodic guitar solo whether it fits the theme or key of the song at all...

He does sometimes hit the spot very well, but not often. He's written like 20 songs for the band, right? I'd consider 6-7 maximum to be really great, the rest are average to mediocre, with a couple being truly not very good.

I'm not trying to stir up Murray hate here, I love the guy and he is an essential part of Maiden. His lack of songwriting contributions probably makes me harsher on him, i.e. he has contributed less and thus the bad ones stick out more, but I would still consider him the least important member of Maiden's songwriting team (second least important if we're including Nicko).
 
So you're saying he should be kicked out of the band? :ninja:

Seriously though, I assume most of the arrangement stuff is on Steve.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Judas Be My Guide, Still Life, Deja Vu, and Total Eclipse are four of my all time favorites, and even if most of his work is hit or miss, his hits overshadow his misses.
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The problem is mainly that the most recent song in this list was released 25 years ago. Having said that, I like "Rainmaker" (2003) a lot (even though the solo is average -except for the "exit"- in my opinion).
 
Out of all the songs he has written, only Brave New World and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate make it to my personal top 50 of Maiden songs...

Oh I am so glad Adrian was asked to rejoin the band.
 
With the exception of Charlotte, most every song Dave composed had Harris doing the lyrics.... in many aspects, Adrian always had Bruce or Steve do the lyrics to his stuff too until Somewhere in Time when he took 3 whole tracks on his own.... even then, Harris' bass lines stood out most to me on those 3 songs.... the melodic lines in Sea of Madness, the presence in SIASL and even wasted years... I know Harris always writes his own bass lines I'm sure and always felt he is the heart of the band.... As stated before, Harris hasn't seemed to throw out or reject anything of Dave's and since he himself writes the lyrics, I can't see why he would.. Dave always had the deepest tracks on the albums he contributed to... the melody, rhythm, ect is amazing.... listen to the composition in Deja Vu in the solo.... the magic of the 2 guitars coming together joined by Harris' amazing basslines.....
 
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