It's gotta be tough being Dave Murray

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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I love Deja Vu but not over something like Paschendale which is an Adrian Smith and Steve track... love the Prisoner too...
 
Several (in my opinion almost all) of Dave's best songs have not or rarely been played live.
That is not the case with other members of the band. Dave's best can compete. At least some of them should get a fair chance. The man simply always gets the worst of it when his material is discussed overlooked. He is Mr. Niceguy and doesn't seem to be much of a talker. Who knows some band members even agree with Knick and think he can only play, makes for good company, and that's it. Constantly nice people don't get much done in a band environment.

Only the Good Die Young.
 
Taking up his cause or not, some people dislike the way things went and speak out. Doesn't hurt too much, I hope.

But I got to agree with your point, I don't think that Dave himself is upset about all this, indeed.

"It's gotta be tough being fan of Dave Murray compositions" is a better title. ;)
 
Agree. Plus - did it occur to anyone that there's the possibility they don't play a lot of his songs live because he has the say in it and that he simply doesn't like playing his songs live?
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Agree. Plus - did it occur to anyone that there's the possibility they don't play a lot of his songs live because he has the say in it and that he simply doesn't like playing his songs live?
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it would be interesting to see this stated by him or someone in the band....

The whole point of the thread was simply that I had a perspective about musicians and their material they create and how it would make them feel or look if they never got to play the songs they wrote.... I used Dave as an example because while he contributes the least (excluding Nicko), many of his songs never get played or get played on a tour then dropped forever... It was to see how others would view a musician creating material then never using it... Like writing a book then never publishing it. Of course his material ends up on the album but never getting to play what you write has gotta stink... I guess he's fine with it though.... he's been the most loyal member of the band after all
 
I think the more interesting aspect in the discussion would be why songs that Dave writes tend not to be played live. I don't think it's got to do with anything personal, but the fact that a), Dave writes comparatively few songs, which lessen the chance of them being chosen for the setlists, and b), many songs that he writes don't seem to fit with the flow of a Maiden gig. But that's speculation. Maybe the rest of the band have conspired against him, or maybe he just doesn't put his foot down enough, who knows.
 
I think after being in the band basically since the beginning, if Dave wanted one of his songs played live they would do it. Clearly it's not that important to him.

Quality aside, a lot of the songs he writes don't seem live ready. I love Man Of Sorrows but it was never one I expected to be performed live. Not that it was a bad song, it just doesn't have the same energy as the songs that usually end up in the setlist. The Man Who Would Be King is similar, but with a lot of complicated changes and a guitar solo that's impossible to recreate live. It's definitely a quantity issue too. Whenever Dave has written more than one song for an album, usually at least one makes it into the setlist.
 
Perun said:
I think the more interesting aspect in the discussion would be why songs that Dave writes tend not to be played live. I don't think it's got to do with anything personal, but the fact that a), Dave writes comparatively few songs, which lessen the chance of them being chosen for the setlists, and b), many songs that he writes don't seem to fit with the flow of a Maiden gig. But that's speculation. Maybe the rest of the band have conspired against him, or maybe he just doesn't put his foot down enough, who knows.
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Mosh said:
I think after being in the band basically since the beginning, if Dave wanted one of his songs played live they would do it. Clearly it's not that important to him.

Quality aside, a lot of the songs he writes don't seem live ready. I love Man Of Sorrows but it was never one I expected to be performed live. Not that it was a bad song, it just doesn't have the same energy as the songs that usually end up in the setlist. The Man Who Would Be King is similar, but with a lot of complicated changes and a guitar solo that's impossible to recreate live. It's definitely a quantity issue too. Whenever Dave has written more than one song for an album, usually at least one makes it into the setlist.
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These are exactly the points I was trying to make earlier. Despite my opinions on the quality of his songwriting, it's hard to debate that most of his songs don't scream, "perfect for the live set." If Maiden played shows like Opeth, they'd be fine, but Maiden stays very close to the traditional mindset of a rock show in terms of energy and momentum.
 
I actually had Opeth in mind when writing that. There's always a segment of an Opeth show that would be perfect for a Dave Murray type song. Maiden don't approach their setlists that way, it's high energy from start to finish.
 
Two Dave Murray related set list decisions beguile me:

1) Why they chose Wildest Dreams over Rainmaker in the 2010 portion of the Final Frontier Tour;
2) Why no love for Still Life (never played in the US)
 
Can't wait for Brave New World and The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg to return to the setlist.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
These are exactly the points I was trying to make earlier. Despite my opinions on the quality of his songwriting, it's hard to debate that most of his songs don't scream, "perfect for the live set." If Maiden played shows like Opeth, they'd be fine, but Maiden stays very close to the traditional mindset of a rock show in terms of energy and momentum.
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Some of his songs are very energetic and some by others not that much. So I don't think that's it.
 
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I read a report from the road from TBOS 2016 tour somewhere. One section spoke about activities of members before the show. Bruce and Steve were watching Raven Age, Nicko and H were playing and warming up, Janick was still walking around the town and Dave was just sitting on a roadcase, smoking a cigarette and chatting with road crew members, just chillin.
Deus_Adrian said:
Im sure Dave gets off the road and goes chillin.
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