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Azas said:
I respect your opinion. In my eyes, Virtual XI, as an album, is horrible. Futureal and The Clansman is very good, the rest - crap. Sorry.
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I quoted you here because I don't want to go off-topic in the JP thread.

I respect every opinion, but ''crap songs''? No way. There are no ''crap songs'' in Maiden's discography. There are some underrated Maiden albums, but Virtual XI is the most underrated of them all imho. The album can't be horrible, the musical ideas speak for themselves (the melodies, the solos, the riffs, ''Futureal'', '' The Clansman'', the music of ''When Two Worlds Collide'', ''Como Estais Amigos'', the instrumental section of ''Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger'' etc). Yeah, it's probably the Maiden album with the least sales, but the music is still strong. And Maiden stayed true to their style. The album contains some great lyrics too.

Why don't you like the other songs? You don't like Blaze's vocals or his performance? What about the music?

I suspect why you don't like ''The Angel And The Gambler'' and ''Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger'' - because of the repetition. Without it, these are very good songs and I like them, especially the latter.
''Lightning Strikes Twice'' - fast rocker with a great moody intro, verses, riffs, drumming and solos. The chorus could have been better, but it's not bad. You probably don't like it? The build-up of the song is quite good.
''When Two Worlds Collide'' - now that's a gem for me. The song fits Blaze's voice and it has a galloping tempo, great intro, solos and amazing melodies. Maybe you don't like the chorus? I like it a lot.
''The Educated Fool'' - maybe you don't like the unusual pre-chorus? I like it, it's something different. The rest of the song is great imo (solos, melodies). I'm a fan of the chorus, it's really impactful.
''Come Estais Amigos'' - you don't like ballads? Everything is great in it imo (especially the intro and melodies). Maybe you don't like the way Blaze sings the chorus... ''no more teeeeeeeeears''? Btw, No More Tears is a good title for the song, but atypical for Maiden I guess.


I have no doubt that Steve can write a great (whole) album of its own. He's just like Kai Hansen. I want the two of the them to write a song together - it will probably be a 15 minutes long epic with lots of different melodies and tempo changes.
 
Kalata said:
Why don't you like the other songs? You don't like Blaze's vocals or his performance? What about the music?

I suspect why you don't like ''The Angel And The Gambler'' and ''Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger'' - because of the repetition. Without it, these are very good songs and I like them, especially the latter.
''Lightning Strikes Twice'' - fast rocker with a great moody intro, verses, riffs, drumming and solos. The chorus could have been better, but it's not bad. You probably don't like it? The build-up of the song is quite good.
''When Two Worlds Collide'' - now that's a gem for me. The song fits Blaze's voice and it has a galloping tempo, great intro, solos and amazing melodies. Maybe you don't like the chorus? I like it a lot.
''The Educated Fool'' - maybe you don't like the unusual pre-chorus? I like it, it's something different. The rest of the song is great imo (solos, melodies). I'm a fan of the chorus, it's really impactful.
''Come Estais Amigos'' - you don't like ballads? Everything is great in it imo (especially the intro and melodies). Maybe you don't like the way Blaze sings the chorus... ''no more teeeeeeeeears''? Btw, No More Tears is a good title for the song, but atypical for Maiden I guess.
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Nothing against Blaze, not him is the main problem. To my non english ears* album sounds utterly depressive and, overall, melodically I perceive it as a whining, if you know what I mean. Production is very bad, contributes very much to 'this is a soundtrack to depression and whining'. Futureal and the Clansman - very good/great. The Lightning Strikes Twice and When Two Worlds Collide to me is the epithome of whining. I perceive those songs as such, purely from melodics perspective. Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger has Great/Glorious instrumental section, but song as a whole is damaged/not great in my eyes. The Educated Fool and Como Estais Amigos falls in the same bland/depressive whining category for me. Ironically, The Angel and the Gambler may be repetitive but this song is one of the better on this album for me. So, as a complete body of work this album for me is :facepalm:
Especially, when Bruce at the time released great Accident of Birth. One of the main problems - Steve as a producer and he had no man to say to him 'this is too long, too repetitive' etc.

*I understand lyrics, but first and foremost I consume/perceive music by overall melody/rhythm of the songs.

And I am not bashing Maiden, this is simply my opinion. Around Virtual XI era Maiden was in grave danger, regarding band's future.

I can add that lyrics also contribute, in my eyes, to this is so bad.
When two worlds collide
The anger, the pain
Of those who remain
When two worlds collide
When two worlds collide
So who will survive
There's no place to hide
When two worlds collide

To me this looks very corny. Half aged men whining about end of the world. So, problem may be in presentation, point of view. I don't know.
 
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Azas said:
Nothing against Blaze, not him is the main problem. To my non english ears* album sounds utterly depressive and, overall, melodically I perceive it as a whining, if you know what I mean. Production is very bad, contributes very much to 'this is a soundtrack to depression and whining'. Futureal and the Clansman - very good/great. The Lightning Strikes Twice and When Two Worlds Collide to me is the epithome of whining. I perceive those songs as such, purely from melodics perspective. Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger has Great/Glorious instrumental section, but song as a whole is damaged/not great in my eyes. The Educated Fool and Como Estais Amigos falls in the same bland/depressive whining category for me. Ironically, The Angel and the Gambler may be repetitive but this song is one of the better on this album for me. So, as a complete body of work this album for me is :facepalm:
Especially, when Bruce at the time released great Accident of Birth. One of the main problems - Steve as a producer and he had no man to say to him 'this is too long, too repetitive' etc.

*I understand lyrics, but first and foremost I consume/perceive music by overall melody/rhythm of the songs.

And I am not bashing Maiden, this is simply my opinion. Around Virtual XI era Maiden was in grave danger, regarding band's future.

I can add that lyrics also contribute, in my eyes, to this is so bad.
When two worlds collide
The anger, the pain
Of those who remain
When two worlds collide
When two worlds collide
So who will survive
There's no place to hide
When two worlds collide

To me this looks very corny. Half aged men whining about end of the world. So, problem may be in presentation, point of view. I don't know.
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I'm sure I said the only crap song was Mother Russia. Don't remember complaining about the other songs. And my other complaint was Bailys vocal range. He sings everything in the same key. Not good. But the songs themselves are typical Maiden fayer. Epic. Did i say I saw Maiden in the Cart and Horses pub in 76? Great days!! Just bought Final Frontier. Its better than I thought. Really getting into it.
 
Azas said:
Nothing against Blaze, not him is the main problem. To my non english ears* album sounds utterly depressive and, overall, melodically I perceive it as a whining, if you know what I mean. Production is very bad, contributes very much to 'this is a soundtrack to depression and whining'. Futureal and the Clansman - very good/great. The Lightning Strikes Twice and When Two Worlds Collide to me is the epithome of whining. I perceive those songs as such, purely from melodics perspective. Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger has Great/Glorious instrumental section, but song as a whole is damaged/not great in my eyes. The Educated Fool and Como Estais Amigos falls in the same bland/depressive whining category for me. Ironically, The Angel and the Gambler may be repetitive but this song is one of the better on this album for me. So, as a complete body of work this album for me is :facepalm:
Especially, when Bruce at the time released great Accident of Birth. One of the main problems - Steve as a producer and he had no man to say to him 'this is too long, too repetitive' etc.

*I understand lyrics, but first and foremost I consume/perceive music by overall melody/rhythm of the songs.

And I am not bashing Maiden, this is simply my opinion. Around Virtual XI era Maiden was in grave danger, regarding band's future.

I can add that lyrics also contribute, in my eyes, to this is so bad.
When two worlds collide
The anger, the pain
Of those who remain
When two worlds collide
When two worlds collide
So who will survive
There's no place to hide
When two worlds collide

To me this looks very corny. Half aged men whining about end of the world. So, problem may be in presentation, point of view. I don't know.
Click to expand...
Depressive mood in VXI? (I think this can be said about TXF). Only in the album closer (in Angel and Gambler is the exact opposite) and in the chorus of Educated Fool. The production of the album fits the whole vibe of it. The melodies are rather melancholic (everything in Worlds Collide) than ''whining''. Lightning is musically a ''happy'' song? Like the whole album.

The instrumental section of Eyes Of A Stranger is indeed glorious, almost power metal, but I understand that the repetition is too much. And Angel and Gambler is underrated, yeah.

About the lyrics, I guess they can't be great in all songs in one album.

About Steve's repetition, the 2 songs suffer a lot from this - in one of the songs is 2 minutes long and in the other is 1:35 minutes long (I'm only counting the middle parts), but that's not something unusual for Steve. The middle parts of Rime and Seventh Son are longer than 2 minutes. This should come as no surprise. In Angel and Gambler was a mistake (at least we have a short version of the song), while in Eyes Of A Stranger it should only have been 1 minute or less. The repetition is worse in the former imo because it is much more.
 
My 4 best ever compiled Iron Maiden albums. Absolute monsters and titans:

The Number of the Beast

1. Ides of March / The Wrathchild
2. Killers
3. Children of the Damned
4. 22 Acacia Avenue
5. Genghis Khan
6. Run to the Hills
7. The Number of the Beast
8. The Prisoner
9. Hallowed Be Thy Name

Powerslave

1. Aces High
2. Two Minutes To Midnight
3. Revelations
4. The Trooper
5. Where Eagles Dare
6. Flight of Icarus
7. The Duellists
8. Powerslave
9. Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Somewhere in Time

1. Caught Somewhere in Time
2. Waster Years
3. Stranger in A Strange Land
4. Alexander the Great
5. Moonchild
6. Infinite Dreams
7. The Evil That Men Do
8. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
9. Only the Good Die Young

The Book of Souls

1. If Eternity Should Fail
2. The Wickerman
3. The Red And the Black
4. The Writing on the Wall
5. Lost in A Lost World
6. The Book of Souls

7. Death or Glory
8. Dance of Death
9. Blood Brothers
10. The Parchment
11. Hell on Earth
12. Empire of the Clouds
 
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