Mother Russia

How good is Mother Russia on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    13
Re: 'Mother Russia'

Bruce Dickinson :
'Mother Russia' is about the tragedy of a great land which has an incredible history of being overrun and people being massacred, for centuries, and this song says: wouldn't it be great if Russia could finally get itself together now and live in peace?

I don't think this song is related to communism at all, but it's related to perestroika and glasnost.

There were many wars in imperial days, Napoleon burned down Moscow. Hitler made a massive rampage in the USSR before he was pushed back and finally defeated. After WW2, USSR and USA had it's massive arsenals of nuclear and thermonuclear weaponry pointed at each other.

In late '80s, after the induction of the reformes by Gorbachov, tensions between two blocks started falling.

IMHO, this song is releated to the fact, at that moment, Russian people had the chance to live in peace with the rest of the world. Besides that, it's a good song, somewhat incomplete. 3.5/5.
 
Daily Song: Mother Russia

Welcome to the Daily Vote Thread! Rules are here.

Remember, only a decent review will count towards the contest.

Today's song: Mother Russia

Yesterday's song remains open for voting! You can find it here.


I do like this song, but it seems to lack a certain something. It's too short, really, to be a proper Maiden/Harris epic, and the lyrics are a little shallow. I like that Maiden recognized a little bit of glasnost, but yeah. It's still never bit me. 7/10.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

8/10. I remember Bruce talking of this track and pointing out the last lines:

Can you be happy
Now your people are free


"Only time will tell", he said. Well, 20 odd years on, we do see a different Russia but are they happy? A question for any Russians, if we have any, on this board.

Good track; once again an overly used phrase springs to mind - nice melodies - but that's no bad thing.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

With regards to the length of this song, I think it could have benefitted from one or two extra verses, as I do quite like the lyrics in it. Overall a pretty decent song; if it counts as a "Harris epic" then it's among the worst of those though. 6/10
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

This song gets an 8 for me.  I love the very Russian sounding melodies in the beginning.  I too feel this just seems to end too early.  It manages to feel big and epic but isn't even 6 minutes long.  Still a good song and I particularly like the keyboards in the mid section and the final verses (can you be happy now your people are free.....).
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

I remember I was surprised by the song's length (5+ minutes) even fairly recently, sometime last fall.  It feels longer than it is, which in this case is a good thing; and I do consider it a proper Steve Harris epic though it doesn't fit the definition.  It's got some very nice melodies and, like others said, it could be longer too, but I quite like it as it is now.  I'll give it 8.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

I really like this song. Maybe it could have gone deeper into the subject matter, and it does feel a little short for a true "Harris Epic (tm)", but there is lots of good stuff in here. The solos are among the better on the album and the whole mid-part with solos sounds inspired by SSOASS (the song). Maybe a bit too much, because it is quite obvious (especially the beginning of it). However, this song is very enjoyable, dare I say great, but it doesn't qualify for the very best. A weak 9 is still a 9 and that's what this song gets.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

8. Pretty cinematic and it really trips you out to Russia, even though never being there, it really makes you feel all the emotion and the strife happening in there, through the lyrics storytelling. The trading solos on the fast part between Dave and Jan is a real highlight.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

I think this song would have benefitted a lot if it had been done more like the recent Maiden tracks, i.e. if the intro had been slower and Bruce's vocals would have been softer. The song is haunting as it is, but that would have just given it that extra little touch. The song becomes majestic once the synths kick in at 1:55 - the instrumental section is brilliant. For some reason, the song as a whole feels very short to me, as if something was missing from it, but I don't know what it is. And as Loosey stated, the lyrics are a bit shallow. Great song nevertheless. 8/10.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

7 out of 10... There are elements of this song that prevent me from giving a higher rating. I too find it too short, almost unfinished. The intro creates a cool Russian vibe, but I find the lyrics lacking, and Bruce's vocal isn't standout. A pretty good tune that might have been great...
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

Finally, some of that trademark Maiden atmosphere. Certainly this track owes a lot to Seventh Son and Alexander, and pales in comparison to either, but it works. Seven.
 
Re: Daily Song: Mother Russia

I really love this song. At various moments in its music I hear the echo of the title track of the previous album, stylewise (check the rhythms under the solos) and when I compare the atmosphere (intro Mother Russia / calm midpiece 7th Son).

At the same time I like the lyrics. The line "Can you be happy now you're people are free" is dead on, and 20 years later, we can still ask this.

Focussing again at the music: the intro has a nice melody and the beginning of the instrumental midpiece uses the same figure, with some awesome keyboards and distortion guitars remniscant of black metal(!) in the blackground.

There are different moods. One of the more emotional parts are the dramatic guitar lines right before the solos.
Indeed, the best song of the album: 10
 
Great melodies, great keyboard usage, great atmosphere. My favorite song from the album, 9/10.
 
Good intro, and some poetic lyrics really make the atmosphere great - from the trees the snowflakes drifting, swirling round like ghosts in the snow - but it feels unfinished and uninspired, the SSoASS-allike instrumental background riffs would work, if the SSoASS atmosphere/production was present also.

7.
 
A cool song with great singing and riffs. Would've been great to play live in the 90's. 10/10
 
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