No Prayer for the Dying

lordantwarrior said:
The number of positive replies to this thread leads me to believe that we are all closet fans of NPFTD deep down  ;)
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I wouldn't say "closet". I like No Prayer and never had a problem admitting that. What I don't like is how people will defend it if you put it low on your list of Maiden albums - which I do. There is no need for it. I like the album. I just like others better. But well.
 
What I don't like is how people will put it down if you put it high on your list of Maiden albums. 

There is no need for it.  :D
 
I will say I like No Prayer and Fear of the Dark more now than I did when they were released.  To that point, it seemed like Maiden was on a straight line that lead to Seventh Son, then they jsut made a U turn for some reason and I did not care for it, music, the Eddies, everything.  With the passage of time, I have come to enjoy these albums and think they are good compared to most music, but still think they are the low point of Maiden.
 
Forostar said:
What I don't like is how people will put it down if you put it high on your list of Maiden albums.  

There is no need for it.  :D
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Well, I can assure you that you putting it high on your list is not the reason for me putting it low on... my "list". ;)
 
Well, I can assure you that you putting it high on your list is not the reason for me putting it low on... my "list".
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Really? You told me that was EXACTLY the reason.  ;)  :innocent:
 
This has made me go back and listen to all the albums again, which has led me to promote BNW. It's more amazing than I thought:

1. No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
2. Somewhere in Time (1986)
3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
4. Brave New World (2000)
5. Fear of the Dark (1992)
6. Virtual XI (1998)
7. The X Factor (1995)
8. A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
9. Powerslave (1984)
10. The Final Frontier (2010)
11. Killers (1981)
12. Iron Maiden (1980)
13. The Number of the Beast (1982)
14. Piece of Mind (1983)
15. Dance of Death (2003)
 
I remember really enjoying NPFTD and FOTD when they were both released and got right into them both.

It's only in later years that I came to realise that neither are a patch on Maiden's other album releases.

I'm not saying that they are poor albums - just the weakest Maiden albums IMO.

However, I loved the fact that Maiden embarked on their Inter-City tour in Britain - the last time they played more intimate smaller venues on a full-blown tour. The songs on NPFTD sounded good enough in those surroundings.

This was also the last time Maiden played my home town (Liverpool)

By the way, I understand everybody has their own opinions but I nearly spat my coffee all over the laptop when I read that shout about the song DOD being poor.
 
I think that Fear of the Dark is pretty dreadful, although I seem to be alone in liking The Apparition. That is probably because a close friend died around that time and the lyrics made me think of him.

I always liked No Prayer though. I like it all except the Assassin. It may not scale the heights reached by classic Maiden but taken on it's own merits it warrants at least a solid 3 star rating. Run Silent Run Deep is a great tune.
 
Great Sage said:
I always liked No Prayer though. I like it all except the Assassin. It may not scale the heights reached by classic Maiden but taken on it's own merits it warrants at least a solid 3 star rating. Run Silent Run Deep is a great tune.
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Well said Great Sage! And (a belated) welcome to this forum. I am not a The Apparition hater as well. These lyrics are quite good I think.
 
Great Sage said:
I think that Fear of the Dark is pretty dreadful, although I seem to be alone in liking The Apparition. That is probably because a close friend died around that time and the lyrics made me think of him.

I always liked No Prayer though. I like it all except the Assassin. It may not scale the heights reached by classic Maiden but taken on it's own merits it warrants at least a solid 3 star rating. Run Silent Run Deep is a great tune.
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Taken on its own and not compared to the previous album No Prayer is a solid rocker. Compared to the record that came after it it's a fucking master piece.
 
Agreed with all three above posts. And i also like the Apparition.
What i like about the NPFTD/FOTD period is the introduction of social commentary songs in larger scale. I can't understand how people cannot like songs like Public Enema Number One.
 
Zare said:
Agreed with all three above posts. And i also like the Apparition.
What i like about the NPFTD/FOTD period is the introduction of social commentary songs in larger scale. I can't understand how people cannot like songs like Public Enema Number One.
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I like public enema number 1 , mostly for the music , but some of the social commentary in these 2 albums is dreadful. For example i loathe the lyrics of "afraid to shoot strangers" , such a right-wing pro-Bush song . Songs like "Holy Smoke " or "Weekend Warrior" have embarassing lyrics, that's not serious social commentary , IMO just childish rumblings.
 
johnglen said:
i loathe the lyrics of "afraid to shoot strangers" , such a right-wing pro-Bush song .
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Care to explain? I thought it was a psychological song.
Bruce's introduction when it was played live didn't make me think of a right-wing pro-Bush song.

Weekend Warrior, I wouldn't think of the lyrics being childish either. Dead serious stuff.
 
Forostar said:
Care to explain? I thought it was a psychological song.
Bruce's introduction when it was played live didn't make me think of a right-wing pro-Bush song.
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If you take the lyrics of ATSS at absolute face value, I can understand how it is possible to interpret them that way. However, as you say - it is quite evident that Maiden did never intend the lyrics to be taken at face value.  When Bruce introduced the song it was not glorifying war - and when considering all of Maiden's war related songs, it doesn't make sense to take ATSS that way. As you say, it must be interpreted as a psychological song. It deals with how a soldier tries to convince himself that it is right to go to war - and his doubts about whether he should do it.

The desert sand mound - a burial ground is a piece of the lyrics showing that this isn't about saying "war is great". If one reads the song as a "pro-Bush" song, then one has missed at least one dimension of it.
 
I enjoy No Prayer for what it is, and in my eyes it shows the raw side especially with the different vocal technique. Its not my favourite Maiden album, however i enjoy it when i put it on.
 
In my opinion the "different vocal technique" is one of the worst aspects of the album. Counting all Maiden albums with Bruce and the solo albums I've heard, this one is the album where I think Bruce sounds the worst. When it comes to singing in a "raw" way, there are others who can do it better than Bruce, and he sounds so much better when he sings like a classic heavy metal singer. Like he did on every album up to this one.
 
Forostar said:
Well said Great Sage! And (a belated) welcome to this forum.
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Thank you. I'm a Maiden fan since the 80s and they've been recieving heavy rotation of late due to the Final Frontier being shit hot.
 
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