Foro:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-Maiden...3613/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336562880&sr=8-1
I tend not to read very often, due to this discussion I've gone back to NPFTD chapter a few times these last few days - noticed a part where the band state that the tour was one of their favourites. The reason being they all thought that SSOASS went over the top, and the stage show was out of control and taking more attention than the band/music, so the barebones aspect of NPFTD was more enjoyable. Which could be another reason they stripped the sound back. Who knows, maybe they went into the studio to begin the album and the topic of the previous tour/album came up and someone said "It's getting out of hand...". So wasn't pre-meditated in terms of someone planned the change in advance, but it certainly wasn't an "accident" that the album ended that way (That's a better description of what I've been trying to say for a few posts lol).
I used to do almost only mixes, these days I do almost only full album's, Dance of Death is right up at the top end of my maiden list, whilst XFactor, NPFTD, FOTD, VirtualXI are all in the bottom end. Like Nat I do think PoM is overrated but I would still rank it above all of those
Whilst Flash says he prefers DoD to NPFTD but think it has more filler.. I on the other hand would barely call any of it "filler", and am quite happy to listen to all tracks. Sure if mixing a playlist I'll take the best ones, but even I will take.
Dance of Death, Paschendale, Face in the Sand, Age of Innocence, Journeyman and depending on how long the playlist I'm making is, often also
Rainmaker, No More Lies, Montsegur. Even whats left I still enjoy listening to. But if I was to give the same treatment to the 90's material, I'd struggle to pick 3 from each album. If I had to pick 3 from NPFTD it'd be
Run Silent Run Deep, Holy Smoke, Tailgunner and thats at a push, I know most dislike Holy Smoke but I actually enjoy it. One of the first things I owned by Maiden was the Visions of the Beast DVD and so Tailgunner/Holy Smoke were actually two of the songs that drew me to them... the rest of the album just never caught for me, at all.
Fear of the Dark's problem as an album is that it varies TOO much and jumps about too quickly, it doesn't flow. There's some good tracks on there and many varied styles but even in the first half it changes dramatically more than once.
BTW:
I must stress that I think your analysis is incorrect, or else it shows that certain music goes beyond your borders --> Solos don't fit? Intro disconnected? --> Is this song too complex for you?
everyone has a different opinion/taste remember
Many songs to me feel like the Solo's don't fit (SSOASS is a major one for me) doesn't mean the song is too complex or anything... just some people prefer smooth transitions or other such differences whereas others aren't so 'picky'.
That said, I'll listen to FOTD again today.. It's been a week since it was last on and I already can't remember half of it outside of choruses.
Lastly: @
maidenn.c.indiana - I have no idea how successful SSOASS was in America as I never looked at the sales figures, STEVE on the other hand did think it was unsuccessful. Even though they had that record sold out streak at long beach in 85, he still didn't think the states "got them".
Quote from book:
It seemed however, that America was slow to react to the record and indeed in some quarters Seventh Son... recieved a 'thumbs down'. Steve Harris was incredulous; "I thought it was the best album we did since Piece of Mind. I loved it because it was more progressive. I thought the keyboards fitted in brilliantly, because that's the influences I grew up with." It was the inclusion of synthesisers that turned the heads of many American fans, the suggestion being that Maiden had gone soft. "I was so pissed off with the Americans", ranted the bassist. "They didn't really seem to accept it. Somewhere in time had done far better. But you can't just go by album sales: they might buy the album and not like it, and maybe some of the Americans that bought Somewhere in Time didn't like it and so didn't buy the next album. I don't know. Who knows what the reason was, but it didn't do as well in America and I just couldn't understand it".
Thought Harris was clearly upfront with his dissapointment, the sales were more of a blip than a serious setback Where Somewhere in Time had sold to two million American buyers, the '88 follow up dropped to 1.2 million units - still enough to see Maiden pick up their sixth platinum album in a row. Though Steve was unsuprisingly pleased with another million-plus selling record, his annoyance stemmed more from the implication that the American fans just didn't seem to 'get it'. As he summed up; "Everyone said afterwards it was a very european sounding album. To me it's just a Maiden-sounding album. And I thought, 'Well, if you don't like it, bollocks. I don't care!' There is no other way of looking at it. I remember thinking, 'Fucking Americans, they just don't fucking understand us'".
