Revisiting The X Factor

______no5 said:
I bought it when it came out and I thought they did it because of Metallica.
Same when they added orchestra in BNW (after S&M).

I grew up with vinyl, had a big record collection for my age so I consider FotD a double album, since everyone I knew including me was buying vinyl until 1995 -1996.
Around 1997 I started buying CDs, with first one being Tindersticks' Curtains album. Thus I never considered VXI or BNW or anything until TBOS as a double album.

EDIT: I know it's contradicting to consider AMOLAD single and FotD double, but perceptions change as eras change. That time and place vinyl was the thing, in 2000s CD became the thing.

In 2020s of streaming era double may not be even relevant any more, thus Senjutsu could be again a single album in teenagers' minds.

EDIT2: And frankly even for me "double" or "triple" are just empty words for Senjutsu or TBOS as I bought the digital editions.
They are just albums, full stop, I push play and no need to change side or disk or anything until the end.
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Yup... I think it all depends on the era it came out and perspective. As an example Purple's Made In Japan, Priest's Live are double albums that were logically converted into single discs when its digital version came out (since a CD can contain way more data than an LP). When FOTD came out there was still a significant number of people going with vinyl (I was becoming a CD guy by now but since I had all of Maiden records in vinyl I went with it on the new release). So yeah: with the multitude of supports we have nowadays I also view them simply as albums or releases.
 
Jeffmetal said:
Virus is quite different from 'Virtual XI' material, but, would fit perfectly on 'The X Factor', even having been written afterwards; this is on my top 6 Maiden albums and I rearranged the tracklist to fit the 3 b-sides to keep the flowing perfect and it gets beautiful (it should've been Maiden's first double album):

Sign Of The Cross
Lord Of The Flies
Man On The Edge
Fortunes Of War
Look For The Truth
The Aftermath
Judgement Day
Judgement Of Heaven
Blood On The World's Hands
I Live My Way
The Edge Of Darkness
Justice Of The Peace
2 A.M.
The Unbeliever
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I've always had a "Full X Factor" album, whether it was copied onto cassette back in the day or an iPod playlist like nowadays. I don't think I ever had it nailed down with a good flow, though, so I'll have to give yours a try. I remember I always had Judgment Day between FOW and LFTT, since those two have very similar intros and it breaks up the languid pacing a bit by injecting probably the fastest song on the album in between.

I do agree, though, Virus sonically fits in well the TXF, but not at all with VXI. Part of the problem of getting the flow of the album right for me was always finding a place for Virus in it. Where would you place it? Or just leave it out since it wasn't part of TXF sessions?
 
CA Bryers said:
I've always had a "Full X Factor" album, whether it was copied onto cassette back in the day or an iPod playlist like nowadays. I don't think I ever had it nailed down with a good flow, though, so I'll have to give yours a try. I remember I always had Judgment Day between FOW and LFTT, since those two have very similar intros and it breaks up the languid pacing a bit by injecting probably the fastest song on the album in between.

I do agree, though, Virus sonically fits in well the TXF, but not at all with VXI. Part of the problem of getting the flow of the album right for me was always finding a place for Virus in it. Where would you place it? Or just leave it out since it wasn't part of TXF sessions?
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Man, I used to place Judgement Day on this exactly same spot, but, LOTF and MOTE being uptempo tracks, and, although the next 3 songs start slow with great build ups, LFTT doesn't come back to a slow outro, as FOW and The Aftermath. I found a few weeks ago that JD would fit better just before another one that starts slow and the judgement questioning fits nice as a pair; also, after this spot, it wouldn't fit the flowing 'cos it's so beautiful to listen to this abrut BOTWH ending and then this superb intro of ILMW, which is uptempo, too, but, its, also, abrupt ending, makes the perfect hole in which TEOD comes to fill up. For JOTP, I think it can only be placed after TEOD, 'cos from 2 A.M. into The Unbeliever, it must be kept as the original sequence.

Virus I think is better be left as a single, isolated track. Superb, nonetheless.
 
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Jeffmetal said:
Man, I used to place Judgement Day on this exactly same spot, but, LOTF and MOTE being uptempo tracks, and, although the next 3 songs start slow with great build ups, LFTT doesn't come back to a slow outro, as FOW and The Aftermath, I found a few weeks ago that JD would fit better just before another one that starts slow and the judgement questioning fit nice as a pair; also, after this spot it wouldn't fit the flowing 'cos it's so beautiful to listen to this abrut BOTWH ending and then this superb intro of ILMW, which is uptempo, too, but, its also abrupt ending makes the perfect hole in which TEOD comes up. For JOTP, I think it can only be placed after TEOD 'cos from 2 A.M. into The Unbeliever, it must be kept as the original sequence.

Virus I think is better be left as a single, isolated track. Superb track, nonetheless.
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Excellent thought put into this. I've just plugged your sequence into my iPod, so I'll give it a listen as I do my re-listen of all the albums leading up to Senjutsu. And I tend to agree about Virus. Though I'd love to find a place for it, I just don't think there is one, so better to leave it out. Thanks!
 
CA Bryers said:
Excellent thought put into this. I've just plugged your sequence into my iPod, so I'll give it a listen as I do my re-listen of all the albums leading up to Senjutsu. And I tend to agree about Virus. Though I'd love to find a place for it, I just don't think there is one, so better to leave it out. Thanks!
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Tell me what you think of this 'new' The X Factor.

Thanks. Cheers.
 
I think this track order with the inclusion of some B sides would be great:

Disc 1:
  1. Sign Of The Cross
  2. Lord Of The Flies
  3. Fortunes Of War
  4. Man On The Edge
  5. Look For The Truth
  6. The Aftermath
  7. Judgement Of Heaven
Disc 2:
  1. Blood On The World's Hand
  2. Judgement Day*
  3. The Edge Of Darkness
  4. 2 AM
  5. The Unbeliever
  6. Virus (short version)*
* Bonus tracks
 
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Jeffmetal said:
Tell me what you think of this 'new' The X Factor.

Thanks. Cheers.
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Listened to it tonight, between commuting and mowing the lawn. I have to say, I'm not sure I'll ever listen to TXF any other way. It flowed amazingly well, and the faster, punchier B-Sides really gave the album the kick up the butt it needed at the right times. Like I said earlier, I used to put "Judgment Day" in earlier, but it works better this way having the "new" songs come in later at Track 7, which allows the album to begin and build as it was originally designed. And finding a spot for "I Live My Way" was always a bugger for me, but it felt pretty natural where you put it. Thanks again!
 
CA Bryers said:
Listened to it tonight, between commuting and mowing the lawn. I have to say, I'm not sure I'll ever listen to TXF any other way. It flowed amazingly well, and the faster, punchier B-Sides really gave the album the kick up the butt it needed at the right times. Like I said earlier, I used to put "Judgment Day" in earlier, but it works better this way having the "new" songs come in later at Track 7, which allows the album to begin and build as it was originally designed. And finding a spot for "I Live My Way" was always a bugger for me, but it felt pretty natural where you put it. Thanks again!
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Yeah, man! The flowing gets perfect. Glad you liked it.

Cheers and UP THE IRONS!!! \m/
 
I didn't listen to this album for some time, mostly because of the hangover from the previous two albums. I really disliked NPFTD and other than the title track, FOTD was no better. They seemed to have lost their way without Adrian, and then I saw them live on Bruce's farewell tour. Oh dear!!! That is the only Maiden show I've ever been to where I wanted to leave early. Bruce didn't look at all interested, he kept just walking off whenever he wasn't singing and ended the show hurling abuse at the audience. I just couldn't face The X-Factor after that.

When I did get around to listening to the album, I actually really liked it. The album was very different to what had gone before but it was a real grower. Interestingly, like Seventh Son, I only listen to this album when I can listen to it from start to finish, in order.
 
Way too many slow intros and songs similar to that.

Should have left some of those cut songs in the album.

The production is godawful. The guitars are so thin. I like the bass and drum sound though.

Blaze's voice gets exposed occasionally and left to fend for himself against a backdrop of bad production. There's no real doubling up of the vocals to help him either.

However I like the album.

The first three songs are great. Sotc is terrific
. Mote and Lotf are superb short songs.

Also Judgment and, Edge of darkness and Blood are really good songs.
 
Diesel 11 said:
But it couldn’t have been given it was written after the album’s release. That said, a double album TXF including Justice of the Peace, Judgement Day, I Live My Way, and Virus is a concept that I like as an alternate history project.

It’s one of my favorite Maiden records for sure. It’s a go-to when I’m feeling down because it accurately channels depressive emotions and acts as an offering of hope. Lord of the Flies is my favorite song on the record and probably in my overall Top 10 from Maiden.
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Lotf is the first maiden song I learnt on bass. Love it
 
A unique album. As I said in other thread, I think all songs are good and the album has no fillers. Rankings do not matter because every Maiden album is someone's favorite, but I think years should have passed for the Maiden fans to appreciate this album and now we see that this is true. Blaze's vocals, the production and even the cover are the perfect combination for the album's dark mood.

SOTC, LOTF and JOH are one of my favorite Maiden songs. The melodies in this album (and in the next one) are pure joy. All intros are great too.

To point out some highlights for me (from every song):

- the melodies in SOTC are some of the band's best.
- the chorus of LOFT is one of my favorites.
- the fast tempo in MOTE is brutal.
- the intro (especially the melodies) and the fast instrumental part of FOW are great.
- the intro of LFTT is one of my favorites.
- Janick's solo in The Aftermath is amazing.
- the instrumental part of JOH is one of Maiden's all time best. The chorus is great too.
- the bass intro in BOTWH is amazing.
- the melodies, the verses and the drumming in TEOD are great.
- the melancholic vibe and Janick's solo in 2 A.M. are really touching.
- the instrumental part of The Unbeliever is pure gold. The chorus is great too. Btw, a certain part of the intro could easily fit into Senjutsu (the song).
 
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