Short-answer questions

@Murder of Rue Morgue Gene Hoglan, often called "The Atomic Clock" was originally a funk drummer but has been a prominent player of double bass (atleast in Metal). But hey, I'm getting you. Maiden songs doesn't necessarily require double kicks, even on songs like The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, Out Of The Silent Plant (chorus part) etc. Nicko sounds pretty fast, even without double bass and while he did go for it on Face In The Sand, I personally don't think it turned out as natural as it should have.
 
Murder of Rue Morgue said:
Double bass or double kick weren't even remotely known in the '70s and the early '80s as they are now. Some drummers used it, but not as extensively as, say, "Animal" Taylor would do on Ace of Spades (or, later, Dave Lombardo on Reign in Blood and Ingo Schwichtemberg on Walls of Jericho); anyways, it was a completely different style. Both of the two most influential hard rock drummers of the '70s, Keith Moon and John Bonham, didn't use double bass.

Also, Nicko started to play in the mid-late '60s in the jazz/blues scene. The drums kicked in (no pun intended) on him when he heard The Dave Brubeck Quartet and by the age of 14 he was already playing in pubs. When he joined Trust and later Iron Maiden, he wasn't a heavy metal / hard rock drummer, rather a blues rock one, and during the sessions for Piece of Mind, he proved with facts that he just didn't need a second kick.

Also I cannot think of many Iron Maiden songs before Nicko that would work with double bass. Phantom of the Opera (between the verses), Transylvania (fast section), Genghis Khan maybe. The opening to Gangland, drawing inspiration from Hot for Teacher as someone mentioned?

Neither after Piece of Mind, to be honest.
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Everything here is spot on, great post! I'd also add, that just reading/watching interviews with Nicko and others in/around the band, he developed the single kick style after joining Maiden. He did it to compliment Harris's galloping basslines, as to him it was the only way to contribute to those galloping fast songs. He practiced a LOT and sort of "leveled up" on Piece of Mind where he just took over that album with his octopus-drum-sound.

I think a good deal of this is spelled out in the Early Days DVD. I think it was Doug Hall who specifically talked about Nicko's single kick. Doug Hall was the guy who looked 25 years old when he was in his late 40s.
Siddharth said:
@Murder of Rue Morgue Gene Hoglan, often called "The Atomic Clock" was originally a funk drummer but has been a prominent player of double bass (atleast in Metal). But hey, I'm getting you. Maiden songs doesn't necessarily require double kicks, even on songs like The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, Out Of The Silent Plant (chorus part) etc. Nicko sounds pretty fast, even without double bass and while he did go for it on Face In The Sand, I personally don't think it turned out as natural as it should have.
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Also of note here: the double kick on Face in the Sand was only an endurance thing. He couldn't keep up the single kick pattern of the length of time the song required. This is important because it means Nicko was not playing faster on those double-kicks than he could on a single pedal, just that he needed his other foot so his right foot wouldn't fall off in agony. He does very similar runs with just a single pedal in songs like Dream of Mirrors and the back half of Wickerman and Wildest Dreams. The only difference is the length of time.
 
Nicko also mentions in the Rhythms of the Beast video that he was fast doing singles and doubles with one foot, but triples really only came into play after he joined Maiden and he was essentially forced into it because of Where Eagles Dare specifically. It's why he wasn't too fond of the idea of playing it live at all at the time.
 
Siddharth said:
@Murder of Rue Morgue Gene Hoglan, often called "The Atomic Clock" was originally a funk drummer but has been a prominent player of double bass (atleast in Metal). But hey, I'm getting you. Maiden songs doesn't necessarily require double kicks, even on songs like The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, Out Of The Silent Plant (chorus part) etc. Nicko sounds pretty fast, even without double bass and while he did go for it on Face In The Sand, I personally don't think it turned out as natural as it should have.
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Good call on Gene Hoglan, but as a funk drummer who later became one of the most influential extreme metal drummers, he's quite an exception I think :D just like the Abbott brothers who started as glam musicians.

As per Face in the Sand, it wasn't his idea in the first place, probably this played a role.

Anyways my point is that even if they wrote fast songs, not many of them need double bass. I mean just imagine Moonchild or The Evil That Men Do with a double bass helicopter under the verses. That would make them any random heavy metal tunes.
A great component of Maiden sound IMHO is the absence of double bass. For example I personally don't like the first part of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. But the drums save the day. Incredible groove he had there.

And even when Nicko managed to recreate the effect of a double bass (The Wicker Man, Out of the Silent Planet, and most notably on Dream of Mirrors), after all, you are amazed by the fact that... you know he's still using only one.
 
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Oh, and as to Clive: had he remained in the band, we would have had "double bass" Iron Maiden. For sure. His style was leading to that direction.

Drummers like Dave Lombardo, Charlie Benante, Dave McClain, Paul Bostaph, Stefan Schwartzmann, and guitarist-composer Jeff Waters, all cited Clive Burr as a big influence on their musical education. I don't think it's a case.
 
Not sure where else to put this, so here goes: Is there a live album that has a better drum sound/drum performance than Death on the Road? Nicko sounds out of this world good on this album. Rock solid grooves, thunderous toms, machine gun single-bass, etc etc etc. He's phenomenal on every album, but here, maybe it's just the production, but it just stands out so much to me. Granted, this is the first time I've really been able to crank up the volume on this album, as I'm no longer in an apartment, but still. I can't think of a live album with a better drum sound.
 
chaosapiant said:
Not sure where else to put this, so here goes: Is there a live album that has a better drum sound/drum performance than Death on the Road? Nicko sounds out of this world good on this album. Rock solid grooves, thunderous toms, machine gun single-bass, etc etc etc. He's phenomenal on every album, but here, maybe it's just the production, but it just stands out so much to me. Granted, this is the first time I've really been able to crank up the volume on this album, as I'm no longer in an apartment, but still. I can't think of a live album with a better drum sound.
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It's been long since I listened to Death on the Road - but I could put the accolade of "best sounding drums on a live album" to En Vivo! as well.

Also, I just noticed your subtitle saying Ancient Marinade hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
 
chaosapiant said:
Not sure where else to put this, so here goes: Is there a live album that has a better drum sound/drum performance than Death on the Road? Nicko sounds out of this world good on this album.
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To me, for every question like "what's the best live performance by [Iron Maiden member]?" (or similar), there is one and one only answer:

Rock in Rio
 
Murder of Rue Morgue said:
To me, for every question like "what's the best live performance by [Iron Maiden member]?" (or similar), there is one and one only answer:

Rock in Rio
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You can leave out the "to me" because it's by far the best-sounding live album they ever put out and the performances are top-notch as well. Especially Bruce, which is hilarious since being from the very tail end of the tour it's practically destined for the live recording curse bin, but somehow that one time he was actually in top form. Magical! And yeah, the drums actually sound like an approximation of what they would really sound like experiencing it live, rather than the cardboard boxes they evidently hauled up on stage in Dortmund.
 
Ruflux said:
You can leave out the "to me" because it's by far the best-sounding live album they ever put out and the performances are top-notch as well. Especially Bruce, which is hilarious since being from the very tail end of the tour it's practically destined for the live recording curse bin, but somehow that one time he was actually in top form. Magical! And yeah, the drums actually sound like an approximation of what they would really sound like experiencing it live, rather than the cardboard boxes they evidently hauled up on stage in Dortmund.
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Well yes but to be fair they had 2 month off between November and January :D
 
Murder of Rue Morgue said:
To me, for every question like "what's the best live performance by [Iron Maiden member]?" (or similar), there is one and one only answer:

Rock in Rio
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I agree that Rio is probably the best overall live album. But specifically for the drums, I think Death on the Road sounds a bit more powerful.

Edit: Another short-answer question for ya'll! I'm considering buying all of Maiden new remasters of the studio albums, even though I have them all on vinyl already. That said, is Live After Death and Rock In Rio the only remastered live albums the band released on CD? I know Death on the Road, Flight 666, and En Vivo were remastered on vinyl, but I'm not seeing them on CD?
 
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Murder of Rue Morgue said:
Oh, and as to Clive: had he remained in the band, we would have had "double bass" Iron Maiden. For sure. His style was leading to that direction.
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I doubt it, although him being inspiration for thrash metal drummers (Nicko also for some, right?), but I agree that Clive's style was leading to that direction. I'm glad he and Nicko don't use double bass because this is not power metal(!), and even if some songs could have used it for some parts, they compensate with fast and interesting drumming which is more for me and for a band like Maiden. Otherwise, all songs should just be fast with almost no light and shade.
chaosapiant said:
Not sure where else to put this, so here goes: Is there a live album that has a better drum sound/drum performance than Death on the Road? Nicko sounds out of this world good on this album. Rock solid grooves, thunderous toms, machine gun single-bass, etc etc etc. He's phenomenal on every album, but here, maybe it's just the production, but it just stands out so much to me. I can't think of a live album with a better drum sound.
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I think RIR and DOTR are close on performances. Nicko at his best (not only for them)! Flight too. Or Ullevi '05. As for the sound, Rio imo. En Vivo too.
 
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Well, this is a question about the 2015 cd remasters. Do they have anything extra in the booklets? Slighty different than the 1998 remasters? Did Maiden also re release Live after death and Rock in Rio, or was it just on vinyl?
 
Sth2112 said:
No new liner notes?
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Not to my knowledge, no. I don't have all the 2015 CDs but everything I've looked at seems to be based on the original pressings of those CDs which were in turn based on the design of the LP sleeves.
 
Mosh said:
Not to my knowledge, no. I don't have all the 2015 CDs but everything I've looked at seems to be based on the original pressings of those CDs which were in turn based on the design of the LP sleeves.
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It's this. They're based on not just the original pressings, but the original UK pressings. Hence why the first two albums don't have the extra tracks they came with and such. The idea was to release an updated version of the album as it was originally pressed. Which, to me, is a bit strange because they're still remastered. So you end up with a recording that, depending on your opinion, may or may not sound better than the original, while losing some songs and adding nothing new.

Still, anything is better than the '98 remasters.
 
I think the new CDs are about as good of a package as you're realistically going to get for that sort of remaster campaign. You're never going to get a direct transfer of what was originally on the vinyl albums so the best you can hope for is something that maintains the integrity of the originals which I think they achieved well. The 98 remasters sound terrible and while the expanded liner notes were cool, they also had a lot of lower res images and images that were mismatched to the wrong albums. I like the restored track orders on the original three albums, although I hope they come up with a way to get the b-sides out on streaming platforms/a new compilation since now Total Eclipse is the only Maiden b-side that is readily available anywhere.
 
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