Speed of Light - Official Music Video Thread

I am 44 years old and have guiltily been googling 'Iron Maiden' 20 times a day for the past three months whilst at work. I felt like a child on Xmas eve yesterday.

8am- I was not disappointed. I won't go into all the musicalities of this single but there was one thing that really put a smile on my face.

They sound YOUNG.

I've listened to this song 15 times today. It's wonderful and Bruce Dickinson doesn't sound as asthmatic as he did on TFF.
 
Kkbou said:
I've listened to this song 15 times today. It's wonderful and Bruce Dickinson doesn't sound as asthmatic as he did on TFF.
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No he doesn't. He sounds very good. He's Bruce, after all. But his voice isn't nearly as full as BNW. It has been 15 years though and age does take its toll.
 
It's been a lot of fun catching up with all these posts. Listened to the single on YouTube over breakfast and have been thinking about posting a response ever since--which made it hard to concentrate on the work day! My first impressions are, like many of yours, that this is a lively, catchy song--easy-to-listen to and will really come off well in the live show. It's got some Deep Purple and Dio vibes (the vocal melody was reminding me of Perfect Strangers, the song, a bit) and I also could really see it fitting in on a Bruce solo album--it sounds a bit like "Machine Men" in places, and thematically a little like "Devil on a Hog". The video is also pretty classy for Maiden! And it's going to warrant several more replays (maybe without the sound) before I catch the detailed references. All-in-all I'm digging the chorus of this first song, but will be really excited to hear the epics, which are my favorite part of experiencing Maiden.
 
It feels really weird thinking that the time lapsed between now and Dance of death is the same time between A real live one and Iron Maiden. I´m a bit drunk and thinking about stuff like that. I feel old.
 
It's interesting that I can hear two mistakes in the song. Others are saying Nicko is a bit off in his timing near the intro, (I personally can't tell). This is only 5 minutes of 92. I wonder if the errors are limited to this song, or if the album will be full of them.. I personally don't care all that much, but I'm sure it will really bother some musicians.

Are there mistakes in other Maiden studio songs? I've never heard any before Speed of Light.
 
I heard one or two times but now I don't remember where. But to be honest - there will be mistakes on new album, the way they made this album etc. is impossible to make so much music without mistakes. For me is not a problem, I may even like it but others...
 
Listen to 14 seconds in after Nicko hits the cowbell, he does a quick triplet on the snare,tom,floor, bass and then starts hitting the cowbell before playing a longer fill gioing into the groove. Maiden took their time with previous albums thats why BNW was a masterpiece in my opionion. This song feels rushed.
 
(I have posted this before, but I didn't realise there was a dedicated thread at the time)
The video is so fun. Lots of throwbacks which have already been discussed. The only issue I have with it is that Eddie kills I Dinosaur....I fuckin love Dinosaurs and Eddie, so needless to say it was a moment of great emotional turmoil for me haha.

As for the song?
Yep, its a keeper. Really enjoying the bluesy tinge on it, which feels like a homage to some of their influences, without compromising the classic Maiden aesthetic.
What really comes through though is that sense of spontaneity, the live feel that they were going for. During the pre-chorus you can hear bruce just playing around with the vocal melody and its just so refreshing to hear that. Nick also does some really neat embellishment on the drums, doing some pretty sweet licks on the ride during various parts of the song. The three musketeers do a fine job, great solo section with some interesting key changes behind. And Steve is typically strong, though nothing flashy. Love his intensified bass line during the last chorus.

Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about this particular song is that it really does feel like everyone is having a great time. It genuinely sounds like a song they made for themselves as opposed to trying to cater to the fans, and if there is one thing I want any band I enjoy to do, its to stay true to themselves. And they have done that in spades here.

It has a different feel to most of their other singles due to that spontaneity and the blues rock influence, which will understandably put some people off...especially if you were expecting something that Maiden had no intention of (re)doing. But you can't think of it as changing the menu, so to speak; they're adding to the (already expansive) buffet.
 
Fantomen666 said:
AMOLAD was alright but It sounds a bit like someone has put a blanket over the speakers compared to other maiden albums. Could be the lack of mastering? The sound of drums and guitars by themself sound great but the overall sound is a bit weird I think
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First of all, AMOLAD for me is in the top 3 of best Maiden albums. I might even put it at number 1 due to it having the most amount of songs I really like on one album.

Now, when it comes to the mixing/mastering there are indeed issues like you said. Some stuff sounds way too much in the background, like the intro for Breeg. I always have to turn the volume up for the intro of the song whenever I'm playing along on my guitar with it.
I can't comment on much else but it's like you said, it's like the sound is lacking punch. It's all very softened out and quiet. Not in a good way. Always have to compensate for it by raising the volume.

But again, AMOLAD is a legendary album. Not many of us recognize the sheer genius and complete ambition that album has. It has no fillers.
 
Stealing from my own post from a previous thread...

"It must be a mighty honour to be selected as the first single off a new Maiden album but the challenge comes with extremely high expectations and responsibilities. Your role is to excite, make a statement, introduce the new album. Yet you are alone and exposed. You are analysed, scrutinised, perhaps criticised. You are a solitary unknown newcomer to be judged by millions who have the whole of Maiden's history to compare you against.

You walk into a saloon, the music stops, all eyes are on you. You scan the room for other first singles. The Wickerman and Wasted Years are both at the bar laughing with Flight Of Icarus. They've made it. Yet other openers are not enjoying themselves so much...Can I Play With Madness and Wildest Dreams are ignored and sit by themselves in a corner. Holy Smoke wasn't even allowed in. The Reincarnation Of Benjamon Breeg came in for a few ales, didn't feel a connection with the faster galloping rockers so he left, went for a stroll and possessed a passerby. How will you be judged?"

....Speed of Light is at the bar being shouted drinks!! It's chorus is supersonic!!!!
 
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Fantomen666 said:
Would it be so bad having a producer that has the balls to tell them straight up that they have got to shape up soundwise and also cut away some dead meat from the songs? The shortest song is what, 5 minutes? Do we need to hear the same riff eight times instead of four? Do we need to hear endless slow bass intros? The album may turn out great though. But my expectations were really high after i read the Classic rock review, then I heard this so I´m not overly optimistic.
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I'm curious where the fat is in Speed of Light?
 
Well, after spinning my CD copy i can say I'm at least somewhat less apprehensive about the production on this album. The Youtube compression was doing all sorts of weird things to the low end. That said-

I wish Kevin would do something about the toms. They need some verb and EQ, or at least some room sound. FAR too dry compared to everything else.

I really hope the vinyl was mastered properly as well. This cd single is a bit "hot" for my tastes.

Still, a vast improvement over TFF. Crisp, soaring vocals and leads over meaty rhythm tone. I like.
 
Who thought it was a great idea to record the band live? Especially with Kevin Shirley in charge of production. Maiden albums have sounded like shit the last fifteen years. SOL is no exception, really. It may be a tad better than TFF but it's still muddy and... I dunno, meh-sounding. :)

Anyway, just my opinion.
 
I just listened through a couple of short rockers from the past that usually don't get much praise..... namely "Hooks In You", "Chains Of Misery" and "Gangland". I find them all to be clearly better songs than "Speed Of Light". I'm sure of Maiden had put out a song like "Hooks In You" for example, today it would have been praised as an excellent single. But it was widely hated back in 1990 and like many other songs from the 80's-90's, they were considered bad by Maiden standards then, but people would praise them if they had written them today.... expectations have truly changed...
 
And once again, PlayClassics! sets up and tears down a lovely strawman with his keen rapier wit, failing again to appreciate the problem is that most people don't feel the way he does about modern Iron Maiden, replacing this fact with a phony strawman that "expectations have truly changed" and assuming that people would "praise (Hooks In You & Chains of Misery) if they had written them today". Nobody has ever said that "Hooks in You" would sound good as the lead from a modern Maiden album.

If Maiden put out Hooks in You today it'd be shit. Some people would be excited for new Iron Maiden, but then they'd quickly come to the agreement that it's a pretty poor song, poor for the album it's from and in general. People were excited for all sorts of stuff in 2003, but Gates of Tomorrow and Age of Innocence have gone down as among the worst Maiden tracks ever.

Lots of people are excited over Speed of Light because it's new. And we won't know how it sits in the long term until the long term has actually occurred. What I don't like are some people throwing their opinions around like they're the gospel truth, and I'm getting very tired of it.
 
I agree with your sentiment, LC, but I still stand by Hooks In You being a great song, :D
 
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