Steve Harris

Yes, but from my simple statement that I hadn't seen many Maiden videos (I clarified what this meant) --you deduced I was "allergic" to the internet; and "allergic" to spending money on "Maiden DVD or video release(s)". Are Maiden's DVD releases not predominately live releases? That was all a bit of a leap, was it not?
 
The clear meaning was: Why is it that you do not own and/or have not watched Visions of the Beast? It is generally assumed that if a band is your favorite, you probably own all their albums and DVDs and have heard/watched all of them at least once, and probably multiple times. People (myself included) consider it strange that you have not seen Visions of the Beast, since it is an Iron Maiden DVD release (it includes all music videos up until around 2002, I believe, as the last tracks are Brave New World from Rock In Rio and a video for Out of the Silent Planet including BNW tour footage). I don't think anyone was attacking you personally, we are just interested as to why you have not seen Visions of the Beast.
 
I'm not really suggesting they were. I just don't own everything Maiden have released. Quite a few people on these forums (for who Maiden are their favourite band) have openly stated that they either don't have, or don't listen to (practically the same thing), XF or VXI. I haven't purposely avoided DVD releases, I just haven't bought or watched them all. It's really not that strange. Not any more strange, really, than people ignoring, or being disinterested in, Steve's British Lion release; to bring it back on topic (--which, frankly, seems worse.)
 
Cried, 425 exactly portrayed my thoughts. Not even wanting to see (not own; see) more videos assuming that Maiden is your favourite band, doesn't make sense. Not knowing what Maiden has released assuming they are a your favourite band, does not make sense. So, the first explanation that comes to my mind is that Maiden is not your favourite band.

Big deal? No. Revealing? Yes.
 
The need to see/hear (or read, etc) everything is characteristic of fandom generally (in broad terms); it is not a requirement of someone, before they can call themselves a "fan" of something. I have read literally every scrap of writing on & by authors I love & admire. However, I don't pre-judge & label ("strange") those who have not done as I have. Nor do I think they are tragically less informed than me.

There are plenty of pitfalls to pursuing this kind of behaviour to its natural end. For a start: how far do you take it? Do you want to acquire every bootleg of Maiden & watch all of them too? Maybe you do. Do you want to collect every scrap of written interview material & read it all? Again, perhaps you do. Do you want to travel the world watching them? Do you want to find out what hotels they stay in, so you can try & meet them? You could do all these things. You may desire to do them, but not be able to afford to. And, you may choose not to do these things.

I don't criticise people who do not do these things. They aren't lesser fans, in my eyes. In this case all we're talking about are Maiden's singles videos. I didn't say I had no intention ever of buying &/or watching this stuff. I just said I hadn't. And, for the record, Maiden are my favourite band.
 
Alright. I hadn't expected that it is possible to have a favourite band without knowing (or without planning to find out to know for years) what they have officially released.
 
I hope you follow what I mean though? Taking you for example: if you've watched & viewed & read pretty much everything officially released, then the knowledge you can (potentially) draw on, for discussion, is far greater than me. But that doesn't mean we can't discuss Maiden. And, it doesn't make me any less of a fan; or at least, I don't think so. Just a different fan. I'm pretty honest in admitting that there is plenty that I don't know about my favourite band. However, I feel like I've covered the main bases; I've listened to all their music. This is, surely, of primary importance.
 
My main point here is: from a fairly small point (about not having seen most new singles videos), you jumped to quite a lot of false conclusions about my Maiden listening habits, etc. I don't think what I said really suggested most of what you've gone on to say. That aside, the point about seeking out Maiden material is taken. Underneath my ramblings my other unstated point was really this: of everything I haven't seen/read, Maiden's singles videos are not my priority. I haven't heard all of the B-sides, for example. For the record my own personal priority is playing my guitar & learning more Maiden guitar parts. If I have spare time, this is what I'll spend it doing, Maiden wise. Not buying & watching Visions of the Beast. (You could argue I could easily do both; but I learn pretty slow...)
 
Alright, I didn't actually get it for my Christmas, but just got it the other day. On second listen only...

It's alright, I suppose. The vocals are, well, what I thought; not too distracting, but not really to my taste. A bit whinny, but he can sing well enough. Some of the rhythm guitar work is quite good though; nice riffs & reasonably catchy & memorable (not truly memorable, I just mean I recall the melody) e.g. Us Against The World and A World Without Heaven. The guitar work is a little one dimensional (i.e. you can only really hear one part going on) at times though (perhaps just the mix), & the lead work is (except, probably, the first A World Without Heaven lead) pretty mediocre. Steve's bass work is, as he said, what it is.

Overall, I think it's not bad. I'm not really that disappointed. Certainly put it on my MP3 for car journeys. Would quite like to see Steve live & hear this material, but don't have holidays when they play Scotland, and March is pretty close.

Next up: Awoken Broken --which I'm just awaiting delivery of. The posting on BL vs. AB has been pretty fierce on (the) two other threads.
 
I find it interesting to hear people's opinions on this albums because they are so divided. Some reviews on Amazon.co.uk praise the album and mentions the vocals in particular as a strong point - while other go the opposite way and make one star reviews while naming the vocals as terrible. Very interesting indeed.
 
You are right. Some people say that if Steve's name was not on the sleeve, the album would'nt have attracted much attention, but I think that, if it wasn't for him, it wouldn't have got such violent criticism. On the French Maiden forums, the reactions are equally divided : some fans even blame Steve for putting his bass to high in the mix !
 
Marmite is a bizarre brown edible (?) spread made from yeast extract. According to their own advertising, you either love it or you hate it, there's no middle ground. There seems to be a similar reaction to British Lion ;)
 
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