Steve's bass playing and Nicko's drumming on TFF.

Travis The Dragon

Travis The Dragon

AFTERGLOW!!!
OMG! It just rocks on this album! I don't know much about bass playing, but it seems to have more of an "old school" feel to it as compared to the last couple albums.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

I know next to nothing about music (let alone bass), but I noticed it alot more than AMoLaD - it's more upfront I think
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Steve kicks major ass in every album. This one is definitely no exception. Fast and up-front  :) Best damn bass player ever, in my opinion.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Maiden's recent albums (Reunion onwards) have really seen all of the members push out some great stuff.

Murray (Brave New World, The Thin Line between love and Hate, Rainmaker, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg)
Smith (Pashen-fucking-dale, say no more).
Nicko (AMOLAD, TFF albums are stand out perfomances all the way through).
Gers (Blood Brothers, The Legacy, Dance of Death)
Harris (all of the albums, but TFF is a brilliant performance)
Dickinson (All of the albums, but TFF is definitely his best performance since he rejoined. So much vigour and melody in his voice).

The two outstanding performances on TFF are Harris and Dickinson. I'd give this one to Dickinson by a smidge though)

The most under-rated member is Gers. His song writing is brilliant and has really breathed new life into Maiden. His preference of Staccato playing has spiced up many of Maidens songs. Live, he is a bit of a liberty, but you can't knock his writing ability.

I'd like to see more from Dave going forward. He only wrote Breeg on the last album, and his contribution writing wise on TFF is one of the weakest on the album.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Galvanise_ said:
Maiden's recent albums (Reunion onwards) have really seen all of the members push out some great stuff.

Dickinson (All of the albums, but TFF is definitely his best performance since he rejoined. So much vigour and melody in his voice).
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I think AMOLAD was better for Bruce. He sings great at this album too, but I think he shows signs of age at some songs.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Poto said:
I think AMOLAD was better for Bruce. He sings great at this album too, but I think he shows signs of age at some songs.
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I agree, but he didn't go for it as much as he did on this release. He really did live up to his 'Air Raid Siren' on this album. There's a part of The Talisman that made all the hairs on my arms stand up the first time I heard it. Whether he'll be able to do that live is another thing, but still, a great performance.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Steve's playing on TFF is far from a lead role, very distant from his old school playing. There's some old school sound here and there, El Dorado and WTWWB mostly, but Adrian has the biggest presence on the album, along with Bruce of course. Gers has never been so discrete. Dave is there as always and Nicko, wow, if his performance on Virtual XI was already half-ass, it's just been downgraded to no-ass.

Steve is the maestro though. It's his thing now more than ever.

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EDIT: mp3 192 is poo. I should keep my mouth shut until I hear the actual CD.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Galvanise_ said:
Maiden's recent albums (Reunion onwards) have really seen all of the members push out some great stuff.

Murray (Brave New World, The Thin Line between love and Hate, Rainmaker, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg)
Smith (Pashen-fucking-dale, say no more).
Nicko (AMOLAD, TFF albums are stand out perfomances all the way through).
Gers (Blood Brothers, The Legacy, Dance of Death)
Harris (all of the albums, but TFF is a brilliant performance)
Dickinson (All of the albums, but TFF is definitely his best performance since he rejoined. So much vigour and melody in his voice).

The two outstanding performances on TFF are Harris and Dickinson. I'd give this one to Dickinson by a smidge though)

The most under-rated member is Gers. His song writing is brilliant and has really breathed new life into Maiden. His preference of Staccato playing has spiced up many of Maidens songs. Live, he is a bit of a liberty, but you can't knock his writing ability.

I'd like to see more from Dave going forward. He only wrote Breeg on the last album, and his contribution writing wise on TFF is one of the weakest on the album.
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Does anyone get the feeling that Dave writes a lot more awesome songs than we think but he's too humble and laid back to really push through with his ideas and gives the other guys more space.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Invisible said:
Steve's playing on TFF is far from a lead role, very distant from his old school playing. There's some old school sound here and there, El Dorado and WTWWB mostly, but Adrian has the biggest presence on the album, along with Bruce of course. Gers has never been so discrete. Dave is there as always and Nicko, wow, if his performance on Virtual XI was already half-ass, it's just been downgraded to no-ass.

Steve is the maestro though. It's his thing now more than ever.

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EDIT: mp3 192 is poo. I should keep my mouth shut until I hear the actual CD.
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If you are saying Nicko isn't at his best on this album, then I have no idea what to tell you.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

I actually think Nico have stepped down a little on this record, still one of my altime favourite drummers, but he doesn't shine just as extremly bright as on AMOLAD. Which does NOT mean he's doing a bad job, quite the opposite, he's being more solif and background which allows more focus on the others. Also I find Harris plaing a little more rocking and solid than usally, which I actually like a lot, and I think it suits the album very well.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

As a long-time rock drummer who found Maiden - and metal - in part BECAUSE of Nicko, I am paying close attention to his performances no matter what Maiden songs I hear. I also play a lot of his drum tracks myself when I'm jamming on the kit (there's no better way to enjoy Maiden's music other than playing along if you can!). While it's true that his tricked-out and amazingly fast swing rhythms and fill-ins from the golden years haven't been matched in recent times, he has developed a strong, consistent style ever since BNW and kept to that throughout the ten years since. On AMOLAD he surprised me with that laid-back, very backbeat-focused playing that was especially evident in Benjamin Breeg. But other than that, his style had nothing new to offer after being set in stone with BNW and DOD.
But! I cannot agree that TFF is "the same procedure" all over again. When I first heard El Dorado, I thought well, good old Nicko. But when I tried to play along after a few listens, I realized just how f*cking tricky it was! His groove might seem slower and very relaxed as always, with the typical ride cymbal figures and tom fills. However there's so much progression and alteration in the song that I still haven't been able to hammer every note of his performance into my head. And that's just this one song! As far as I can tell from the few spins I gave TFF today, this kind of "fleshing out" that he does in detail on El Dorado appears throughout the album. And that might be subtle, but it's surely a step up from the established McBrain groove.

Up the Nicko's! :edmetal:
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

LordMaiden said:
If you are saying Nicko isn't at his best on this album, then I have no idea what to tell you.
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I do agree Nicko is at his best and his performance on TFF absolutely kills what he did on Virtual XI, which seems uninspired, feels like work.

He's cutting back on the fills though. The groove has never been more interesting and detailed, really suits the sound, but I'm still getting used to him going less wild on those fills.

I've come to expect that he'll someday go bonkers in a studio recording as much as he does live, LAD or RIR being fine examples.
 
Nicko's performance on TFF seems incredible to me ,even better than AOLAD (which was already great) . Steve's bass sounded more old school on AMOLAF though , esp. on songs like "brighter than a thousand suns".
 
johnglen said:
AOLAD
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johnglen said:
AMOLAF
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Maybe next time.  :bigsmile:
I really love Nicko's play on TFF, especially Coming home. But Steve... On the occasions when he is heard, he rocks the shit out of it, but I cannot "find" him most of the time. I'll try harder tomorrow.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Babo 91 said:
Does anyone get the feeling that Dave writes a lot more awesome songs than we think but he's too humble and laid back to really push through with his ideas and gives the other guys more space.
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I'm not sure. The songs he does write are generally at least up to Maiden standard (Deja-vu, The Prophecy, Breeg), and he usually chips in with one song per album.

I remember reading that when not on tour, Dave doesn't really play guitar, and has said he has gone months without playing guitar. I guess this could explain why he has less ideas on albums than Adrian.
 
Re: Steve's bass playing on TFF.

Robbiedbee said:
I'm not sure. The songs he does write are generally at least up to Maiden standard (Deja-vu, The Prophecy, Breeg), and he usually chips in with one song per album.

I remember reading that when not on tour, Dave doesn't really play guitar, and has said he has gone months without playing guitar. I guess this could explain why he has less ideas on albums than Adrian.
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If he wrote Deja Vu, he's ok in my book  :D
 
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