The Angel and the Gambler

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How good is The Angel and the Gambler on a scale of 1-10?

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With all the shit people give this track, both in and outside of this forum, I thought I was in for something truly awful.

I do and don't understand the hatred here, sure it's very repetitive and it's not up to Steve's usual standard of songwriting, but I don't think the repetition brings the song down, I really don't, and the rest is actually quite enjoyable. The only time I think it's unnecessary is during the clean section around the 4 minute mark. I quite like the repeats in the outro, Janick and Dave play some cool guitar fills to keep things interesting.

I don't know who first suggested it, but there was an idea floating around that if the band were ever to play this again that they should each take a turn singing the refrain. Whenever I hear this song now I think of that and have a little chuckle to myself. Maybe they could bring on a series of weird and wonderful guest vocalists (anyone got Dennis Wilcock's number...?).

Overall, a surprising 7/10.
 
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Since as long as I can remember, this song has been hovering around somewhere in my Top 90, but it's started to fall for me a bit. Not that I think any of its bad, I just feel the performances are a little weak. The repetition is still perfectly fine though, and I like it overall. Just not quite as good as I once thought. 7
 
TAATG has always sounded like a The Who pastische to me. Problem is, most The Who songs aren’t 10 minutes long, and there is a reason.

This one should have been Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Solo, Chorus. That’s it. And it shouldn’t have been a single.
 
Some thoughts about this song popped into my head, so I'm putting them here. I like this song; I always have. I don't care for the weird casio keyboard effect in the beginning, and it absolutely does not need to be 78 minutes long or whatever. But I really like the bridge and the chorus of this song and the solos are pretty good. This is one of the few songs I think Bruce could not do better than Blaze on.

Speaking of Blaze, I do have one issue with his voice in this track. It's the verses...he doesn't sound like he's singing. It sounds like he's shouting over the fence at his neighbor.

"Hey Bob!"
"Hey Blaze, what's going on?"
"Best make decisions, before it's too late!"
"Stop saying weird shit at me and tell your cat this isn't his yard!"
"Take all your chances..."
"Just stop, please"

I hope I'm not the only one that hears how weirdly he shouts these verses.
 
I like that song (they should had cut it to 4/5 minutes though). Atmospheric song with nice riff and keyboards. The verses and the chorus are good. The middle calm part is well thought, but with that endless repetition of the chorus...../ Both solos are good (especially Dave's one). 7/10

The version from the official video would have been good (+ both solos and another verse after them).
 
This song has grown on me a bit through the years. I changed my vote from 3 to 5. Gotta love the very 1998 video as well.
 
This is the only Iron Maiden song, and one of the very few overall, that I rate 1/10. This song is the purest nothingness. Even just after having listened to it, I can't remember a single note apart of the terrible Hammond in the beginning and the ball-breaking "dontcha think I can save you". I still can't understand why Steve wrote it.
 
Something curious (thanks for the info @Luisma):

Steve about TAATG: ''We did an edit on ''The Angel and the Gambler'' because that was written on the album as a long version because it was written as it was a "Live" version. What I mean by that is it was written as how we would do it with a crowd ...... bringing it down quiet and getting the audience involved and stuff like that. So, we could edit that and it wouldn't do the song any injustice at all.''

Blaze about TAATG: ''The problem with Virtual XI was that we didn't have much time for rehearsals. ''The Angel and the Gambler'' for example, is much preferred on the video version, which is a much shorter that I felt that was much more appropriate. I think there's great parts to that song. But the album version of it, I just really do feel it's too long.''

MAIDEN TRIVIA OF THE DAY

*Roof collapses in venue in Wales* "Let's move the gig outside of Wales". "Yeah, and you know what? Let's not play in Wales at all this year." "Yeah, makes sense". :--)
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I have a bit of a soft spot for this song. I saw Blaze perform his own version of it a couple of years ago and it was great fun. If it were 3 or 4 minutes long (like the single edit) it would be pretty good, or at least a lot better. The bit at the start where the rhythm section kicks in is pretty catchy, The tooting organ is a bit hard to get past though. It just doesn't sound serious.
And then there's the repetition. The thing is, laying down a 9 minute track in the studio takes a lot of time. I can't believe that in all the hours it must have taken to record DON'T YOU THINK I'M A SAVIOUR for the 12th time, no one thought "what the hell are we doing here?".
 
According to him, Harris wrote the lyrics describing two
characters, one of whom tries to persuade the other to stop
gambling. He later discovered that the term "angel" (angel) often
refers to a rich man who finances a gambler to gamble
part of it.
In the first two verses, the angel addresses the gambler,
urging him to stop gambling. He, not only does not follow her
advice of the angel, but he is intolerant of his presence and addresses himself
to God, asking him why he sent the angel.
The angel, seeing that his exhortations are in vain,
tries to shake the gambler by reminding him that, despite the big win
that he can gain if he wins, the certainty of death makes each
useless profit.
The gambler, irritated by the interventions of the angel, his
recalls his right, as a mortal, to free choice between good
and evil and urges him to leave.
The angel does not satisfy the gambler's desire. Instead, the lyrics
close with him praising the gambler for his myopic crisis and her
his self-destructive behavior.
Through the lyrics it is evident for the umpteenth time how much certainty
of death concerns Harris and how much it influences him in his philosophy
view of life, which is intricately symbolized in the verses by a
visit to the casino.
 
Eliot1988 said:
According to him, Harris wrote the lyrics describing two
characters, one of whom tries to persuade the other to stop
gambling. He later discovered that the term "angel" (angel) often
refers to a rich man who finances a gambler to gamble
part of it.
In the first two verses, the angel addresses the gambler,
urging him to stop gambling. He, not only does not follow her
advice of the angel, but he is intolerant of his presence and addresses himself
to God, asking him why he sent the angel.
The angel, seeing that his exhortations are in vain,
tries to shake the gambler by reminding him that, despite the big win
that he can gain if he wins, the certainty of death makes each
useless profit.
The gambler, irritated by the interventions of the angel, his
recalls his right, as a mortal, to free choice between good
and evil and urges him to leave.
The angel does not satisfy the gambler's desire. Instead, the lyrics
close with him praising the gambler for his myopic crisis and her
his self-destructive behavior.
Through the lyrics it is evident for the umpteenth time how much certainty
of death concerns Harris and how much it influences him in his philosophy
view of life, which is intricately symbolized in the verses by a
visit to the casino.
Click to expand...
Harris was brought up a Christian but now struggles with it.
Hence the obsession with death and salvation.
 
I listened to the single version and the 6 minute edit just now. They're both much better than the album version, no doubt about that.
If we got either of those versions, this song still would've been one of the weaker Maiden tracks, but it wouldn't be egregiously bad.
 
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