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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    40
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1
I used to consider The Angel and the Gambler the very worst of the catalogue but no more. During my recent reassessment of the catalogue I was reminded some of its qualities such as the unique use & fitting sound of organ, the main melody and the solos. What I dislike is the lyrics, Blaze's performance & pre-chorus melody. And of course, repetitiveness.

Unlike Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger which at least gives an advice, this song's message is on the negative side. Add repetition to that and it's nearly impossible to bear a listening from start to finish. Only exception is when I'm driving on an empty highway -where the song flows- as I recently discovered. This is how the song moved up a few places from the very bottom.
Should I were to rate the single version, the rating would be a solid 5 (top 100 song).

As it is though, The Anger and the Gambler is ranked somewhere between 154 -162 in Maiden's catalogue, probably ~157.
 
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There is a good song hidden behind a 1000x chorus repetitions, and Dave's solo is really, really, really good. I'll award the single version a score of 5 and the album version a score of 2. It's rather bad, but Maiden have done worse.
 
I'll give it a 3. More like 2.7 rounded. But I feel that this song isn't that irritating to be a 2 or 1.
The topic is quite bad, the arrangement is quite bad, the main riff and style is B side material.

The build up and the solos are a glimpse of real Maiden. Executed correctly, in live setting, it's quite something, as shown in Curitiba where the crowd is on fire because the band is on fire because they know Dickinson is back. "Don't you think I can save you" gets traded off in audience participation which makes it bearable and the band performance is just insane.
 
I'm now super curious how it sounds live. Could you share /point out where to find some bootleg versions? This Curitiba one and one with Blaze?
 
____no5 said:
I'm now super curious how it sounds live. Could you share /point out where to find some bootleg versions? This Curitiba one and one with Blaze?
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Same gig, there is no Curitiba "without Blaze". But he was effectively out of the band during the gig, the band knew they have some good times ahead and it shows. I hope that makes it more clear :)
 
Gk1 said:
:facepalm::facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

This is so wrong on so many levels though....
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Why? There is a great energy and crowd seem to enjoy it. Hell, I enjoy it! Live is a different beast that studio; it is ok to be "loose" during live performance, in studio you better be tight.
Thus they could have released the single version and during live performances to add the slow section, something similar to Running Free in LAD. Is not that it has too many extra notes or different lyrics.
There is a general agreement that the single version is a pretty decent song (with questionable lyrics).

Zare said:
Same gig, there is no Curitiba "without Blaze". But he was effectively out of the band during the gig, the band knew they have some good times ahead and it shows. I hope that makes it more clear :)
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Yep, it works very well live. Nicko is on drums! ;)
 
The polls reopened and I'll repeat myself:
Murder of Rue Morgue said:
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.
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Really great, happy, colorfull, rock n' roll song. I like the tasty guitar work with the small solos between verses, and the whole mood of the song fits the casino vibe. It's a 7/10 for me but I rated 6/10 because this is for the album version and not the single.
 
Here's another live version. I quite like it. It's faster (and thus shorter), it's full of energy (unlike the original), and overall much more fun. I still think it could be cut down by 2-3 minutes, but in this form, it's a very decent song.

 
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