The Apparition

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How good is The Apparition on a scale of 1-10?

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A drumbeat opens the weirdest song Maiden have ever written. Literally stuffed to the gills with lyrics (with the most lines of any song on this album), "The Apparition" is a nearly four minute track that has a unique style all to its own - Verse / False Chorus / Verse / False Chorus / Instrumental / Verse / False Chorus / Verse / False Chorus ("false chorus" because it doesn't feel like a typical chorus but that's clearly what it acts as here). Bruce's performance is all over the place and that only adds to the wackiness on display. The instrumental does several different shades of things with its time, including a rare Janick wah solo. As wacky as it all is, I can't not help but love this song. It's so weird that there's a really charming attraction to it, and it'll be a cold day in hell before I give it anything less than top marks. This is still a Top 20 Maiden song for me. 10
 
This song is just verses (they're not bad though). Great riff and rotation of the solos (unique fact). The song is not that bad, it's just a subpar level for Maiden's high standards - its more of a b-side material. 5/10
 
At first I didn't like it all, this is really a song that grows over the years but I wouldn't consider it among my favourites.
 
I do not consider this... thing... their worst song for one and only one reason:

Both Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger and The Angel and the Gambler are longer.


Regarding the song itself, it's joke. And it do not even make me laugh. 2/10.
 
The lyrics of the song are written in the first person, as if
are the counseling words of the spirit of a recently deceased
to the listener. According to Dickinson, they are a summary of
Harris' views on the issues of the afterlife, fate and
of friendship.
The verse “when the room goes cold tell me you can feel me,‘ cause I’m
here! ” has its roots in the belief that the presence of a ghost in one
space causes a drop in its temperature due to the energy that
absorbs from the environment to exist.
 
Eliot1988 said:
The verse “when the room goes cold tell me you can feel me,‘ cause I’m
here! ” has its roots in the belief that the presence of a ghost in one
space causes a drop in its temperature due to the energy that
absorbs from the environment to exist.
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The idea of a "cold spot" indicating the presence of a ghost is quite well-known but I wasn't aware of any theories as to why that might be. Interesting!
 
An undeservedly hated track from the band’s wackiest album, “The Apparition” is a lyric dump from Steve on top of a Janick song, and somehow it works. It’s not perfect, but it’s super cool in a weird sort of way. Great underrated track. 8/10
 
For a long while this was the song that I regarded as the worst song Maiden has ever written. I still dislike it quite a bit, but unfortunately other songs are much worse in my opinion. It's a very weird song. Strange structure. Quite long considering how little is happening throughout its runtime. The lyrics are quite wordy and it feels like Steve simply couldn't stop himself from writing more and more.

I think my main issue is that it never really strays from the blues rock space it operates in. At least not during the sections with vocals. We get a short instrumental break that tries to break up the monotony, but it doesn't really work for me. We also get a couple of solos, with some lead guitar and bass runs in between. After the rather weak instrumental section we continue to even more verses.

All in all this song has no place on the album. We already have 11 other songs, there really was no need to cram this one in as well. The album would've been better off without it, but it's there, so it's getting judged. I used to be harsher on it, but since then I've found other songs I dislike even more, which made me rethink my spectrum of points and how I award points in the first place. So, a 3 it is.
 
Vaenyr said:
For a long while this was the song that I regarded as the worst song Maiden has ever written. I still dislike it quite a bit, but unfortunately other songs are much worse in my opinion. It's a very weird song. Strange structure. Quite long considering how little is happening throughout its runtime. The lyrics are quite wordy and it feels like Steve simply couldn't stop himself from writing more and more.

I think my main issue is that it never really strays from the blues rock space it operates in. At least not during the sections with vocals. We get a short instrumental break that tries to break up the monotony, but it doesn't really work for me. We also get a couple of solos, with some lead guitar and bass runs in between. After the rather weak instrumental section we continue to even more verses.

All in all this song has no place on the album. We already have 11 other songs, there really was no need to cram this one in as well. The album would've been better off without it, but it's there, so it's getting judged. I used to be harsher on it, but since then I've found other songs I dislike even more, which made me rethink my spectrum of points and how I award points in the first place. So, a 3 it is.
Click to expand...
The song in itself sucks, but to be fair to Steve: the bass line is good.
 
Vaenyr said:
It's a very weird song. Strange structure. The lyrics are quite wordy and it feels like Steve simply couldn't stop himself from writing more and more.

I think my main issue is that it never really strays from the blues rock space it operates in. At least not during the sections with vocals. We get a short instrumental break that tries to break up the monotony, but it doesn't really work for me. We also get a couple of solos, with some lead guitar and bass runs in between. After the rather weak instrumental section we continue to even more verses.

All in all this song has no place on the album. We already have 11 other songs, there really was no need to cram this one in as well. The album would've been better off without it, but it's there, so it's getting judged.
Click to expand...
Definitely a filler (iirc Steve wanted to cut it from the album along with another song, maybe it was Chains) but the instrumental section is very cool and effective, wouldn't you agree? The highlight of this short song. Actually, every song on FOTD album has a great solo/s imo! One of my favorites. Underrated album, held back for some fans by some of the weaker material, unfortunately. The album could easily have been 2-3 songs shorter (Weekend Warrior, Chains/Fear Is The Key, although I like them) and this song is one of them.
 
Kalata said:
Definitely a filler (iirc Steve wanted to cut it from the album along with another song, maybe it was Chains) but the instrumental section is very cool and effective, wouldn't you agree? The highlight of this short song. Actually, every song on FOTD album has a great solo/s imo! One of my favorites. Underrated album, held back for some fans by some of the weaker material, unfortunately. The album could easily have been 2-3 songs shorter (Weekend Warrior, Chains/Fear Is The Key, although I like them) and this song is one of them.
Click to expand...
The instrumental section on this song didn't really stand out to me, not a fan. It's the only song I dislike. The other songs you mentioned I like a lot, especially WW which is awesome, but The Apparition is one of the rather rare total fails in Maiden's career (imo of course).
 
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