Tournament of Maiden Solos: the Top 10 video!

Which guitar solo is your favourite?

  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .
Wait...before this tournament many people went on about how Dave's Eagles solo in Ullevi is the best solo ever and now hardly anyone votes for it? I don't have a problem with it not passing through but that's just peculiar (all solos are strong in this group).
 
To be honest, I don't think the Ullevi live version is really different enough to justify having both of them the game; he sticks pretty close to the album version (as has been mentioned in previous discussions). I also didn't realise (until listening to it without watching) that the audio was that poor. Watching it helps downplay this slightly for some reason; you're looking at Dave's playing & just kinda hearing it better!
:shred:
 
Fair point, Saap. I enjoy it very much in the context of the full performance, but when it's isolated and put up against other solos that do stand alone well, it loses much of its impact.
 
I hope that people who "discover" and appreciate a solo in this context (isolated in this game), still appreciate it when they hear it in "normal" environment again.
 
Forostar said:
I hope that people who "discover" and appreciate a solo in this context (isolated in this game), still appreciate it when they hear it in "normal" environment again.
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It's certainly interesting so far to see how each of these solos works outside the context of the song. I'm finding new appreciation for solos that I barely noticed before because they come from songs I don't really love. Whether I'm praising solos from my favorite songs or learning that great solos are sometimes buried in mediocre or bad songs, I think that only good can come from this game.
 
The Unbeliever.

A really good solo by Dave which main strength is that while it may contain familiar licks and phrasing is played over a completely unique backing that doesn't sound quite like anything else from the catalogue.

Adrian never sounded comfortable playing solos in fast songs - "Aces" is as good an example of this as any, "Blood Brothers" has one forgettable and one amazing solo (this is the former) and what makes the Ullevi rendition of the "Eagles" solo cool is mainly the visuals of Dave's fingers flying over the fretboard in combination with the sound - it does not hold up taken out of context.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
It's certainly interesting so far to see how each of these solos works outside the context of the song. I'm finding new appreciation for solos that I barely noticed before because they come from songs I don't really love. Whether I'm praising solos from my favorite songs or learning that great solos are sometimes buried in mediocre or bad songs, I think that only good can come from this game.
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I completely agree with this. In an earlier round I was quite surprised by how much I liked a solo from Gates Of Tomorrow, I song I never really cared for that much. The same can be said this round with The Unbeliever. While I don't necessarily dislike this song, it's not one that I listen to that much compared to a lot of others. Because of this game, I have already started to appreciate certain elements of songs I previously didn't pay too much attention to, and I have a feeling that I'll start enjoying them even more when I hear them in their "natural" environment again.
 
 
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The 2AM solo sounds quite pedestrian compared to the others. I suspect Wasted Years and The Clairvoyant will get a lot of votes here, but that's because they're damn fine solos from songs that are also Maiden classics. They're my choices anyway. The solo from Loneliness is nice too, but I happen to like the other two (i.e. from WY and TC) better.
 
Wasted Years - one of the best solos in the whole Maiden discography. My second choice is Runner. Those Adrian's SiT solos... Some divine inspiration or what?
 
2AM is rather beautiful...it's never struck me before but sounds like it has a bit of the Wasting Love and Blood Brothers solos rolled into it.
Long Distance Runner comes across as very rushed to me
Wasted Years is what all solos want to be when they grow up. Surely this is in contention to win outright?
Clairvoyant is nice enough but flies along.
 
"2 AM" is indeed a bit similar to "Wasting Love". Very nice tone and a solo I imagine Janick played while dancing around in the studio... All the strong notes are placed firmly on the beat, making it lock in with the rhythm and reinforcing both as a result. Makes the solo stick in my head, at least.

"Wasted Years" is my second vote, a given one really. Still not my very favourite solo on the album, but a very, very good one nonetheless. Could actually be my second favourite Adrian-solo... I love the end to the album version, with the solo continuing on during the chorus and ending with a very wide vibrato, something which haven't translated to the live performance.

As for the two that didn't get my votes, I have always adored the way Adrian starts his solo in "Long Distance Runner", but from there on it is sadly a big letdown. Never been a fan of the solos on Seventh Son, and "Clairvoyant" is no exception. It has as much to do with the backing of the solo as anything else. It's just not something that has a satisfying balance of tension/release on its own - the release comes from the section after, that we enter just as the video cuts.
 
The toughest vote so far for me. Two of H’s best solos, one of my favourite solos on TXF and the very specific and strange one from The Clairvoyant.

Like Maturin said, The Runner solo starts strong, but gets a bit weaker later on. Also, it has a bit too much of the 80’s feel for me. So in the end it’s 2 A.M. for me (a beautiful, nearly tear-jerking experience for me) and Wasted (which could be my #1 H solo, I think - I also always loved the way it “infiltrates” the chorus in the end). TC is a close #3, it’s really fun to listen to, even isolated.
 
Wasted Years, of course. Such a guitar hero H moment!

And my second choice was TLOTLDR. Beautiful solo.
 
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