Virtual XI: individual album judgement by yours truly

The Clansman 9
Como Estais Amigo 9
Futureal 6
Lightning Strikes Twice 5
Angel and the Gambler 5
Two Worlds Collide 5
Educated Fool 5
Eyes of a Stranger 4

Virtual XI. 6.0
 
Virtual XI (T#12)

Futureal: 7
The Angel And The Gambler: 4
Lightning Strikes Twice: 7
The Clansman: 9
When Two Worlds Collide: 7
The Educated Fool: 6
Don’t Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger: 4
Como Estais Amigos: 8

Album Average: 6,50
 
Futureal - 4
The Angel and the Gambler - 4
Lightning Strikes Twice - 2
The Clansman - 7
When Two Worlds Collide - 2
The Educated Fool - 3
Don't Look to the Eyes of A Stranger - 2
Como Estais Amigos - 1

Album 3/10
 
Futureal 9
The Angel and the Gambler 6
Lightning Strikes Twice 8
The Clansman 8
When Two Worlds Collide 8
The Educated Fool 8
Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger 8
Como Estais Amigos 9

Album Average 8.00

Album rankings per person thread >
 
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Futureal: 5
The Angel And The Gambler: 4
Lightning Strikes Twice: 6
The Clansman: 8
When Two Worlds Collide: 6
The Educated Fool: 7
Don’t Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger: 7
Como Estais Amigos: 7

Album Average: 6,25
 
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  1. "Futureal" - 8,0
  2. "The Angel and the Gambler" - 7,0
  3. "Lightning Strikes Twice" - 6,0
  4. "The Clansman" - 10,0
  5. "When Two Worlds Collide" - 7,0
  6. "The Educated Fool" - 9,0
  7. "Don't Look To the Eyes of a Stranger" - 8,0
  8. "Como Estais Amigos" - 9,0
Virtual XI: 8,0
 
Futureal: 7
The Angel And The Gambler: 3
Lightning Strikes Twice: 7
The Clansman: 8
When Two Worlds Collide: 9
The Educated Fool: 8
Don’t Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger: 7
Como Estais Amigos: 7
 
1. Como Estais Amigos - 10/10
2. The Clansman - 10/10
3. Futureal - 10/10
4. Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger - 10/10
5. The Angel and the Gambler - 10/10

6. The Educated Fool - 9.5/10
7. When Two Worlds Collide - 9/10
8. Lightning Strikes Twice - 9/10

Total: 9.7/10
 
  1. "The Clansman" - 10
  2. "The Educated Fool" - 9
  3. "Futureal" - 8
  4. "Como Estais Amigos" - 8
  5. "Don't Look To the Eyes of a Stranger" - 7
  6. "The Angel and the Gambler" - 7
  7. "When Two Worlds Collide" - 7
  8. "Lightning Strikes Twice" - 4
Virtual XI: 7,5
 
Futureal - 10
The Angel and the Gambler - 5
Lightning Strikes Twice - 8
The Clansman - 9
When Two Worlds Collide - 7
The Educated Fool - 5
Don't Look to the Eyes of A Stranger - 8
Como Estais Amigos - 9
 
Just went through this in the individual song threads.

Futureal - 7/10 >
The Angel And The Gambler - 5/10 >
Lightning Strikes Twice - 5/10 >
The Clansman - 4/10 >
When Two Worlds Collide - 4/10 >
The Educated Fool - 3/10 >
Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger - 4/10 >
Como Estais Amigos - 5/10 >

Average: 4.6/10
Weighted: 4.4/10

An unfortunate stain on the Iron Maiden catalog, with only one song worth remembering and everything else firmly in mediocre to bad territory. Blaze's performance is noticeably weaker than on The X Factor, the songwriting is generally uninspired, and the production has some serious gaffes, especially on "The Clansman".

Speaking of that song, many of you reading this probably think my rating is batshit insane, but I challenge you to read my comments and listen to that song again with an open mind, and I think you'll at least understand where I'm coming from.

One of the big issues with both this album and The X Factor, at least for me, is that the quality of the songs takes a steady nose dive from the start of the album until about 2/3 of the way through, then it recovers a bit. It makes them very hard to listen to in album order because things just get worse and worse until you power through to the end.

I think I'm going to take a break from Blaze-era Maiden for a while. Too disappointing.

(Album rankings by person post >)
 
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Jer said:
Speaking of that song, many of you reading this probably think my rating is batshit insane, but I challenge you to read my comments and listen to that song again with an open mind, and I think you'll at least understand where I'm coming from.
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I get where you're coming from (and disagree of course); I'm merely surprised nothing dips below a 3 for you.
 
Diesel 11 said:
I get where you're coming from (and disagree of course); I'm merely surprised nothing dips below a 3 for you.
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Well, I don't think Iron Maiden has ever put out a song that had absolutely zero redeeming value. "Look For The Truth" was on the border between a 2 and a 3 for me, though. And Blaze has had some really horrible vocal performances that would have merited a 1 rating if I didn't have to consider the rest of the music.
 
Diesel 11 said:
So what would you consider your all-time least favorite Maiden song?
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I'd have to listen to the Di'anno stuff again to be absolutely sure, but I think it'd be a knife fight between "Look For The Truth", "Judgement Of Heaven", and "The Educated Fool", if we're only talking album tracks.

I gave LFTT and TEF a 3/10 and JOH a 4/10 overall, but the vocal performance on JOH is so hideous that I'd have to keep it in the running anyway.

Gun to my head right this second, I'd probably pick "The Educated Fool".

EDIT: I'd also have to do a sweep on Fear Of The Dark, I guess. "Weekend Warrior" and "The Apparition" are pretty foul.
 
I wouldn't go that far... at one point The Educated Fool was actually my least favorite Maiden song. I like it more now but there are some things I'm still not 100% sold on.
 
Futureal - 9
The Angel and The Gambler - 4 (what was arry thinking?)
Lightning Strikes Twice - 7
The Clansman - 10
When Two Worlds Collide - 7
The Educated Fool - 7
Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger - 3 (again what was he thinking?)
Como Estais Amigos - 8

6.875
 
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