What songs/albums have you changed your mind the most drastically about, since you started listening to IM?

Does anyone else feel the remastered versions changing the sound of the original albums?

I definitely agree with you that the 2015 remasters are, in general, pretty good and certainly a lot better effort than the 1998 ones. I have always liked The X-Factor, but the 2015 remaster certainly gives it a bit beefier sound, which is very welcome. It's obviously not a mind-blowing difference, but yeah, it sounds pretty nice.
 
Does anyone else feel the remastered versions changing the sound of the original albums?
Recently I actually purchased all the remastered albums and the two live albums on CD. Just to give myself a treat and have a fresh set of copies. Anyway, so far I am done with the first five and Live after death, and I must say Live after death have never sounded better! Very fresh and clean sound, but also very warm as well. Powerslave also sounds better and cleaner.
 
To the negative:

- Montsegur. The main riff, regular verses and first chorus are phenomenal. 10/10 up to that part. The happy-go-lucky nursery rhyme-like parts that follow ruin the entire song for me and I always end up skipping it. Didn't bother me as much back in the day, but I suppose I don't have as much patience anymore.

- The Nomad. The verses and first chorus aren't anything particularly interesting. The second chorus with the soaring vocals is much better and then we get one of my favorite sections in Maiden history, with the clean instrumental middle part. Well, turns out it's a glorified cover and not an original composition. Still sounds amazing obviously, but I end up skipping the song most of the time, due to my disappointment.

- Aces High. My most controversial pick. Used to adore the song as a kid. There's a ton to like about the song. The pace, the energy, the soaring chorus. Nowadays it's become one of my least favorites and might be the single most overrated song in my opinion. The studio version might be tolerable, but every single live version is pure horror. The vocals in the verses fundamentally sound bad. Crucify me :D

To the positive:

- The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner. Never really disliked the song, but it also kinda flew under the radar for me. Used to focus mostly on the title track, with some undeserved preference due to being a title track, and Alex, due to being the Harris epic. Yet, as time went on, whenever I was in the mood for SIT I'd return to this song. It's one of my all time favorites and one of the best Maiden songs of the 80s in my opinion.

- Childhood's End. Similar story to TLOTLDR, with the difference that I've always liked this one. I genuinely adore this track and it's an easy 10/10 for me. I appreciate this song more and more with every passing year. Such a shame that it was never played live.

- Dream Of Mirrors. Always been a fan of the acoustic intro Gers/Harris epics. This one I liked as well, but I didn't see it as special as the other Gers/Harris epics that followed. Used to focus much more on the opening quartet of BNW. Yet, thanks to the RIR version my appreciation for this song grew immensely. I love how it keeps building up the energy and excitement over literal minutes. The "whoah" part in the final couple of minutes, especially in the live version, is pure Maiden magic.
 
I've been an Iron Maiden fan since I was in high school. I'll never forget listening to their first four albums on repeat back and forth during the trip to and back from Ocean City, MD with my mother and her friend to get myself ready and learn as many of the lyrics as possible for my first Iron Maiden live experience at Ozzfest '05 in New Jersey with my legal guardian and some former friends the week after.

In terms of singles, the namesake track to the Number of the Beast album will always be a favorite of mine in an effort made by Eddie and the boys of what heavy metal was all about of someone who was transitioning out of video games and into music!

I am reminded sometimes that the Ides of March isn't a favorite wordless jam amongst most Maiden die-hards, but I love it. Framing it as a standalone cut, it musically encapsulates the sound of the much loved New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

Now that we're a month away from Maiden touring again behind the Future Past motif, I'm not into set-list consolidation as some of the crazed Maiden fans are, but I'm satisfied with their selection of the Cyborg Five cluster of songs! Somewhere in Time is my favorite of their eighties output and no Youtube video can do shit about seeing the title cut live in Brooklyn in November.
 
I'll compare it with when I joined the forum in 2013, because before that it gets slightly more chaotic and hard to discern. I've been listening to Maiden ever since I was a kid, with my father, so there used to be a lot of shifts.


I had SIT as my number one album and SSOASS as somewhere rather high, nowadays SIT is somewhere in the middle and I strenuously dislike most of SSOASS (apart from the title track and The Clairvoyant and to a degree, Infinite Dreams).

I never liked Powerslave much, apart from the last two songs, but over time it crept up to my number 2 spot.

When Book of Souls came out, it shot to my top 5 at least, nowadays I don't know where it really sits, but I almost never come back to it, apart from the second half of The Red and the Black, the title track and sometimes Eternity.

I used to be meh on The X Factor - I even fell asleep during my first listen - but over time it crept up to my Top 5 at least. My appreciation towards VXI is more fluctuating, but Como Estais Amigos is still one of my personal favourites of the deep cuts and I think I'd love seeing Futureal live.

I used to think TNOTB was okay, if underwhelming, nowadays I consider it possibly the most wretched album with Bruce (truly, the only albums below that are the DiAnno ones) and apart from Hallowed and Prisoner, I don't revisit it at all - and even those I prefer with Nicko.

When I first head Senjutsu - and for several months, if not years afterwards - I was a bit meh on it, feeling it was just a sophomore rehash of TBOS. Nowadays, I have it really high, with some moments and parts being my favourite in the entire IM discography.

I used to be lukewarm about TFF, then I began to love it, then it fell back again, but I still love it more than people around here seem to.

BNW used to be among my favourite albums, but I definitely overplayed it. Navigator, Dream of Mirrors, Thin Line and to a degree, Silent Planet I still give a spin and love, but the title track and Blood Brothers kinda poison the well with the mind-numbing repetition and The Mercenary is also such a boring track. Nomad completely let me go from its grip, I almost never play the song on its own nowadays, I merely don't skip it on the album.

I loved the FOTD album and I suppose I still appreciate it more than others do, but I wouldn't put it in my avatar (it was my first one here and remained the longest).

Also, I came here as a crazy Davey Murray fan and over time I've turned into a hardcore Janickist.
 
Short answer: all albums with Blaze singing on them.

I hated them in high school. Now they're played more often than, say, Powerslave on my Spotify.
 
I used to think the also-rans on DOD were pretty unremarkable but now think they’re all great and if they were on any of the more recent albums they’d be amongst the best songs.

New Frontier
Age of Innocence
Gates of Tomorrow
Face in the Sand
 
I used to think Blood Brothers was just an okay song. I’d instinctively roll my eyes when they’d play it live. I thought it was a waste of setlist space. I don’t know what happened, but I started loving it and I hope to see it live again someday.
 
Back
Top