Which is your favoure Bruce's vocal performance?

PlayClassics! said:
Pretty much anything 82 up until midway through the World Slavery Tour when he blew his voice, that was pure magic and he never came close again after that, live. He's usually still OK, but he'll never be as incredibly powerful and METAL again as on Rock In Rio 85 or Beast over Hammersmith from 82, for example.

I mean, compare those two clips...


versus


and tell me which one is more metal???
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I'm sorry but I think Bruce absolutely sucked throughout the 80's in his live performances after Beast Over Hammersmith (which was fantastic).
He sings so false, it's like he's trying to parody himself. I can't ever listen to Live After Death because of Bruce.
 
On a related note, I feel that Bruce didn't truly appreciate the band he was in until after he rejoined it. He is way more passionate and takes his position as a frontman for Maiden way more serious than he ever did.
 
The Nomad said:
On a related note, I feel that Bruce didn't truly appreciate the band he was in until after he rejoined it. He is way more passionate and takes his position as a frontman for Maiden way more serious than he ever did.
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I have the same feeling. Think he kinda took things for granted earlier. Now he really puts his heart into the whole Maiden thing, like he realized it’s his own child he needs to take care of and he puts much more effort into it.

Don't know why, but I keep thinking of 80s-90s Maiden as totally Steve-dictated band (although unbelievably amazing), where no one except for ‘Arry was able to truly pet it. Now it’s more of a collective kind of thing. Don’t know whether it's good or bad, ‘cause I extremely enjoy the reunion era (especially AMLOAD, it’s their best since SSOASS imo – yeah, I like it better than BNW), but I think it’s way more liberal band now.
 
The Nomad said:
I'm sorry but I think Bruce absolutely sucked throughout the 80's in his live performances after Beast Over Hammersmith (which was fantastic).
He sings so false, it's like he's trying to parody himself. I can't ever listen to Live After Death because of Bruce.
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I totally agree. He sounds terrible on Live After Death.

The Nomad said:
On a related note, I feel that Bruce didn't truly appreciate the band he was in until after he rejoined it. He is way more passionate and takes his position as a frontman for Maiden way more serious than he ever did.
Click to expand...

Agree with this as well. He needed a break and I think he really reevaluated his career before the reunion. He's taken it a lot more seriously and his live performances have been far superior ever since.
 
The Nomad said:
I'm sorry but I think Bruce absolutely sucked throughout the 80's in his live performances after Beast Over Hammersmith (which was fantastic).
He sings so false, it's like he's trying to parody himself. I can't ever listen to Live After Death because of Bruce.
Click to expand...

This phrasing may be a little exaggerated in my opinion, although his vocals live were not obviously a carbon copy of what he did in the studio. Let's remember Maiden songs are for the most part incredibly demanding to sing, especially when you play five shows a week for several months. I reckon that singers like Bruce, Ian Gillan and James LaBrie -though personally responsible about the state of their voice- have been treated unfairly given the difficulty of what they have to sing. I cannot see but R.J Dio who had been able to maintain quality vocal performances on the long term, in this genre - others declined or had to make the band downtune (RJD himself sang lower in the 00's by the way).
 
True I recognize that singing what he is singing on a constant basis live is way too demanding. But I'm not merely talking about high notes but also the way he speaks out the words. He goes up and down and up and down in a whiny, near sarcastic, almost mocking tone.
 
Actually, I like that "sarcastic, mocking" tone, as long as he doesn't use it too much. For example, I'm glad he used it again on the verses of "Eldorado".
 
That's a different story. Especially you can't compare that studio recording to a live recording which changes the way a song is originally sang on record. Two different things here. We are talking about live performances, remember?
 
Raskolnikov said:
I have the same feeling. Think he kinda took things for granted earlier. Now he really puts his heart into the whole Maiden thing, like he realized it’s his own child he needs to take care of and he puts much more effort into it.

Don't know why, but I keep thinking of 80s-90s Maiden as totally Steve-dictated band (although unbelievably amazing), where no one except for ‘Arry was able to truly pet it. Now it’s more of a collective kind of thing. Don’t know whether it's good or bad, ‘cause I extremely enjoy the reunion era (especially AMLOAD, it’s their best since SSOASS imo – yeah, I like it better than BNW), but I think it’s way more liberal band now.
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I think that he just didn't like 'Arry as a boss and he want more creative freedom. Now he has both and maybe that's why he is more passionate about Maiden. To be honest - I'm more willing to defend new stuff than old one (exception - Blaze era, I love his albums)
 
The Nomad said:
That's a different story. Especially you can't compare that studio recording to a live recording which changes the way a song is originally sang on record. Two different things here. We are talking about live performances, remember?
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My bad, I wasn't paying attention. ;)
 
Black Bart said:
I cannot see but R.J Dio who had been able to maintain quality vocal performances on the long term, in this genre - others declined or had to make the band downtune (RJD himself sang lower in the 00's by the way).
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Am I the only one who wouldn't give a flying hoot if Maiden tuned down (even just a half step) at gigs? Bruce would sound better and it'd be easier for him to maintain vocal quality throughout a set.
 
These last weeks I've been listen to maiden downtuned to C tuning and the songs slowed down. I do this to play along with the songs on my guitar. Slow and heavy Maiden is amazing. I think I should do this to their entire songlist from NotB to Powerslave, which might make a lot of songs tolerable again for me.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Am I the only one who wouldn't give a flying hoot if Maiden tuned down (even just a half step) at gigs? Bruce would sound better and it'd be easier for him to maintain vocal quality throughout a set.
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I, for one, would care, as a first reaction. Then, it depends on whether it is obvious or discreet. For example, I find this too much:
 
That's a full step down right there. If Maiden only did a half step it wouldn't be that noticeable. Also, Bruce's voice is in better condition than that.

Not even every song would require downtuning, but some of them like Aces High for example, could still be played and would sound infinitely better than Bruce straining himself. The band would have to switch guitars a lot more onstage, but so what? They've got experienced crew.
 
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