Your Top 10 Maiden Songs

No can do... Due to the extreme quality of so many Maiden a "top x songs" only makes sense if I mention at least 20 honorable mentions (chronological order):
Sanctuary
Murders In The Rue Morgue
The Number Of The Beast
The Trooper
Where Eagles Dare
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Moonchild
Can I Play With Madness
The Prophecy
Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter
Be Quick Or Be Dead
Man On The Edge
Futureal
The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
Face In The Sand
Montsegur
These Colors Don't Run
When The Wild Wind Blows
The Book Of Souls

Now the Top 10 (notice that although some of these songs are undisputed favorites some closer to #10 may vary... sometimes songs from the previous 20 take the place of the following 4):

10 - For The Greater Good of God (epic and deep this monster features a galoping crescendo that flows into one of the most powerful chorus ever made by the band)
09 - Killers (eerie and aggressive as hell the sliding harmonics of this beast's guitar line gives me goosebumps)
08 - Infinite Dreams (superb and dynamic this is Maiden's prog metal vein at its best)
07 - Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner (the build of this somewhat forgotten composition is huge. Perhaps Dickinson's best vocal delivery ever)

(the following 6 are without shadow of doubt among my top 10 since the first time I heard them. These songs are so amazing I won't even justify my picks)

6- Phantom Of The Opera
5- Wasted Years
4- Sign Of The Cross
3- Revelations
1- Aces High / Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (although being 2 completely different songs I can't chose one over the other)
 
karljant said:
07 - Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner (the build of this somewhat forgotten composition is huge. Perhaps Dickinson's best vocal delivery ever)
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I wouldn't be one for scrutinising anothers List but I have to question this. His best? I think its pish. He sounds out of key at times during the chorus and some of the falsettos are are misplaced. During the verses he sounds clipped and flat. Its like a demo. Don't get me wrong, I like the song and I like the singer but this, for me, is absolutely nowhere near his best.

Also, well played for putting Thin Line in your list. Now thats good Dickinson
 
1: 2 Minutes To Midnight
2: 22 Acacia Avenue
3: Holy Smoke
4: Empire Of The Clouds
5: The Legacy
6: Alexander The Great
7: Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
8: The Evil That Men Do
9: For The Greater Good Of God
10: Sign Of The Cross.
 
Niall Kielt said:
I wouldn't be one for scrutinising anothers List but I have to question this. His best? I think its pish. He sounds out of key at times during the chorus and some of the falsettos are are misplaced. During the verses he sounds clipped and flat. Its like a demo. Don't get me wrong, I like the song and I like the singer but this, for me, is absolutely nowhere near his best.

Also, well played for putting Thin Line in your list. Now thats good Dickinson
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Hi there.

Before everything... I'm completely fine with you not liking the vocal line of TLOTLDR. Hey ...opinions. But when it comes to other observations you made I must disagree:

1- He's not out of key, believe me.
2- There's not a single true falsetto on the song. By this time Bruce's voice changed. The last album he used true falsettos was Powerslave (ending scream of Aces High, the "forgotten by no one/ one man and his honor" parts on Flash Of The Blade and the "Fight for" in The Duelists. A Falsetto (from the Italian Falso as all the other terms below are latin/ Italian derivations) in a more wide definition is when you use your vocal chords to modulate the sound so you can sing beyond your normal vocal range. That being said, Death Metal Growls, Black Metal Screams, and even low Baritones and Basso singers regarding vocal levels . But in technical singing a true falsetto is when tenors (that kind of fits Bruce's type of voice), through vibration and tightening of the vocal chords manage to distort their voice to a higher pitch (resembling a pan flute, more feminine like registry) can reach Contra Alto /Mezzo Soprano ranges and tones. Good examples are Rob Halford's high pitch (both crisped and clean), Muse's Craig Bellamy 's screams and operatic high singing a myriad of power metal singers (like the late Midnight from Crimson Glory and Kiske from Helloween). In pop you have 2 well known examples: Michael Jackson's screams, the chipmunk harmonies of the Bee Gees or the Portuguese Nuno Guerreiro. By 1986 bruce's high notes (although being quite high) no longer recurred to a modulation of his true voice... the man came to such a degree of voice control that he extended his own vocal reach using way more chest and diaphragm (which IMO is even more amazing). The only exception is when he unleashes those air raid like screeches (like the beginning of Be Quick or Be Dead, Speed Of Light etc).
3- As far as the clipping on the voice during the verses he is basically doing bursts with semi - Stacato technique (similar to what he does in heaven can wait) always following the tempo and melody of the guitar. But then it gets really crazy... first he utterly keeps pace with the guitar lick on the "Your mind is getting clearer, you're over halfway there but the miles that never seem to end" part, bursting through a scale of more than a half dozen of diferent notes in constant up and down shifting ranging more than an octave wide in less than 4 seconds (and he has to hit them tight as nails with the guitar lick). Then continues to a Legato in an apparent effortless fashion. Then the chorus ... oh boy! Something that´s not being performed with true falsetto with voice modulation recurring mainly to its diaphragm and chest in such an high note is out of this world... and when he hits the Sostenuto (perhaps that's the out of tune you refer to because this method demands a bit of fluctuation on the note) singing the title of the track it's no longer out of this world... it's out of this galaxy! Then that's that note on the "push myself ON" before the guitar lead that is top notch.

That being said I'll say it again: I have no problem with your opinion about Bruce's vocal delivery on this track. But saying that it's bad, misplaced or out of tune? Hell! I don't like the "When the priest comes to read me the last rites.... etc...." part on HBTN but damn it! It's just my personal taste because technically speaking it's top notch. Far from me from calling it a bad performance and out of place just because I don't like it too much. And believe me... TLOTLDR is one of the toughest tracks to sing in Maiden's entire repertoire.

Peace.
 
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Niall Kielt said:
I wouldn't be one for scrutinising anothers List but I have to question this. His best? I think its pish. He sounds out of key at times during the chorus and some of the falsettos are are misplaced. During the verses he sounds clipped and flat. Its like a demo. Don't get me wrong, I like the song and I like the singer but this, for me, is absolutely nowhere near his best.

Also, well played for putting Thin Line in your list. Now thats good Dickinson
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vocally, his best to me are songs like Infinite Dreams, The Man of Sorrows (TBOS), The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Revelations, Stranger in a Strange Land, etc.

Loneliness is a very solid song and gave me chills first time I heard it. I rewound my cassette tape to listen to it again.
 
SirRobbins said:
vocally, his best to me are songs like Infinite Dreams, The Man of Sorrows (TBOS), The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Revelations, Stranger in a Strange Land, etc.

Loneliness is a very solid song and gave me chills first time I heard it. I rewound my cassette tape to listen to it again.
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IMO Infinite Dreams is one of Dickinson's top vocal performances.
If I had to pick a bunch of songs I would consider to be Bruce's best vocal lines It would be something like this:

Children Of The Damned
Hallowed Be Thy Name
The Number Of The Beast
Revelations
Aces High
Caught Somewhere In Time
Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner
Heaven Can Wait
Sea Of Madness
Infinite Dreams
The Evil That Men Do
Lord Of The Flies (live version) - Bruce's voice is already a bit worn out but those upper octaves... ouch!
 
Crimson Idol said:
IIRC there's a quote from Nicko somewhere saying he won't play if they don't play Hallowed, so that's safe ;)
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...so I can assume one thing the AMOLAD, Maiden Englad, 2nd leg of The Book Of Souls tours showed us is that Nicko has an identical twin brother equally skilled in druming :D
 
Hallowed Be Thy Name
2 Minutes To Midnight
Powerslave
Be Quick Or Be Dead
Phantom Of The Opera
Wasted Years
Run to the Hills
Dance of Death
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Prisoner
 
Ah you mean A Matter Of Life And Death... I thought you were talking about The Book Of Souls (where they ditched it and tears of a clown for the great unknown and wrathchild). You're right... Funny: I could swear that the songs they played during that tour that weren't taken from AMOLAD were Fear Of The Dark, Number Of The Beast, Iron Maiden, 2 Minutes and The Evil That Men Do. It turns out they didn't play TNOTB but HBTN. And I wasn't even counting with A Matter Of The Beast Tour (25 years) where they played COTD, HBTN, TNOTB and RTTH. But even so they skiped it during two tours... So it's not impossible to happen this next tour.
 
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