MorenoB

@47: Don't say nonsense! The official Critique (with rare exceptions) has been trashing the Maiden since 1986, and for goodness' sake, let's not change history please.

@Iside and Stoney: first thing: this collection can also be downloaded for free from their site, second thing: I explain the meaning in post 36, it doesn't seem hard to understand.

@47: I may not be a drummer, but I know some very good ones who adore Nicko McBrain and the former Clive Burr, and frankly at this point I prefer to believe them rather than someone who fills their mouth with epithets like "shitty band." (I know incredibly talented musicians who have never used such terms, not even for artists they can’t stand.) My analysis may be Z-list psychology, but yours is a snooty attitude. You have a problem, it’s obvious, and I’ve demonstrated it to you. You don’t know a damn thing about Maiden, their history, or the (wonderful) relationship they have with their fans, but for some reason (I repeat, a preposterous one: an objective matter) their success gnaws at you. If you’re happy to keep playing the bitter person for a long time, that’s not my problem, only yours. I’ve brought facts to support my thesis; you keep scrambling for excuses by sharing purely subjective speculative thoughts (and it would be fine, I repeat, no problem if you don’t like Maiden; the problem is your lack of respect for other people's tastes) that you mistake for universal truths. Let me tell you one thing: they aren’t. Mine aren’t either, but I’m not saying that Maiden is the best band in the world; I’m saying that I like them. You claim they are overrated: I counter by saying that you can’t prove it; the channels they’ve used have only reached people who are suitable to appreciate their expressiveness. You say they steal space from younger and more interesting realities: I counter by saying the same thing; Maiden operates on a channel suitable only for their fans, and these fans promote them through word of mouth. Some people like them, many others do not, but it’s not the Maiden fans who would enrich the attendance in other realities (aside from sporadic cases like myself). Your argument doesn’t even apply to real mass phenomena because even those have a clear target. You say they are emotionally empty: I reply that you can’t know what others seek from music and that what is empty for you isn’t for many others. You bring up technical proficiency: I respond that honestly, I couldn’t care less about technique, but I could also tell you that there are many incredibly skilled musicians ready to disagree with you. You see, all that’s left for you is your blind disdain.

And anyway, if Music, which should be a light topic and pure joyful sharing, leads you to have feelings like hate, it means you have serious issues, my boy; I would think about it. The fact that on this site a little respect and feelings of pure anger reign supreme doesn’t mean that it’s normal, but rather that there’s something wrong here. Still, that doesn’t justify some of your epithets which frankly are completely out of place.

I'm sorry 47, but your points are rather superficial; the fact that Maiden doesn't evoke emotions in you might be because you're unable to grasp them, not because they don't exist. You should ask yourself that before making sweeping generalizations. The same goes for the idea of overrating; I still do not understand who gave you the right to deem something irrelevant just because you don't like it. As for the argument that they take space away from others, honestly, a band that has zero presence in mainstream media and relies solely on the affection of its fans doesn't seem to be stealing anyone's spotlight. Instead, we should be asking whether metal (or other genres) has produced realities that can compete with what the Maiden have built over the last 30 years. Then, excuse me, but you're contradicting yourself: if you believe, as you seem to, that the Maiden audience is ignorant and superficial, you should be happy that they're not attracted to (for you) relevant realities. The truth is that your idiosyncrasy is quite pretentious. What do you care if they trivialize Rock (if that were even true...)? Everyone spends their time as they wish. Yours is a pure and simple inferiority complex. Regards.

exaggerated. But if you were still in demand by the major world festivals at 50, would you stop? Come on, a bit of intellectual honesty would do you good. No polemics and I hope for the last time.

I'm back for a quick visit just to correct the usual (and malicious) inaccuracies that are abundant on this site when it comes to Maiden (it seems that shoveling shit is something everyone can do; with good reason, it’s evidently not in the DNA of the average detractor, at least regarding Harris & Co.). I’ll skip the usual puns in the style of Rivoli or Niibio because by now it's understood that they are merely provocations, and I’ll also ignore the comments from those who, to use certain phrases like "shitty dwarf," evidently display a bitterness stemming from an obvious inferiority complex (one day you'll explain to me how something that should be as light as music can lead to such barbarity and lack of respect, but for now, I’m not interested in that), and instead focus on the point of "commercial operation."

Well, if the reviewer and many commentators had truly informed themselves about the "Best Of" in question, they would know that it is entirely downloadable for free from the Band's website (http://www.ironmaiden.com/try/), including the artwork (http://www.ironmaiden.com/index.php?categoryid=8&p2_articleid=890), therefore saying something like "This collection, apart from the usual cash grab by Iron to make piles of money" in the review or other comments of the same tenor is completely out of place.

Now, if there were a minimal level of objectivity (on the facts, not on tastes, which are subjective by definition; therefore, if 1s were only for them, they would even be acceptable, but the problem is that it’s evident they come for reasons that go beyond music), but on this site, it's extremely difficult to obtain it, it would immediately stand out that the Maids really don’t care about selling one more or one less album at the state of things, to use one of the annoying phrases by Woodcock, "like the continuous crying of the annoying baby of my neighbors," but that their real earnings come from the live dimension (which, by the way, considering the scenic complexity of their shows, is also very costly, and if you look at the average ticket price for one of their concerts and compare it to others with significantly smaller budgets, you can see it's evidently not that important for them to overcharge even for that).

Accepted this truth, the release of such operations becomes understandable: it is promotional, justified by the fact that they don’t get played on national radio and TV and based on enormous self-produced efforts (I remember that Iron have been self-producing everything for at least 15 years with Iron Maiden Hdg, from albums to tours, and EMI practically serves only them during the distribution phase). Hence the choice to pair every tour with a record or video release, which can sometimes be a new album, at other times a compilation, and the next time a live recording. In this case, we’re talking about a compilation that, I repeat, can also be found for free on the band's own site, but even for those who, like myself, want the physical version for collectors' purposes, on the other hand, given the possibility of choice, it is a comprehensible way to round off. I would like to remind you that in previous historical releases, the material was so abundant (including now-unfindable gems) and at a fairly affordable price (the latest reissue of "Live After Death" cost around 15 euros and had more than three hours of interviews, unreleased live tracks, and other things) that they could be considered more than honest operations, reserved for lovers of complete collections.

Having said all this, I can understand if you don’t like them, I can understand if 110 reviews annoy you; I can understand everything, but using offensive terms towards a group whose only fault is to still fill arenas after 32 years of career (you are not obliged to go see them or listen to their albums, and it doesn't seem to me that the media cover them so much to make them annoying or overexposed) honestly seems exaggerated. But if you at

@Reverse: I think you should listen to "Ocean Rain" by Echo & the Bunnymen. Bye!

P.S. Post 13 of Supersoul in this review, apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so... ;-)

cxazzo I voted for the album by mistake...