Bought this again after last weeks gig. Back in the mists of time I had this on vinyl but got rid years ago. I could only remember the tracks - Be Quick or Be Dead, Afraid to Shoot Strangers and the track that for some reason has many frothing at the mouth, Fear of the Dark. Time has not done this album any favours.
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Tricky one this. I’m thinking, but one man’s shite album is another man’s good one.
And one man’s great band is another man’s shite one.
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Agreed, but that is what makes it interesting.
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I love that album 
It’s a big step up from its predecessor and definitely better than what came next. Afraid to Shoot Strangers (I have this as one of my ring tones! 
), Childhood’s End , Be Quick or Be Dead and From Here to Eternity are all solid tracks, even Wasting Love … only Fear is the Key is a skip… and that’s only side 1. From side 2, I would say only The Apparition is lacking and the album finishes with possibly one of the best title tracks in Maiden’s catalog… an absolute classic!
I make that only 2 tracks out of 12 not worthy (in my opinion). A definite 8.5/10 album for me.
So I’ll offer up this one…
My take … it’s uninspiring, depressing and downright boring. Still to this day I find it unlistenable! I would score it a 2/10 (and that’s for the artwork … which again isn’t great!) 
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And I couldn’t disagree more 
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I do like the artwork. I’ll give it that.
Sometimes being wide awake in the middle of the night has its benefits. Nobody falling out but talking about music. 
Not in the top half of the Fish albums I like but has some great songs on it.
Was it No Prayer For The Dying that came before Fear Of The Dark?
Yes. No Prayer for the Dying was such a letdown after SSOASS. No wonder they omitted it from the current tour… a tour that was promoted as “spanning the nine studio albums from ‘Iron Maiden’ to ‘Fear Of The Dark’ “ … they completely left out number 8. 
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Don’t know how contentious this is, but I hated every second of this album. Tried again recently and still do.
I don’t mind that one … quite like it tbh. A lot of the tracks sound as if they could have been on The Wall to me. The guitar solo on The Fletcher Memorial Home is just superb.
That might be my problem. I think The Wall is massively overrated.
The one thing this thread is already doing is encouraging me to go back and listen to the albums we are talking about.
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Well, I must say that is 46minutes and 16 seconds of my life that I wont get back.
And again, I couldn’t disagree more. Absolutely love The Final Cut
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I was probably being a bit harsh. There are some good moments. I do own it but was listening to it whilst at work. So, not the same listening experience. Like I said before this is encouraging me to revisit albums / listen to different things.
Personally its one of my fav fish albums.
Anything by the new Marillion imho.
The sound to my ears gives me so much pain i can only make a comparison to trying to wade through wet concrete.