Post by bigfish on Jun 24, 2009 5:37:01 GMT -5
Only got 2 bucks? Skip dinner on the value menu and get yourself the one RockBand DLC that everyone should have! I will be posting a weekly editorial highlighting the weeks biggest catch!
This Week - The cop out!
I am a little late getting to this due to my family obligations(they came for their annual visit), so I am going to forego my typical format of selecting my pick and giving an instrument by instrument breakdown of why. I'm not using my family as an excuse, because with this pak I think i would have went this way anyway. Here is why...
I was a huge, Maiden fan back in the 80's, but honestly haven't listened to many of these songs in a long time. I am glad to have them. That being said, listening to the songs they are all quite different. Unfortunately they all feel all too similar while playing them.
The bass is very triplet heavy, and in some of the live tracks doing things that is just plain unintelligible.
The guitar always has some blistering solo, and long drawn out chords through the chorus.
The vocals almost always have long drawn out, high pitched choruses, waking the nighbors and alerting local packs of dogs to your presence.
The drums are fast and challenging to true experts, but unplayable to most others, as there is always some kind of technical wankery going on.
To sum it up, as much as I love the music, i didn't find any of the tracks particularly FUN to play all around. Asking myself to choose the best one to play on a regular basis would be the equivalent of laying out a dozen rusty kitchen utensils and choosing which one to jam in my eye. The answer in both situations is obvious: the shortest one. But that's just taking the easy way out. I would almost always choose the melon baller, if only because it would make for a better story later.
Furthermore...Potential buyers of songs from this pak will likely be broken down into 5 categories.
1) Maiden haters who won't buy any of it, regardless of quality. They will miss out on some great music.
2) Maiden fanboys who will buy all of it, regardless of quality. They are going to have some of their favorite songs ruined by having to play them.
3) Rockband fanboys(guilty as charged) who will buy whatever is thrown at them, regardless of quality. We will be at the mercy of our vocalist who pick them as payback for making him sing Bathwater.
4) Selective spenders who can't go a week without buying something... anything... to get their fix, regardless of quality. They will be sad they didn't go for the most recent Little Big Planet costume Pak.
5) 80's Metal posers who will pick and choose a couple Maiden songs(regardless of quality) that they are familiar with just to look cool to their stupid 80's metal poser friends. Sadly, the only winners here. These guys will get the few songs they love enough to actually want to muddle through them. Yes, in RockBand, too much Maiden can be a bad thing, but these guys will have just enough.
In the end the choice comes down to this. Which one Iron Maiden song do you feel is badass enough to make you want to play it, muddle through it over and over, and get only minimally progressively better each time?
For me...
Aces High
Enough Said.
Hope you enjoyed last weeks edition of the $2 catch of the week. I will be updating with this weeks pick soon. Amy Lee or Spinal Tap. I'd rather wake up on fire and get put out with a bag of nickels. Remember mileage may vary per user, all opinions welcome. Please discuss.
This Week - The cop out!
I am a little late getting to this due to my family obligations(they came for their annual visit), so I am going to forego my typical format of selecting my pick and giving an instrument by instrument breakdown of why. I'm not using my family as an excuse, because with this pak I think i would have went this way anyway. Here is why...
I was a huge, Maiden fan back in the 80's, but honestly haven't listened to many of these songs in a long time. I am glad to have them. That being said, listening to the songs they are all quite different. Unfortunately they all feel all too similar while playing them.
The bass is very triplet heavy, and in some of the live tracks doing things that is just plain unintelligible.
The guitar always has some blistering solo, and long drawn out chords through the chorus.
The vocals almost always have long drawn out, high pitched choruses, waking the nighbors and alerting local packs of dogs to your presence.
The drums are fast and challenging to true experts, but unplayable to most others, as there is always some kind of technical wankery going on.
To sum it up, as much as I love the music, i didn't find any of the tracks particularly FUN to play all around. Asking myself to choose the best one to play on a regular basis would be the equivalent of laying out a dozen rusty kitchen utensils and choosing which one to jam in my eye. The answer in both situations is obvious: the shortest one. But that's just taking the easy way out. I would almost always choose the melon baller, if only because it would make for a better story later.
Furthermore...Potential buyers of songs from this pak will likely be broken down into 5 categories.
1) Maiden haters who won't buy any of it, regardless of quality. They will miss out on some great music.
2) Maiden fanboys who will buy all of it, regardless of quality. They are going to have some of their favorite songs ruined by having to play them.
3) Rockband fanboys(guilty as charged) who will buy whatever is thrown at them, regardless of quality. We will be at the mercy of our vocalist who pick them as payback for making him sing Bathwater.
4) Selective spenders who can't go a week without buying something... anything... to get their fix, regardless of quality. They will be sad they didn't go for the most recent Little Big Planet costume Pak.
5) 80's Metal posers who will pick and choose a couple Maiden songs(regardless of quality) that they are familiar with just to look cool to their stupid 80's metal poser friends. Sadly, the only winners here. These guys will get the few songs they love enough to actually want to muddle through them. Yes, in RockBand, too much Maiden can be a bad thing, but these guys will have just enough.
In the end the choice comes down to this. Which one Iron Maiden song do you feel is badass enough to make you want to play it, muddle through it over and over, and get only minimally progressively better each time?
For me...
Aces High
Enough Said.
Hope you enjoyed last weeks edition of the $2 catch of the week. I will be updating with this weeks pick soon. Amy Lee or Spinal Tap. I'd rather wake up on fire and get put out with a bag of nickels. Remember mileage may vary per user, all opinions welcome. Please discuss.