Iron Maiden The Blaze Years

[AnnoMundi]

Been listening to the two Maiden/Blaze albums lately, and was thinking those two albums are better and more refreshing than anything they’ve done with Dickinson since Seventh Son.

Man, there are some really good songs on those two albums, would like to hear others opinions on this.

I think they would’ve done better had they continued with Blaze, the Dickinson stuff just got boring and old same sounding after Seventh Son, Blaze brought some new energized feeling to Maiden’s music, just my thoughts today.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I think the The X-Factor and Virtual XI had some really good songs on them, I just wish Blaze sounded better, his vocals a are very rough... but maybe that was deliberate.

I actually like much on the later albums, yes if you took Brave New World, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and The Final Frontier, cut our the crap you could probably get two fantastic albums out of them and one average one! But apart from a few songs I rarely listen to any Maiden except those I've mentioned plus Beast, Piece and Powerslave.

[AnnoMundi]

I think the The X-Factor and Virtual XI had some really good songs on them, I just wish Blaze sounded better, his vocals a are very rough... but maybe that was deliberate.

I actually like much on the later albums, yes if you took Brave New World, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and The Final Frontier, cut our the crap you could probably get two fantastic albums out of them and one average one! But apart from a few songs I rarely listen to any Maiden except those I've mentioned plus Beast, Piece and Powerslave.

Hi Kilo, I think Blaze’s vocals are great, I don’t hear the roughness in his vocals, I think his vocals are very good and fit Maiden perfectly, but thank you for your thoughts in this, it’s good to hear other’s opinions.

[Thelemech]

I must admit I find the Blaze albums to be incredibly weak and boring. Not that big of a fan of the newer
Dickinson albums either but I really like Brave New World and I thought The Book Of Souls was interesting.
There is nothing that can touch those first seven albums IMHO though.
Now I do like some Blaze as a solo artist but I am unfamiliar with the majority of his works.

[Charger]

Well I am a huge fan of Blaze and I do very much enjoy The X Factor and Virtual XI!

In fact The X Factor was my very first Iron Maiden album so it holds a very special place in my heart because of that too. Eventhough my very first Iron Maiden song I ever heard was Losfer Words on midi (!!!) in school back in '97.

Anyways...

There aren't really any weak songs on The X Factor...an incredibly strong album. It is a very dark album, which is probably why I love it so much. Blaze's deeper and more emotional vocal style fits perfectly to that album. Which probably is why they made it like they did. Also Blaze's lyrics have always been fantastic and I have always enjoyed his lyrics much more than Bruce's.
Man On The Edge, Sign Of The Cross, Fortunes Of War, 2 AM, The Edge Of Darkness and my absolute favourite Judgement Of Heaven are all Iron Maiden classics in my book.

Virtual XI was a bit happier sounding album. But that's not a bad thing. In fact that album features Iron Maiden's best ever track The Clansman. Also Futureal, Lightning Strikes Twice, When Two Worlds Collide and The Educated Fool are brilliant to say the least. Angel And The Gambler starts off great and the riffing is fantastic but then Harris went over board with his repetitions (which then continued on and on and on with Brave New World) same for Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger...great song again but would have benefitted from cutting a minute or so. The ballad Como Estais Amigoes is still the most emotional song Iron Maiden has ever done...

There is a lot more of respect for these albums nowadays than there were before. Ofcourse all of the Brucey fan boys hated this albums back then and literally spitted on Blaze (for no reason exept he wasn't Bruce) but now even some of them have started to realise that there actually is some great stuff on these two albums. And I have always given credit to Bruce for actually prefroming these songs live.

As far as Blaze's solo stuff goes that is most certainly worth checking out. His solo stuff beats these two Maiden albums and everything Bruce ever did solo. Mainly because of his incredible lyrical skills. Also Blaze has been able to find good musicians to play with.

Blaze is a great singer in his own right. He just was never Bruce and he never tried to be Bruce. It's the same as it was with Sabbath and Ronnie or Priest and Tim. They were their own voices and used them perfectly...and were hated by the fanboy armies...

[AnnoMundi]

I must admit I find the Blaze albums to be incredibly weak and boring. Not that big of a fan of the newer
Dickinson albums either but I really like Brave New World and I thought The Book Of Souls was interesting.
There is nothing that can touch those first seven albums IMHO though.
Now I do like some Blaze as a solo artist but I am unfamiliar with the majority of his works.

His solo stuff I don’t know, but I think his Maiden work, is quite exciting and full of energy, and he has a great voice.

Both albums are fantastic in my opinion.

[AnnoMundi]

Well I am a huge fan of Blaze and I do very much enjoy The X Factor and Virtual XI!

In fact The X Factor was my very first Iron Maiden album so it holds a very special place in my heart because of that too. Eventhough my very first Iron Maiden song I ever heard was Losfer Words on midi (!!!) in school back in '97.

Anyways...

There aren't really any weak songs on The X Factor...an incredibly strong album. It is a very dark album, which is probably why I love it so much. Blaze's deeper and more emotional vocal style fits perfectly to that album. Which probably is why they made it like they did. Also Blaze's lyrics have always been fantastic and I have always enjoyed his lyrics much more than Bruce's.
Man On The Edge, Sign Of The Cross, Fortunes Of War, 2 AM, The Edge Of Darkness and my absolute favourite Judgement Of Heaven are all Iron Maiden classics in my book.

Virtual XI was a bit happier sounding album. But that's not a bad thing. In fact that album features Iron Maiden's best ever track The Clansman. Also Futureal, Lightning Strikes Twice, When Two Worlds Collide and The Educated Fool are brilliant to say the least. Angel And The Gambler starts off great and the riffing is fantastic but then Harris went over board with his repetitions (which then continued on and on and on with Brave New World) same for Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger...great song again but would have benefitted from cutting a minute or so. The ballad Como Estais Amigoes is still the most emotional song Iron Maiden has ever done...

There is a lot more of respect for these albums nowadays than there were before. Ofcourse all of the Brucey fan boys hated this albums back then and literally spitted on Blaze (for no reason exept he wasn't Bruce) but now even some of them have started to realise that there actually is some great stuff on these two albums. And I have always given credit to Bruce for actually prefroming these songs live.

As far as Blaze's solo stuff goes that is most certainly worth checking out. His solo stuff beats these two Maiden albums and everything Bruce ever did solo. Mainly because of his incredible lyrical skills. Also Blaze has been able to find good musicians to play with.

Blaze is a great singer in his own right. He just was never Bruce and he never tried to be Bruce. It's the same as it was with Sabbath and Ronnie or Priest and Tim. They were their own voices and used them perfectly...and were hated by the fanboy armies...

I’m glad you feel the same way about Blaze as I do Charger, he is very underrated and I hate fanboys.

[Jack the Stripper]

OID 

[AnnoMundi]

OID 

Hi Jack  what is oid? That have something to do with Blaze Bayley?

[Vyn]

I haven't given it any thought, but I don't recall ever having listened to anything that had Blaze on it. So I can't really comment.

I think Jack was just Offering Instructional Direction 

[Charger]

OID 

Hi Jack  what is oid? That have something to do with Blaze Bayley?

He was one of the biggest fanboys ever on the BSO forum...

[AnnoMundi]

I haven't given it any thought, but I don't recall ever having listened to anything that had Blaze on it. So I can't really comment.

I think Jack was just Offering Instructional Direction 

You should give it a try Vyn, I think they might have the albums on YouTube, just listen tot he entire albums when you get a chance, I'd love to hear your opinion.

I don't get the instructional direction, sorry Vyn.

[AnnoMundi]

OID 

Hi Jack  what is oid? That have something to do with Blaze Bayley?

He was one of the biggest fanboys ever on the BSO forum...

Oh I get it now, well fanboys are never good, they just stick to one era of the band and don't give the others a try.

Sabbath is a good example, there are those who hate the Dio era just because it's not Ozzy on those albums, and we all know here that Sabbath has good albums from all the eras from Ozzy to Martin.

I'll use another good example, Deep Purple, I like their material with the original singer Rod Evans, David Coverdale, Glen Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner, but my favorite would be the Gillan era, but I still enjoy the other eras too.

I like all the eras of Maiden, just not the stuff Bruce did after Seventh, but then again I have listened to exactly everything after Seventh Son, just stop buying the albums up till No Prayer For The Dying and Fear Of The Dark and started buying them again on The X Factor and Virtual XI, the two albums after Seventh with Bruce just got boring and uninspired.

Fanboys loose out on a lot being fanboys.

[Charger]

Fanboys loose out on a lot being fanboys.

That is quite true indeed. And the thing is usually they don't even bother listening to the other stuff so they only form their opinions on the fact that it's not Ozzy or Brucey or Rob or whoever singing...and that's ridiculous to say the least.

Oh and OID wasn't that kind of a fanboy...he was everything sabbath fanboy...and nothing else mattered to him...only Sabbath.

[AnnoMundi]

Fanboys loose out on a lot being fanboys.

That is quite true indeed. And the thing is usually they don't even bother listening to the other stuff so they only form their opinions on the fact that it's not Ozzy or Brucey or Rob or whoever singing...and that's ridiculous to say the least.

Oh and OID wasn't that kind of a fanboy...he was everything sabbath fanboy...and nothing else mattered to him...only Sabbath.

That is ridiculous, if the music is good is what matters, yeah I might have a preference for a singer like I do Dio, but I would not stop listening to the Ozzy Sabbath stuff because it’s not Dio singing.

So this guy just listened to Sabbath and nothing else? Holy shit that’s even a worse fan boy!