Yes. 100%. He was a great choice (and easily the best one they could make at the time). And a very, very nice guy. Everyone disses him, but they're wrong. At the time (1993-1999) every band of that genre was suffering in the post Nirvana fallout and the natural career lull - plenty of bands that rose at the same time (The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, U2) were falling out of artistic and commercial favour, and Maiden were no exception. But the albums remain. And I love them. I think the way they treated Blaze was harsh. The idea that, a few years later, he was working minimum wage in factories when he was having difficulties maintaining an income from his band is really unjust. I wish Maiden would ditch all the nostalgia touring and do a two vocalist tour with Blaze solo supporting, and Blaze fronting a 30 minute Maiden set before Bruce does his vocals. But of course, even if we could have gigs, that would never happen.
Blaze got the crap end of that deal. But hard not to argue that the material Harris was coming up with was largely second-rate. Kind of similar to Gary Cherone and Ray Wilson's 90's adventures...all situations where they weren't involved in much of the writing, and ended up getting blamed for subpar albums.
itd be cool to have Blaze open a Maiden tour with his own band, at least. Certainly better than one of Steve’s kids’ bands or something.
I would disagree to some point. I had X Factor on today and there are some great tunes on it. Shortened down to 45 min (it's a long one ) it's a better album. Anyway , I like the Blaze records.
Thanks for all your comments guys and I’m glad so many of you liked the Blaze era, he did deserve so much more, I understand a fan will always like the originals or in this the Mach II lineup, but those two Blaze albums are classic in my book.
its not all bad. But yeah, there’s maybe a 40 minute album in there, but the whole thing just feels interminable. I don’t think anyone could argue though, that the writing was as good as the previous decade. At a moment when Harris/Maiden needed to be upping their writing to sell a new singer.
Love The X Factor, a fine album. Blaze seems to get all manner of grief for his tenure in Maiden. Entirely unfair, not least for two reasons. Bruce left of his of volition. Blaze didn't arrive and turf him out. Anyone following in Bruce's steps would have had a hard job, not least singing Maiden's back catalogue live. That Blaze stepped up at all to what must have been a thankless task from the start is to his credit. The main songwriting base had shrunk to just Steve by the time Blaze arrived. From Number of the Beast to Seventh Son, the band has Steve, Bruce and Adrian as songwriters, individually and in combination. There was a drop off when Adrian left - not only was there one less for Steve & Bruce to collaborate with, they had to make up the difference. Some individual Bruce & Steve tracks wound up being recorded that might well not have been had Adrian been around with his own material. By The X Factor, the song writing burden was Steve's alone. And it showed (even though I still love the album). By the time of Virtual IX, the burden was too much, and we got the Angel & the Gambler. But this was hardly Blaze's fault. Futureal & The Clansman are both excellent and I'm glad, as with Sign of the Cross & Lord of the Flies, that they've put in reunion era setlist appearances. As much as Bruce's voice was a welcome return afterwards, by far the biggest factor was Bruce & Adrian returning to the songwriting fold. I'd love to have seen the History Of... DVD series continue in the same vein as Early Days & LAD. The hastily filmed interviews on tour for the Maiden England DVD history doc paled in comparison with the in depth, everyone interviewed (current band member or not) approach of the earlier docs. Whilst I can understand the band not being too keen to revisit their fracturing and splitting in the 90s, I was looking forward to an honest assessment of Janick's arrival/Adrian's departure, Bruce's departure and hearing from Blaze on his tenure. After Paul was given a fair shake in the first history doc, it does feel as though Blaze's era has been shortchanged (TXF & VXI songs done live since excepted).
No. Heard them but I've not bought them like I have all the rest. Maiden without Dickinson or Di'Anno singing is like Queen without Fred. Saw them on the Book Of Souls tour in Brum. Had a spare ticket because a mate couldn't go. So one of my step-sons mates went. He was about 18 then. Never listened to them before and he thought it was a great night.
The X Factor is pretty good, Virtual XI not so much. They should have tuned down and/or written songs more suited to his voice. Having someone else than Steve Harris in the producer chair might have helped as well. His singing on his first solo album (Silicon Messiah) is so much better than on the Maiden albums.
It always was going to be a complicated situation for Blaze because unlike Ripper Owens he didn't come from a tribute band. Every time I see somebody wearing an "X Factour" or "Virtual XI tour" shirt at a Maiden gig I can't help but smiling at them. Not that there are too many doing it but one or two usually are there.
There were a lot of issues people already mentioned with the state of music at the time, the songwriting, the albums are too long. But he was a really boring choice... there's not a lot of character in his voice compared to the other two singers, didn't have the range they had either. When Bruce sings the Blaze songs live, they are a million times better.
I like both albums and I'd concur that The X Factor is the better of the two. Blaze is a fine singer and did Maiden proud while he was keeping Bruce's seat warm.
Don’t fall on me, just saying how i felt at the time. 1; X Factor, some really cool tracks on that one. However even on first hearing i had problems accepting Blazes pitch. Too many times where my brain tried to will him 1/4 step up or down so he would be in tune. I also (strangely enough) had problems with his pronounciation. The sign of the cråååååås (the last word sung slightly flat). But they tried to do something new and i remember respecting the band very much for that. 2; i was thinking: by the next album they will have the formula down to work much better. 3; then comes Virtual XI, sounding, to me (!) completely lackluster. I thought “if this was a recording by a band shopping for a record deal, they would not even even have been considered. That band, as appears on VXI, would have been refused on first listen”.
Good albums, but surely the first singer to be chosen because at a distance he resembled the last one.....
You loved him. That is all that matters. Yes screw what i say. Being serious here. Don’t let anybody take anything away from the music you love.
I thought the X Factor was a fine effort (currently waiting on the Japan cd with the three bonus tracks), ‘The Clansman’ aside I have absolutely no time for Virtual XI. From the clips I’ve seen of him live, he looked scared on stage with Maiden, definitely out of his comfort zone - like the job was too big for him. A hell-of-nice guy no doubt but IMO not the right fit for Iron Maiden.
100%. Blaze is 100% real, authentic, and there were very, very few people who loved/love Maiden as much as he did then. He was a great choice, and a lovely person, who has devoted his life to metal, and gave his all at no small cost to himself. Nobody tried harder than he did. Being in Maiden wasn't a job to Blaze, it was a passion, and he did a great job with what he had. Time has been unkind to him, and time was unkind in 1995-1999 to almost every band that was twenty years old then, as fans grew up, grew out, grew away from the bands of their childhood. I'm to blame for that as much as anyone else, I thought I didn't like Iron Maiden in 1995, and what I now realised is that I associated the band so much with my being 18 that when I was 24 I was trying to lose all the baggage of the past, without realising that that baggage, that music, kept me alive and that music stayed in my life when everything else died, or left, or just forgot to stay. Blaze was the right man for the band and what even the band themselves didn't really grasp was they would have hit the skids commercially even if Bruce has stayed in the band then: Blaze became a scapegoat for things that simply were not his fault.
Although I tend to rank Virtual XI as my least favorite Maiden album, with The X Factor right behind it, I don't think either one are bad albums. I still listen to and enjoy them from time to time, and I really like some of the live tracks from that era with Blaze on vocals. I'm actually glad the band didn't go the Judas Priest or Journey route and try to get a Bruce sound-alike at that time. Those albums have their own unique sound, and I'd much rather have them than the band calling it quits after Bruce left. And who knows, if they had folded back then, we may never have gotten the Bruce/Adrian 2.0 version of the band.
