Blaze Bayley

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ex bandmate showing up for a one off to probably play 1 or 2 songs is quite a bit different than being an opener on a tour.
 
I think it really comes down to .. how many people were really wanting/looking forward to a Blaze Bayley solo effort? I think that number was quite low, which is what he sold. His name did not really cover much weight, he would have been better off reforming Wolfsbane or creating some new band (not with his name on it). Maybe you could point to a thing here or there that might have promoted it more, but really what label was going to invest heavily in him? Like I said, I think he unfairly got too much blame for Maiden's downfall during his tenure, but he had that tag and honestly, I think there are many Maiden fans like me that can point to good songs on those albums, but Blaze's vocals are not really a big draw. If you like them .. cool, to each his own.

Bruce did not get massive (nowhere near Maiden-level) promotion and he was held in much higher regard.
 
Forostar said:
I'd say Blood and Belief contains his best vocal performance of all records he ever sang on. And the sound of the album and most of the songs are excellent. One but best Blaze album, at times even the best.

Hardly anyone talks about it. Very weird. Maybe it's overlooked out here.
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I find that to be true--when I think of the best Blaze albums, I usually think of the first two. Then I gave this one a listen again recently, and it's easily as solid of a release as either Silicon Messiah or Tenth Dimension.
 
Forostar said:
I'd say Blood and Belief contains his best vocal performance of all records he ever sang on. And the sound of the album and most of the songs are excellent. One but best Blaze album, at times even the best.

Hardly anyone talks about it. Very weird. Maybe it's overlooked out here.
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Well, how much talk about the Blaze albums do you get here at all? It's usually about a new one when it comes out and that's it. I can't remember much talk about Tenth Dimension either.
 
bearfan said:
I think it really comes down to .. how many people were really wanting/looking forward to a Blaze Bayley solo effort? I think that number was quite low, which is what he sold. His name did not really cover much weight, he would have been better off reforming Wolfsbane or creating some new band (not with his name on it). Maybe you could point to a thing here or there that might have promoted it more, but really what label was going to invest heavily in him? Like I said, I think he unfairly got too much blame for Maiden's downfall during his tenure, but he had that tag and honestly, I think there are many Maiden fans like me that can point to good songs on those albums, but Blaze's vocals are not really a big draw. If you like them .. cool, to each his own.

Bruce did not get massive (nowhere near Maiden-level) promotion and he was held in much higher regard.
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Didn't know about his plans. I saw his Sillicon Messiah CD on the shelves, summer 2000 (it might have been year after). I got it and was really really pleased.
The next album, not so much good for me. Afterwards I stopped following.

I might relisten all records with the original line up. They were really good. I've got a rare pro shot bootleg from the original tour on my YT channel, they really rocked. When I watched live in poland, some member was really bad (guitarist or drummer AFAIR...).

In any case, I had inerest in his career right on the beginning but it faded away. In my opinion, if he was supported by his mgmt properly it would come out better for efforts after Sillicon Messiah. Yes, in general opinion he's just an ex Maiden voice with a bit of solo career, like Paul Di'anno, but that's not how it started and not what Blaze expected to happen and certainly not the full potential of the original lineup.
 
Perun said:
Well, how much talk about the Blaze albums do you get here at all? It's usually about a new one when it comes out and that's it. I can't remember much talk about Tenth Dimension either.
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I thought Tenth Dimension is sometimes mentioned in the same sentence with the debut. Like LC did. Not a huge difference in attention perhaps, but I'd say Blood and Belief is so good that it should be bought and worshipped to the death by every Maiden fan.
 
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Forostar said:
I thought Tenth Dimension is sometimes mentioned in the same sentence with the debut. Like LC did. Not a huge difference in attention perhaps, but I'd say Blood and Belief is so good that it should be bought and worshipped to death by every Maiden fan.
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Think I listened to those once each when they came out and really cannot recall a single song on either. I'll give them another shot this afternoon and see if I'll be worshiping it :)
 
bearfan said:
Think I listened to those once each when they came out and really cannot recall a single song on either. I'll give them another shot this afternoon and see if I'll be worshiping it :)
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If you liked Silicon Messiah then I'll think you will propably enjoy the title track, Leap of Faith, The Truth Is Revealed/Meant to Be and Speed of Light on Tenth Dimension.

Blood and Belief maybe take some time to appreciate (at least it was that way for me), but it has since become the Blaze album that I listen to the most frequently.

Have anyone here listened to Rise to Addiction btw?

On the first E.P from 2005 it was nearly BLAZE without Blaze. :p
H Armstrong - Vocals
Steve Wray - Guitar
John Slater - Guitar
Rob Naylor - Bass
Ben Calvert - Drums
Produced by Andy Sneap (he also worked on all BLAZE releases).

In the beginning I think that they were going to have Jeff Singer on drums as well, but he joined Paradise Lost before they recorded anything.
 
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Yeah, I listened to Rise to Addiction a lot back in the day. I was really hoping something would come out of that.
 
Tonight, for the first time since June 2004 (the third time I saw him after Maiden), when Steve Wray was still in the band(!), I am going to see Blaze.
In Leiden! I am looking forward to it. The opening act is a local Iron Maiden tribute band.

@Perun do you remember some (funny sounding) singer in Halford doing some guest singing in Run to the Hills, when we saw that German tribute band? I think it's the singer from this Leiden tribute band that I'll see tonight hehe.
edit: (ah, I just saw that the band might have a new singer lately. I'll see what happens and will report later on!)
 
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Yes, and I'm still convinced he looked really familiar to me.
Have fun, mate!
 
Perun said:
Yes, and I'm still convinced he looked really familiar to me.
Have fun, mate!
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It was him indeed. :D I didn't arrive in time to see the full set but I thought he delivered very nice vocals in Wasted Years. The band wasn't that great (especially the bass player who did all the accents wrong, or better: left out the accents, very flat, constant bass playing) but it was a nice warm-up.

Then Blaze. Well, he really had a solid band this time. I was impressed by guitarist Chris Appleton, who not only delivered fantastic riffing, but also did the best solos I've heard since Blaze's first line-up. In short: the best man in his live band in more than a decade. Looking at the credits, he was also an important writer for the album. I bought the album at the show, but more about that later. The rest of the band was very good as well. Perhaps the drummer is the least stable (made a few little mistakes in the fastest songs) but that was hardly notable. The bass player was solid as well. I noticed he had Blaze Bayley (as an autograph) tattooed on his upper arm and wondered if this could mean that Blaze will have a steady line-up again.

I certainly hope so. Because it was very impressive. Blaze himself was focused, not overly enthousiastic as I saw him the last time in 2004. He still said "hey, hey" a lot of times, but didn't lean on people their shoulders. In fact, he didn't touch anyone of the audience during the entire gig. At the end he did, because he was at the merch where everybody could have a little chat, take a pic or get an autograph.

I liked the new songs a lot. I had only heard two before, but was very pleased with the others. Blaze introduced them, explained their meaning and related to the audience. This way, the album became a red thread throughout the set, mixed up with older material. During the first half of the gig, only the first row of people behaved enthousiastic, but later more people got into it. When that happened, Blaze smiled more often and the excitement in the audience didn't decrease anymore. The house was quite full, but not everybody participated. I was glad that this changed somewhat.

The songs I remember (not in order of appearance!) with some commentary:
- Songs from new album (5 I think)
- Ghost in the Machine, Silicon Messiah, Identity, Stare at the Sun
- Kill and Destroy
- Robot
- Watching the Night Sky
- drumsolo
- Fear of the Dark(!), Man on the Edge, Virus, Futureal
- Manhunt

Manhunt was a spectacle. First of all: great track. Second: there was this funny piece of acting, in which the guitarist and bassist took over the spotlight by playing each others instruments together (holding one hand on the snares of the other. In this song the guitarist smiled way more and behaved wilder. Blaze acted as if he was jealous and couldn't get to the front anymore. Very amusing!

Fear of the Dark was a surprise! The chorus was fast and I like it that way. Virus was the highlight of the set. Fantastic to finally witness this masterpiece.

Man on the Edge was the final song of the set. In this one, the audience moved the most! Some sort of pit formed, without slamming (just pogoing). ;)

This was the first time I saw Blaze with just one guitarist. Well, it didn't matter really. What I liked about Chris Appleton (who's facial expression reminded me of Nush!) was that he riffed so cool and tight. It gave an Iced Earthish touch to the sound. I heard that especially in some new songs.

The new album is really good. Perhaps one or two tracks need to grow more, but this record has strong melodies. The atmosphere, strengthened by the concept works well. There's one song with stunning acoustic guitar playing by Thomas Zwijssen (who had a writing credit as well).

I'll end with: If he comes near (or not near): don't miss Blaze, go see this band, go see the new songs, go see the old stuff!

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Glad you had a good time, Foro! Sounds like a blast. If Blaze ever toured at a pub near me in the states, I'd be there in a second (even though I don't really know his solo material beyond Silicon Messiah).

Here's an interview with the BBC from last month and some of the new songs done acoustically towards the end:
 
Thanks Knick! Excellent, I am going to watch it now. While I certainly encourage you to listen to more Blaze albums I would not say that you can't go to a Blaze gig if you know only one album. This man had material that is good enough to experience in a live setting. E.g. I had that yesterday with some of the new songs.

edit: Damn, that was good!
 
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Glad you had fun, I'd go see him if he came anywhere near me for a regular show (not the acoustic deal). Think he did the US 4 years or so ago ... I thought about going to San Antonio to see him, but it just did not work out ... IIRC he was playing there around Thanksgiving week and we had family in.
 
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