Blaze Bayley

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I read an interesting BNW review on Metal Archives recently, by someone named "kluseba". He wrote the following:

"“Brave New World” has always been a mixed bag for me. Many songs on the album were still written with Blaze Bayley in the band. If I take into consideration how great Blaze Bayley’s first solo record “Silicon Messiah” turned out to be, I would have adored listening to a record that mixes the best tracks from that solo release and this comeback album with new old members Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith in the band. Most fans may disagree but I think a potential third record with Blaze Bayley would have been the better possibility.

As strange as it may sound, Blaze Bayley’s darker, very emotional and more grounded vocals would have fit better than Bruce Dickinson’s more expressive, high-pitched and theatrical tones on most songs of the record. A good example would be the melancholic ballade "Blood Brothers" that sounds a little bit too epic for a thoughtful swansong dedicated to Steve Harris' late father. "Dream of Mirrors" is a progressive metal song with a cumbersome atmosphere that could have found its righteous place on the previous release and would have been the best song on that album. I'm really imagining Blaze Bayley's darker and more emotional vocals each time I hear the song and think Bruce Dickinson's vocals sound too forced and strained on this track. Overall, this new record feels as if two worlds collided: the slower, epic and emotional tracks written in cooperation with Blaze Bayley and the more traditional, straighter and faster songs developed with Bruce Dickinson. These two sides don't always fusion well. While Bruce Dickinson performs truly well on the tracks he was involved in, he doesn’t manage to add that certain human and yet magic touch to the songs written without him in the band."

I'm not saying I 100 % agree... but there's something to consider.
 
Definitely. Brave New World never actually quite clicked with me.
 
I would like to hear Blaze singing more BNW songs.

That said, Bruce's voice is refuckingsplendent on that album. It gives me chills how good he sounds. Which clearly he means he was the man for the job.
 
I agree Bruce sounds great on the album... but some of the songs were clearly written with Blaze in mind and no-one is going to convince me Bruce didn't hear at least some of the demos beforehand, because for example in the second verse of Dream of Mirrors he sounds he's trying to sing it a bit Blaze-like (which I only really noticed when I last listened to the album ... and then I read the review).

I'm not saying I agree with the review wholeheartedly, because Bruce is in a really good shape there and the album's a classic as it is... It's just that I agree some of the songs could have been more emotional for me when sung by Blaze, especially DoM and BB. It's similar to how I feel Blaze would sound great in SSoaSS (the song), cause Bruce sounds...very different there (and SSoaSS could not have been written with Blaze in mind, so it's not just that).
 
I would love to hear Blaze singing the whole BNW album. I know it would never happen but I think it would be pretty cool for him to record the whole album, it would simply be a curiosity and companion piece to the original as whilst I do agree blazes voice would have fit many songs on BNW and obviously some were written with him in mind Bruce is simply outstanding.

I actually think BNW could be the best I've ever heard Bruce sound on record. His voice was in great shape and the production job on BNW is the best that we have had on the reunion albums.

As another curiosity I'd love to hear re recorded versions of X-factor and virtual XI with Bruce. Again it's a pipe dream as the band would never do it but just as a companion to the original albums.

Changing the subject further I wish maiden played more blaze era songs live. They just seem to play it far too safe with set lists these days. I know they always play a lot of new tunes from current albums but when they dip into the past I just don't see a lot of variety. One of the reasons I love rock in rio so much is that Bruce sounds awesome on sign of the cross and the clansman. futureal is another classic that Bruce sounds good on as is man on the edge so I wish they would play these more often.
 
Apparently Blaze played Prince's Purple Rain in Hamburg, says an update with photo of this performance on his Facebook, a few minutes ago.
Cover of Purple Rain tonight in Hamburg #prince
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A whole recent concert! Klub Muzyczny Liverpool in Wrocław, Poland.
Enjoy, and behold this awesome guitar work! This band deserves a place on a bigger stage of a big festival. It's all there, the performance, the songs.
 
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Why Blaze isn't playing to more people absolutely astounds me. He puts so much into every performance, he deserves bigger audiences.

He really should be booked onto a festival like Download or Bloodstock, here in the UK.
 
THESEVENTHMARINER said:
Why Blaze isn't playing to more people absolutely astounds me. He puts so much into every performance, he deserves bigger audiences.

He really should be booked onto a festival like Download or Bloodstock, here in the UK.
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Seconded. Saw him around a month ago and he just killed it as if he was performing to thousands of people in front of an actual crowd of 100.
 
Saw Blaze yesterday with Thomas Zwijsen. We arrived late and probably have missed two or three songs.
Blaze was very passionate and Thomas can sound as if you hear two guitarists.

Maiden songs included:
- Judgement of Heaven (we arrived late, so I only arrived in the last minute :/ )
- Como Estais Amigoes
- Man on the Edge
- The Clansman

Unfortunately, the new Nylon Maiden album (double CD) wasn't out yet. I bought an older album instead.
 
Sounds like an awesome gig, Foro. Glad you made it! I'd love to see Blaze and Thomas, maybe one day they'll make it to the States (or I'll make it over there).
 
Interesting interview from Blaze and his idea of Maiden gig with all 3 singers (that part starts at 20:00).

Here's an interview intercept:

"What I really want to happen — and a lot of fans ask me about this — is a MAIDEN gig, like a one-off, where it's the three singers [all going up on stage]," he said (see video below). "It's never gonna happen in a million years, but all the fans I speak to about it go, 'Yeah!' And, man, can you imagine the arguments in the pub: 'Oh, Paul's the best' 'Oh, it's Bruce [Dickinson].' 'Oh, it's Blaze.' [Laughs]"
He continued: "Man, I would absolutely… I'd be there, man. I think it would be so much fun, because it would be purely… it would be really fan-orientated. You would have to know the whole spectrum of IRON MAIDEN; you can't be a fairweather fan. You'd have to know the whole spectrum of what IRON MAIDEN's history is to know the significance of Paul and of me and of Bruce. And I think it would be great to get the three of us together."
and the interview video:
 
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