Starblind

How good is Starblind on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    11
Absolutely, and I think it's a good interpretation! But it doesn't make me think the song as a whole is any better, despite the good lyrics.
 
After all these years I still have some trouble about what to think of this song, there are parts that are amazing (the atmospheric intro, the way Bruce sings at the beginning during the calm part, that riff at 4.10, the other one at 5.04, the lyrics) some others I'm not really fond of (some guitar parts during the verses sound weird, generally it feels like there is too much going on at the same time and it ends sounding messy).
7/10
 
This song is weird AF in the sense that everyone and their brother loves it. I have to ask, why? This song literally feels like they came up with the best lyrics they ever had and needed music to it and so they threw guitar, bass, and drums into a blender and made the song. I mean, seriously, the lyrics weigh the song down because they just don't fit the music. The grandeur needs to be matched. And has no one noticed how they completely recycled Infinite Dreams in this song?

All in all, this song sums up TFF Eddie on the album cover - disjointed and all bungled up. Which, for Eddie, isn't a bad thing. For Starblind, it kinda is. 7/10 - enjoyable, but not the masterpiece many claim.
 
For me, the Infinite Dream reprise detracts a bit. It also suffers from the "mid tempo malaise" that inflicts so many reunion era tunes. Lyrically, it's very strong though.
 
This song is the epitome of the album for me. Though not quite the best song on the record, it definitely is the one that better sums it up. It's a very weird-sounding song with brilliant lyrics that just carries you though a very strange sonic journey, and then you're left not quite knowing what to think of it. After that, it suddenly grows and becomes... imense. It's a very powerful and very atmospheric song, and the one that makes me think of the album's front cover the most. A very strong 9 for this one.
 
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After several (more) listens, I have to bump my rating up to a 10. "Starblind" is a fucking masterpiece.
 
OK so... there's a lot of love for Starblind that I honestly don't understand. It has some awesome lyrics, yes, but it's also the most recycled song Maiden has ever released. There's a part of it that sounds like Infinite Dreams, so it gets marks down for that. Starblind, when I listen to it, I think I mentioned it before - it feels like the epitome of the Eddie on the album cover / a stitched-together Eddie made of many different parts... so yeah, like the album cover. When it comes down to it, the song has some beautiful and personal lyrics that just aren't too personal for me. Not that I dislike the song, because I don't, I love it, just as I love almost every Maiden song (outside More Tea Vicar), but by comparison... it's pretty overrated. My vote is sticking at 7/10.
 
The "The preacher loses face with Christ..." and the "Take my eyes for what I've seen..." parts.
Don't hear "Infinite Dreams" at all. Neither on those parts, nor on the rest of the song. It doesn't even feel recycled to me; it feels fresh and new.
 
It’s the key change. Infinite Dreams changes key at the same point in the chorus (both from E minor to G minor iirc). It’s a pretty minor thing to crticize imo especially since key changes aren’t common in Maiden anyway.
 
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It’s the key change. Infinite Dreams changes key at the same point in the chorus (both from E minor to G minor iirc). It’s a pretty minor thing to crticize imo especially since key changes aren’t common in Maiden and add a
Yeah, changing the key doesn't make it sound like Infinite Dreams at all.
 
Yeah, changing the key doesn't make it sound like Infinite Dreams at all.

It's the sequence of key changes are the same as infinite dreams,

Even though its reached new heights
I rather like the restless nights
It makes me wonder it makes me think
There's more to this, I'm on the brink
KEY CHANGE
It's not the fear of what's beyond
It's just that I might not respond
I have an interest almost craving
But would I like to get too far in?
BACK TO ORIGINAL KEY
It can't be all coincidence
Too many things are evident
You tell me you're an unbeliever
Spiritualist? Well me I'm neither
KEY CHANGE
But wouldn't you like to know the truth
Of what's out there to have the proof
And find out just which side you're on
Where would you end in Heaven or in Hell?

and

Take my eyes for what I've seen
I will give my sight to you
You are free to choose whatever
Life to live or life to lose
KEY CHANGE
Whatever God you know
He knows you better than you believe
In your once and future grave
You'll fall endlessly deceived
BACK TO ORIGINAL KEY
The preacher loses face with Christ
Religion's cruel device is gone
Empty flesh and hollow bones
Make pacts of love but die alone
KEY CHANGE
The crucible of pain will forge
The blanks of sin begin again
You are free to choose a life to live
Or one that's left to lose


I can't see how this can be a dealbreaker for someone though.
 
I wouldn’t say Maiden do them often. They tend to stick with E (sometimes D). There are notable exceptions though, such as El Dorado, Aces High, and Isle of Avalon.
 
key changes aren’t common in Maiden anyway.
Um, that's not really true, unless you specifically mean key changes in the middle of a verse or chorus?
Like 50% times when there is more than one solo, there's a key change, that's including even the most popular stuff (The Trooper, Aces High, 2M2M, FotD).
They tend to stick with E (sometimes D).
Yes, Em is the most common, then Dm - FotD, Mother Russia (this one has lots of changes btw), GotN, Rainmaker, The Legacy, The Talisman, IESF - those are the first that come to my mind. I think next is Am - Revelations, Still Life, 2M2M, 2 a.m., Dream of Mirrors, ToaC... and probably more. Other keys are quite rare, but I recall Icarus is in F#m, The Man of Sorrows starts in Cm and has a few changes too, iirc BQoBD is in Gm but not sure about that one.
Also in Clairvoyant's chorus
This one switches a lot, intro and outro is in D major, verses and chorus in D minor, lead interlude changes briefly from Dm to Cm and so does the last chorus, and the solo section is in E major.
 
I think that the drums let the song down. It is like Nicko is for the most part playinh the same thing but without adding any flair at all. The solo section and the melodies in the middle part are just amazing.
 
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