Virtual XI appreciation

Yeah, I know that. I just disagree with argument that he is bad singer. He's not, for me he is victim of "play classics!" crowd.

Anyway Virtual XI is great album and for me it is one of three albums where I like every song. No filler for me, great melodies and Blaze era has, as far as I'm concerned, best 'Arry bass lines in band history. Drums are little flat and mix is not great but other than that - I could put it in my top 5 along with X Factor. For me this album is #6. The only reason for this and for X factor on #13 is that beacuse when I say that Virtual XI is my #5 album and X Factor #8 and then I tell what is my number one - bad things happen. :D
 
BaronB said:
Awful album and a terrible time for Maiden. However, Blaze's live versions of songs from VXI from after he was fired from Maiden, shows that with better production and a more focused direction, the album could have been decent. For all the blame that Blaze gets, it was Steve who let the band down during that period.
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Perhaps. He does sound better in Silicon Messiah
 
He also sound great when he can choose his setlist. His show from metalmania is in my top 5 live recordings.
 
Blaze is a mediocre singer. Of course he did his best.He fucking got the gig with Maiden. But it is all Steve's fault after all.
 
These Blaze albums were always the pits for me until the recent, woefully produced effort.
I gave them another go and found them quite good actually. Clear production. The underdog status just adds to the appeal.
 
This is an appreciation thread. Please take your unappreciation elsewhere.

I think Blaze has a fine voice in his range. Maiden always pushed him out of his range. VXI and TXF were more suited towards him.

Regardless, I'll always love Virtual XI. I recognize it's many problems, like Steve telling Nicko to play a simpler drum style. Or Steve not hiring a great producer. Or Steve writing the songs considered bad.

Wait. Why do people blame Blaze again?

Live, the songs from this album simply crack. Whether Maiden or Blaze played them.
 
That's the main reason i have a problem when people say IM should play in lower tunings to match Bruce's current voice, they didn't do it for Blaze so why should they do it for Bruce? Blaze did a perfectly acceptable job singing for IM especially on TXF his voice matched the tone of that album better than Bruce could have
 
Bruce is a far more superior singer to Blaze in my opinion. I think Bruce is one of the best heavy metal singers ever. To say he would have done an inferior job to Blaze is absurd in my book. The Rock in Rio performances with Bruce singing Sign of a Cross and Lord of the Flies is enough evidence to understand what x factor would have sounded like with Bruce. The Rio versions are better than the original also in my humble opinion. My last post in this thread. Let the appreciation continue
 
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Meliegree said:
If Blaze is a mediocre singer then we don't have scale for DiAnno...
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Dude really? I mean there is no comparison there!!!! Are you really saying that the vocals on the two first albums are worse than Blaze's????
 
Jadukor said:
To say he would have done an inferior job to Blaze is absurd in my book.
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Every singer does better when they have songs performed in their range. This is a simple fact. Nobody asked Freddie Mercury to sing bass and nobody should have asked Blaze to sing in Bruce's register.

Jadukor said:
The Rock in Rio performances with Bruce singing Sign of a Cross and Lord of the Flies is enough evidence to understand what x factor would have sounded like with Bruce.
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You have no credence if you can't even get right what Blaze songs Bruce sings when. Bruce rocked those two songs, but they weren't definitive performances. Blaze's performance of Sign of the Cross on As Live as it Gets is superior to Bruce's performance on Rock in Rio. And Bruce did not sound great on any of Death on the Road - especially Lord of the Flies. Boots from other shows were better vocally.

AND you're forgetting that Bruce massacred Futureal on the Ed Huntour.

Different material made for different singers - hard to compare.
 
Gk1 said:
Dude really? I mean there is no comparison there!!!! Are you really saying that the vocals on the two first albums are worse than Blaze's????
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No, they're not. It's same level for me but today Blaze can blow away DiAnno any time, any day.
 
LooseCannon said:
Every singer does better when they have songs performed in their range. This is a simple fact. Nobody asked Freddie Mercury to sing bass and nobody should have asked Blaze to sing in Bruce's register.

.
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Well i suppose its individual taste. I prefer the Bruce version of the songs over any Blaze live performance. Death on the Road i dont think bruce was 100% at the time and it is totally beside the point. I was talking about how Bruce would have sounded so obviously you should look at his best performance and not pick out the worst.

Futureal is a crap song to begin with. Dont think people will ever cry for Futureal if it is not in the setlist. Bruce totally nailed Clansman which was the best song in Virtual XI in my opinion.
 
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Meliegree said:
No, they're not. It's same level for me but today Blaze can blow away DiAnno any time, any day.
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Oh yes. Blaze is actually a rather good singer. He's not a virtuoso singer, but rather a reliable workhorse (although somewhat pitchy at times) who trods on with powerful thumps.
 
Meliegree said:
BNW is weak for me beacuse it feel like band trying go back in time to 80's. I don't like this album at all, other post-reunion albums on the other hand…

Yeah, for you but one way or another Blaze has many fans here so I feel little angry while reading

Bruce is great but trying to put him on every album is just wrong. Albums with Blaze are just different, you can love it or hate it but that doesn't mean that he is bad.
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In no way does BNW sound like maiden in the 80's, not to my ears at least anyway. If you assume VXI doesn't exist for a minute then BNW sounds like a proper direct successor to X Factor. It's not as dark but the songs are more complex and longer than 80's maiden. Ghost of the navigator is a prime example. Ok so brave new world does have some great shorter rockers too but most of the songs clock well over 6 mins with a few over 9mins.

In my opinion VXI is the only time in maidens history they have written an album to try and win the fans approval. Every other album they've just done whatever they felt they wanted to at the time. After the reaction to blaze and the darkness of X factor I think the band attempted to make a more 80's style album with VXI. Futureal was an attempt to write another trooper, the clansman was the typical historical epic a la Alexander the Great and with only 8 songs on the album and much more upbeat choruses on most of the songs it feels to me like they were trying to win back fans. It shows as some of the songs feel like they were written in a hurry which is why so many have long repeated sections. It's like they wrote a small chunk of a song and due to time constraints stretched it out rather than take the time to finish it properly.

It sounds like I'm slagging it off and I do really like VXI. Blaze sounds great and more confident than he did on X factor and a lot of the songs are really catchy and sounded great live when I saw them on the album tour.
 
I mean production, it's hard to explain but I feel that BNW is much more light in terms of mix etc. than Blaze era albums and then rest of post-reunion albums is darker.
 
Meliegree said:
I mean production, it's hard to explain but I feel that BNW is much more light in terms of mix etc. than Blaze era albums and then rest of post-reunion albums is darker.
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Ok Meliegree, have to agree to disagree on this because I disagree with pretty much everything you've said on this thread lol.

It's all good as it makes for a good debate.

For me all the reunion albums have a similar feel. Heck it's like they started again on BNW, sort of like when a film series gets a reboot. It's still Maiden, sounds like maiden but the reunion brought about a much more complex and progressive style of writing. Plus it feels like Maiden are indulging themselves a lot more. All of this I can trace back to X factor and I feel that even if Bruce had stayed with Maiden I think we would still have gotten the X factor exactly how it is now just with Bruce singing. If Bruce had of stayed and we had not had Blaze I don't think we would ever have gotten VXI. I think the follow up to X factor would have sounded very different.

As I said before VXI sounds like Maiden trying to write another 80's album with punchier songs and catchier choruses and loads more melody than the previous album.
 
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