What type of Blaze-era Iron Maiden fan were you?

What type of Blaze-era Iron Maiden fan were you?

  • Listened when new, liked Blaze era based on merit

    Votes: 34 26.0%

  • Listened when new, disliked Blaze era based on merit

    Votes: 19 14.5%

  • Listened when new, liked Blaze era based on loyalty to Iron Maiden

    Votes: 9 6.9%

  • Listened when new, disliked Blaze era based on loyalty to Bruce

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Discovered later, liked Blaze era

    Votes: 52 39.7%

  • Discovered later, disliked Blaze era

    Votes: 16 12.2%
  • Total voters
    131
phantomoftheicarus said:
Take the X Factor for example. If they gave it proper production instead of that muddy mess it was, put songs like Justice Of The Peace on there (if you never knew about those, 3 songs were cut from the album, and it's generally considered that they're far better than most of the other stuff on it) and then sorted out the composition of songs, such as making Sign Of the Cross shorter with less repetitive sections
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Oh God. I dont even know where to start. Generallly considered far better? I like those songs but there’s a reason why they were left of. I could do without 2 AM, but I know many people like that one. I love all songs on The X Factor and consider them classics, maybe sans 2AM. Edit SotC for being repetitive? It has so many different sections it could be 5 different songs! Repetitive could not be more wrong. And wasnt it voted top 10 among most popular Maiden songs on this board?

I dont think The X Factor could have been a success anyway. New singer, different musical climate etc.
 
fekso said:
Oh God. I dont even know where to start. Generallly considered far better? I like those songs but there’s a reason why they were left of. I could do without 2 AM, but I know many people like that one. Edit SotC for being repetitive? It has so many different sections it could be 5 different songs! Repetitive could not be more wrong. And wasnt it voted top 10 among most popular Maiden songs on this board?
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The reason I say it's repetitive is because I feel the sections drag out a lot more than they're supposed to. You always get ready to start humming along to the next bit but you always realise you've come too early. i was showing my dad the song as he's learning them for the tour, and he was also quick to comment on how dragged out it was. haven't got a problem with each section just how many times it repeats, i think it would work a lot tighter if they just cut a few bars out here and there.
 
phantomoftheicarus said:
The reason I say it's repetitive is because I feel the sections drag out a lot more than they're supposed to. You always get ready to start humming along to the next bit but you always realise you've come too early. i was showing my dad the song as he's learning them for the tour, and he was also quick to comment on how dragged out it was. haven't got a problem with each section just how many times it repeats, i think it would work a lot tighter if they just cut a few bars out here and there.
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Still, you could say that with every Maiden song over 10 min. ROTAM is almost as long and has less sections.
 
fekso said:
Still, you could say that with every Maiden song over 10 min.
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I think that about multiple songs tbh. I like the ideas they put forward just not how many times they repeat them. For example, I've got the same problem with Fortune of War which I'm listening to now. I LOVE the spooky instrumental bit in the middle, but it annoys me how long it doodles on for, I think it loses its power and potency like that, if they just brushed it up a bit more it would work a lot better. Same with Empire Of The Clouds.
 
Zare said:
When you make an album about personal tragedies and someone calls it a comedy, I call resorting to football hooliganism a valid tactic.
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Football hooliganism will never be a valid tactic unless you are a thug. Steve had been living in an ivory tower with everyone praising whatever he did for too long by the mid 90s and he could not accept being criticised. Mick Wall mentioned at some point that it was "a case of too many albums and not enough bad reviews".

That being said, I think that the journalist's comment was unfortunate.
 
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phantomoftheicarus said:
I think that about multiple songs tbh. I like the ideas they put forward just not how many times they repeat them. For example, I've got the same problem with Fortune of War which I'm listening to now. I LOVE the spooky instrumental bit in the middle, but it annoys me how long it doodles on for, I think it loses its power and potency like that, if they just brushed it up a bit more it would work a lot better. Same with Empire Of The Clouds.
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I do agree with Empire Of The Clouds, a song many people like. That song could use some edits.
 
GhostofCain said:
By the way, Malcolm Dome, who interviewed Blaze for Rock Candy, was never impressed (like many others) with his work in Maiden:

https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-day-i-heard-the-x-factor
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Sounds like he went into the room not planning to give it a chance

“the ‘play’ button whirling into action, we were left to enjoy the album. Just three of us in this vacuous room. Our collective hearts sank as a monks style chant kicked everything off. “This is bloody rubbish,” chortled someone, getting ambient nods of agreement. And the song in question, Sign Of The Cross, hardly improved once it kicked into gear.”

So you declare it rubbish thirty seconds in before the monks have even finished chanting
 
naranja said:
Sounds like he went into the room not planning to give it a chance

“the ‘play’ button whirling into action, we were left to enjoy the album. Just three of us in this vacuous room. Our collective hearts sank as a monks style chant kicked everything off. “This is bloody rubbish,” chortled someone, getting ambient nods of agreement. And the song in question, Sign Of The Cross, hardly improved once it kicked into gear.”

So you declare it rubbish thirty seconds in before the monks have even finished chanting
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I thought the same thing when I read it, very true!
 
Anyway The X Factor is fucking great and probably in my top five Maiden records so that guy can go screw himself. Virtual XI, mainly thanks to two terrible Harris songs, was very flawed though and killed off the Bayley era.
 
naranja said:
Anyway The X Factor is fucking great and probably in my top five Maiden records so that guy can go screw himself. Virtual XI, mainly thanks to two terrible Harris songs, was very flawed though and killed off the Bayley era.
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Which songs?
 
Steve was given complete control during those two albums. There was no more Adrian to critique production, sound of the band and performances, no more Bruce (excluding the fact that he is one of the greatest rock singers) to counterpart his decisions in general and no more Martin, who actually knew what to do in the studio.

I believe that if Martin did TXF and VXI the albums would have been at least a bit better.
 
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matic22 said:
Steve was given complete control during those two albums. There was no more Adrian to critique production, sound of the band and performances, no more Bruce (excluding the fact that he is one of the greatest rock singers) to counterpart his decisions in general and no more Martin, who actually knew what to do in the studio.
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And as we all know, the Pope is always right... :D
 
Those people (like many others) decided to hate X factor before they even heard it. Nobody realized or cared that it was light years better then their last two albums with Bruce. Even if it was the best Maiden record they released most of the people would hate it.
 
7th son said:
Those people (like many others) decided to hate X factor before they even heard it. Nobody realized or cared that it was light years better then their last two albums with Bruce. Even if it was the best Maiden record they released most of the people would hate it.
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Very true!
 
7th son said:
Those people (like many others) decided to hate X factor before they even heard it. Nobody realized or cared that it was light years better then their last two albums with Bruce. Even if it was the best Maiden record they released most of the people would hate it.
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Or perhaps they felt that Maiden were going downhill during the 90s... At the end of the day they were as entitled to having an opinion as those who really enjoyed the album and those who supported Maiden based on loyalty to the band.
 
You are not entitled to an opinion if you form it before listening to the album or giving it any chance.

It is true that Maiden were going downhill during the 90's, so even though they released their best album since 7th son, people didn't care because it was with a different singer, and it is well known in metal world that everything new is automatically bad.
 
7th son said:
Those people (like many others) decided to hate X factor before they even heard it. Nobody realized or cared that it was light years better then their last two albums with Bruce.
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If the performances and production had been better, I could believe that an alternate-universe version of The X Factor could have edged out Fear Of The Dark, which was clearly the nadir of the Dickinson era. But I think it's a stretch to say it would have been better than No Prayer For The Dying.
 
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