When the Wild Wind Blows

How good is When the Wild Wind Blows on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    14
The Man Who Would Be King

Will-I-Am said:
Where did you read that?
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Steve mentioned it in an interview, possibly the one that himself, Adrian and Bruce did for BBC radio. Not sure if it's that one though.
 
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seriously though, anyone else thinks this is a Virtual XI song? ... sounds like something written for Blaze. But the song kicks ass.
 
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Stan said:
seriously though, anyone else thinks this is a Virtual XI song? ... sounds like something written for Blaze. But the song kicks ass.
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It absolutely does.
 
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Ranko said:
After some thought, I have to say that to me this song is among the least favourite ones. I don't like the fact that the same melody is repeated for basically the first third of the song and the lyrics are just a rehash of the story, with nothing extra deep. Furthermore, the song IMO doesn't have a great climax like ROTAM had, it just goes forward with the same melody, the guys do their solos and then back to the story and the slow outro.

I'm sorry, Steve, but a song which is 11 minutes long isn't automatically interesting. There's a reason why the demo has been laying around for half a decade - in the past he had better ideas.

This is by far the weakest Harris-penned epic ever, just compare it to For The Greater Good Of God, Sign of the Cross or Rime of the Ancient Mariner, to name a few.
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Yeah, I like it as a closer and think the song is good but it is certainly not his best. It sails without rocking the boat. There's no punch.
 
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Ranko said:
After some thought, I have to say that to me this song is among the least favourite ones. I don't like the fact that the same melody is repeated for basically the first third of the song and the lyrics are just a rehash of the story, with nothing extra deep. Furthermore, the song IMO doesn't have a great climax like ROTAM had, it just goes forward with the same melody, the guys do their solos and then back to the story and the slow outro.

I'm sorry, Steve, but a song which is 11 minutes long isn't automatically interesting. There's a reason why the demo has been laying around for half a decade - in the past he had better ideas.

This is by far the weakest Harris-penned epic ever, just compare it to For The Greater Good Of God, Sign of the Cross or Rime of the Ancient Mariner, to name a few.
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I disagree completely.  I think WTWWB is stronger then Mariner by far, and slightly better then Sign of the Cross.
 
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The punch of WTWWB isn't in-your-face. It's about poignancy pulled from the everyday.
It's about triumph and tragedy in real-life, regular people, not heroes, monsters and battlefields.
It finds rare emotional heft in this, as opposed to the more typical, more obvious, exotic Maiden soundscapes.
And it does it while still being fully Maiden.
It's rare bit of songwriting.
 
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This song is beginning to scare me a bit. There is no way that 11 minutes of my life goes past everytime I listen to it.
 
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LordMaiden said:
I'm talking about the musical punch, not the lyrical one.
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So am I for the most part.

One of Maiden's great gifts its its ability to create music that evokes these magnificent landscapes in your mind,
then tell stories with their lyrics to match the images the sounds create.

You hear the dunes in the Nomad and the Highlands in the Clansman.
With WTWWB I hear the quiet English countryside, the mild, naive couple living there, what seems like a cataclysm enveloping them, and the sad irony at the end.

It's not the in-your-face punch of music conjuring images of some poor soldier dodging bullets as he gallops across a Crimean war battlefield.
But it makes a powerful, emotional musical statement nonetheless.
 
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mckindog said:
You hear the dunes in the Nomad and the Highlands in the Clansman.
With WTWWB I hear the quiet English countryside, the mild, naive couple living there, what seems like a cataclysm enveloping them, and the sad irony at the end.
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THIS

The first Maiden song I heard was The Trooper, and I couldn't believe how I could hear the horses galloping along with the riff. 

Another fine example is the diving guitar (Adrian?) halfway through the Aces High chorus - you can just see the Spitfires banking.
 
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Oh yeah, WTWWB is another one of the atmospheric Maiden songs. Paschendale and Sign of the Cross are two of the biggest ones imo.
 
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Here's a thought. One day Maiden will call it a day. If they were to hang up their boots and have this as their last album (even though some news sites have reported it won't be), would you think this song is a worthy song to go out on.

The reason I say this is because back when I first heard Brave New World, I started to contemplate life without a new Maiden album to look forward to. They've been a massive part of my life and one day it'll all be over. Since then I've constantly thought about them going 'out with a bang' and since then every album ender has been great IMO.

The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Journeyman
The Legacy
When the Wild Wind Blows

So, would this be a worthy end to Maiden? Personally I think it is. If they do announce plans to record a new album, I know I'll be worried about their last song living up to what I want it to be.
 
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I always thought Sign of the Cross felt similar with its building crescendo…fuck, I love that track.
 
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Galvanise_ said:
Here's a thought. One day Maiden will call it a day. If they were to hang up their boots and have this as their last album (even though some news sites have reported it won't be), would you think this song is a worthy song to go out on.

The reason I say this is because back when I first heard Brave New World, I started to contemplate life without a new Maiden album to look forward to. They've been a massive part of my life and one day it'll all be over. Since then I've constantly thought about them going 'out with a bang' and since then every album ender has been great IMO.

The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Journeyman
The Legacy
When The Wild Wind Blows

So, would this be a worthy end to Maiden? Personally I think it is. If they do announce plans to record a new album, I know I'll be worried about their last song living up to what I want it to be.
Click to expand...
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Personally, I'm a bit worried if they decide to record another album. Given that this album has such a 'final' (pardon the pun) ring to it what with the themes in it, the title, the going-back-to-roots songs, and so on, it would almost feel strange to have an even more final one to round it all off. And topping When the Wild Wind Blows? I don't know, I agree with Nicko, this may be the greatest song Harris has penned on his own since Hallowed Be Thy Name. And I'm not mentioning the apocalyptic, ending, theme going on in that song. But, we'll see. If Maiden were to announce this was it, I wouldn't be disappointed.
 
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Natalie said:
it would almost feel strange to have an even more final one to round it all off...if Maiden were to announce this was it, I wouldn't be disappointed.
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I would be extremely disappointed.
I get where you're coming from. If this was Maiden's last album, they would go out champions.
But after an album this good, they obviously are capable of producing more good music.
Even if it's not this good, parts — even most — of it would still be well worth having.

They could have quit on a high after Seventh Son, instead of stumbling through their next few albums.
But then we never would have had Fear of the Dark, or Sign of the Cross, or the Clansman.
Not to mention the incredible four-album run they are on now.

Please, keep the music coming.
 
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Do you think Maiden's legacy would be better after releasing a half-arsed album with only a few excellent songs and half fillers rather than one of the best albums ever?  In my old days, I would rather have the memory of Maiden going on only as long as they could meet their own high standards, than have a few more excellent songs but remember them quitting when they just couldn't do it anymore. 

I am with Natalie in a way here, but then, after AMOLAD I felt they couldn't have a better finishing album.  I'm still not sure whether TFF is better, but it's at least as good as a finisher.  I think Maiden could succesfully call it quits now, but they also might be able to top themselves.
 
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I think Maiden's legacy is already established, regardless of the quality of the next album.
My point is there is nothing on TFF that makes me think they aren't capable of putting out another great one.
So why stop now?
 
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I think that, when they are making a new album, they should look the new material seriously and consider whether it will be good enough to meet their previous standards.  Quite possibly it will.  My point was that they should not release an album of fillers just to get a few more good songs done.
 
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