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

I think the trick behind Wild Wind is the tongue-in-cheek feel of it. It's a sad story but Bruce's delivery along with everything else suggest Maiden is telling a story with a "wanna hear how moronic these people are" attitude. I dig it. I'm relieved that the album never becomes too dark. They were depressing enough on the X Factor and AMOLAD. This album is something special.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Cap Maronis said:
I think you're misdirecting the feelings of the song closing the album with ending their career.

If anything, you should've gotten those vibes after the Journeyman.
Click to expand...

Well, I guess that coupled with Coming Home and the title track gave me a weird feeling. I never got that vibe from Journeyman.

WWTWB is so bittersweet. I love it.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I wonder if I am the only one that was dissapointed in this song the first time I heard it. It's not the song's fault. Firstly, all the reviews saying it was the best thing since sliced bread. Secondly, after watching the animated film of the same name...I was expecting a more musically gloomy and dark sounding song...more aggression....more bombastic. What we got was a lighter sounding song, musically....with Bruce's vocals being reserved and calmly delivered...rather than the soaring and filled with energy....and the song has beautiful melodies playing all through it. All of this betrays the story that's being told....or well it seems.

I think my problems with it initially are beginning to fall away, though. For instance, Maiden are (for once) not concentrating on the bomb exploding the death and anger and fury of all that comes with a nuclear attack. What they're telling, is the story of a kindly old couple who are just trying to do what's expected of them....with a sad naivety they go about doing as they're told, and never understanding the seriousness of it all. because of this the music, I can tell now, is perfectly fitting. On first listen I was disappointed not to have an image in my head of a nuclear bomb going off and wrecking everything. Instead...now I properly see these people going about their business, sadly trusting that what their government has told them will get them through, all the while everything they do is killing them.

It's a very good song...and I enjoy it more and more with each listen. However....it may be some time before I can say whether I think it would rank up there with ROTAM.

However...DAMN...that IS the fastest 11 minutes I've EVER heard from Maiden. Every time I listen, I'm amazed that it actually went on for 11 minutes!
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I will agree with you on the speed of the song. Also, I think I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, Khan, with your analysis of the song. It definitely has taken a few listens to get into it, but even still not nearly as long as it took half of AMOLAD to finally click for me.


All of the epics except maybe the man who would be king breeze by on this album.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

So I spent the day coming to grips with the fact Where the Wild Wind Blows is inevitably destined for home high atop my Maiden monument.
I’m talking Hallowed-be-thy-Pashcen-f-ing-dale-level awesomeness
Driving to work with it on the car stereo, I got those oh-so-rare-from-a-song goose bumps. — real, honest-to-Christ chills.
It’s different than anything they’ve ever done, yet unmistakably Maiden.
One hundred years from now Steve Harris should be held in the esteem society holds Mozart.
It’s a privilege to listen to his art.

(Take a deep breath now...)
 
The Man Who Would Be King

The only thing that disappointed me initially was that I adored the slow part and then when it automatically went to faster and louder without crescendo I adored it but then after that I got lost.

It grew on me on the second listen and is now my second favourite though. :D
 
The Man Who Would Be King

LordMaiden said:
I think the trick behind Wild Wind is the tongue-in-cheek feel of it. It's a sad story but Bruce's delivery along with everything else suggest Maiden is telling a story with a "wanna hear how moronic these people are" attitude. I dig it. I'm relieved that the album never becomes too dark. They were depressing enough on the X Factor and AMOLAD. This album is something special.
Click to expand...

They're not moronic, they're just naive old people.

Khan said:
I wonder if I am the only one that was dissapointed in this song the first time I heard it. It's not the song's fault. Firstly, all the reviews saying it was the best thing since sliced bread. Secondly, after watching the animated film of the same name...I was expecting a more musically gloomy and dark sounding song...more aggression....more bombastic. What we got was a lighter sounding song, musically....with Bruce's vocals being reserved and calmly delivered...rather than the soaring and filled with energy....and the song has beautiful melodies playing all through it. All of this betrays the story that's being told....or well it seems.

I think my problems with it initially are beginning to fall away, though. For instance, Maiden are (for once) not concentrating on the bomb exploding the death and anger and fury of all that comes with a nuclear attack. What they're telling, is the story of a kindly old couple who are just trying to do what's expected of them....with a sad naivety they go about doing as they're told, and never understanding the seriousness of it all. because of this the music, I can tell now, is perfectly fitting. On first listen I was disappointed not to have an image in my head of a nuclear bomb going off and wrecking everything. Instead...now I properly see these people going about their business, sadly trusting that what their government has told them will get them through, all the while everything they do is killing them.

It's a very good song...and I enjoy it more and more with each listen. However....it may be some time before I can say whether I think it would rank up there with ROTAM.

However...DAMN...that IS the fastest 11 minutes I've EVER heard from Maiden. Every time I listen, I'm amazed that it actually went on for 11 minutes!
Click to expand...

Well said. And I agree, isn't it amazing how Isle of Avalon seems twice as long as WTWWB?
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Suicidehummer said:
They're not moronic, they're just naive old people.

Well said. And I agree, isn't it amazing how Isle of Avalon seems twice as long as WTWWB?
Click to expand...

Yes, I absolutely agree! I thought I was the only one that thought that way.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I must have listened to this song 15 times at least, and finally it has started to sink in. This is a fantastic, beautiful song. Lyrically I don't think Maiden ever have written anything like this. I agree with the guy who said it's bittersweet. It's the perfect word to describe it.

It's a different kind of epic song by Maiden, and the perfect finish for the album. When the wild wind blows at the end of the song I get the feeling of loneliness.. The calm after the storm.

One word is fitting to describe this song: Perfect.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

This song is a thing of absolute beauty, the more I listen the more I absorb it. Lyrically, musically all the subtle changes and melodies. Perfection.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Thought I saw something on another thread critical of the "lifeless" vocals on this track.
I couldn't disagree more.
The Air Raid Siren shows another side here — a modulated, restrained tone that is crucial to that atmosphere of nonchalance previous posters talked about.
Bruce delivers the slow, muffled nature of the characters' journey in a perfect pitch to create that bittersweet taste we all seem to connect with.
Pathos is word I doubt I've ever typed before, but this song may have more than other track Maiden has recorded and the vocal style is a major reason why.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

I've already explained why Bruce has a different voice on this album; it wasn't written for him. Steve said he's had this idea for years and years and never found the tape until sometime after AMOLAD was recorded. Well, if he had it lying around for 7-8 years, it wouldn't have been written for Bruce.

Part of me wants to know how Blaze would sound on this track; part of me thinks Bruce is incredible that he delivers such a passionate, beautiful performance with something that is different to what Maiden has asked him to sing in the past. For the deeper Blaze songs he's always adopted a gravely voice (SoTC, MotE, LotF), and he's bullied through with his usual siren on The Clansman. We won't mention Futureal here.

If you have asked yourself "what would have the Blaze albums sounded like with Bruce Dickinson", I present to you a partial answer, with the disclaimer that Bruce's vocals in the 1990s, especially the early 1990s, were totally different than anything he has used since returning to the band.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Good point. I used to think how much better the Blaze songs would be with Bruce.
But live performances have shown that's simply not the case.
Which is all the more reason to bow down to Bruce's performance here.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Absolutely. Bruce is the master, for sure, and it's incredible, and beautiful, and so haunting.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

That one brief fraction of a second between the intro and when the song kicks in...and Bruce's voice soars out of the emptiness just a fraction of a second ahead of the guitar....it sends a chill down my spine.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

Khan said:
That one brief fraction of a second between the intro and when the song kicks in...and Bruce's voice soars out of the emptiness just a fraction of a second ahead of the guitar....it sends a chill down my spine.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The first time I heard it I was actually startled. I was alone with my eyes closed and the headphones loud. I figured that was the time it was going to get heavier, but I was expecting a build and then out of nowhere Bruce comes in, and it's just him for that fraction of second, but wow. First listen, it blew my mind.
 
The Man Who Would Be King

My first post on this awesome Forum!  :shred:


This song is absolutely beautiful and it's the best song of the album by far!

:yey:
 
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