Yet ANOTHER best of - From Fear To Eternity

[Mosh]

Hey, at least Maiden plays Blaze songs... Unlike Priest who refuses to play Ripper material. Now there's a band pissing on its history.

It seems like they aren't doing that anymore. It's been since 2004. Almost ten years.

 

[Yax]

Although if there will be 90's-present tour they will no doubt play one or two. There has been a lot of history touring so that gives them some sort of excuse anyway.

I'm willing to bet money that Priest won't play any Ripper material on this upcoming "all albums included" tour.

 

[Mosh]

Oh well I'm skeptical about a 90's-Present tour.

And you're probably right about priest.

 

[Ian Sane]

I don't see what the problem is with using Bruce's versions of the Blaze era material for this compilation.  The same thing happened on the "Somewhere Back In Time" release where the band opted for Bruce's versions of the Di'Anno tracks.  This album is a companion to the '80-'89 disc, so they've just followed the same format.  Besides, Bruce is the current singer so it makes sense.

Anyway, the band has released 4 compilation albums where Blaze does appear...

The Best Of The Beast
Ed Hunter
Edward The Great - (Blaze appears on this, Paul Di'Anno does not, I remember some people being pissed at that at the time also)
The Essential Iron Maiden (the only one I've never bothered to buy)

This new "Best Of" will most likely do what it's meant to do, introduce new fans to some of these tracks and ultimately encourage them to dig a little deeper into the bands rich catalogue.

The artwork is awesome. 

I'm looking forward to owning a copy and I own all of the studio and live albums.  It's not like the band is forcing anyone to buy it.  It's your choice.

 

[Mega]

Yeah, not having Futureal is pretty weird!

 

[Forostar]

Great post. Have a praise.

A post from someone with anti-Blaze sentiment in his belly, who's happy his hated Blaze is omitted.

Hmmm just read through this thread. Some good posts, others that make my fucking blood boil.
Maiden not having Blaze on here is absolutely the right thing to do. With Blaze as the front man the bands popularity and credibility plummeted. This is a fact!

Thus?

Bruce came back with Adrian and so the all the credibility and popularity.

Maiden never lost credibility. Maybe some quality but not credibility. Outside the United Classics of America, concerts were still visited well, and after all these years, the albums have grown in popularity, especially TXF.
Don't forget that the year is 2011, not 1995 or 1998, which was a difficult time for metal bands with long songs with long intro's. Now everybody is raving about Opeth, and more bands make such songs. I think that people are more open minded about metal now, than in the nineties, when Grunge had left its marks.

If this is indeed a release for "new" fans who only got into Maiden recently then why the fuck should they put Blaze on it?

Because he was part of their history and do you really think these new fans won't check TXF and VXI? They'll get to him anyway. So let's not be naive about that.

The 90's are covered and covered very well by Bruce. Fair play to the management for not pandering to the X Fanboy(s) Bruce is where it's at!

+

I understand your perspective, but Bruce is the singer now,

Even the newest fans know this. It's really not necessary to prove this point by releasing a best of album with only Bruce on vocals.

Of course, I'm far less of a Blaze fan than others on this forum, so my reaction no doubt reflects that bias.  But, again, I get why they are doing what they are doing.

If this was meant for new fans then we know that these should be fans without bias, right? They don't have decades of Maiden past behind them to compare, and a lot of them probably haven't heard Blaze yet.

Fans of the Blaze era already have the studio versions anyway, and this might even get people to pick up TXF when they otherwise wouldn't.

If these fans are guided to albums with Blaze, then why leave him off? That's fooling the new listener.

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

Pretty much agree with Foro here. I really think they should have included a few songs with Blaze on vocals, and maybe just one Blaze-era song with Bruce on vocals.

Musically, the Blaze years were a transitional period which is an important part of the band's history. Try to imagine that the band had instead been on hiatus for five years ... would Brave New World have been the result? I doubt it. The fact is, the Blaze years proved that the drive behind the band is not to make money, but to make music. It is disrespectful by the management to overlook them to this extent.

I do understand that the casual fan prefers Bruce over Blaze. That is because most casual fans think of Blaze just as a poor replacement, not as an artist on his own. If this compilation is aimed at new fans, wouldn't it be good to give them a taste of the Blaze years as they were, instead of just pleasing those who want nothing but Run To The Hills, The Trooper and Fear of the Dark?

 

[Forostar]

I do understand that the casual fan prefers Bruce over Blaze. That is because most casual fans think of Blaze just as a poor replacement, not as an artist on his own.

Yes, and this should be separated from a compilation album which should be a representation of the band's history.

If this compilation is aimed at new fans, wouldn't it be good to give them a taste of the Blaze years as they were, instead of just pleasing those who want nothing but Run To The Hills, The Trooper and Fear of the Dark?

Exactly.

 

[Poto]

Did people react like this when Maiden released SBIT, and all of the Di'Anno songs were live versions with Bruce on vocals?

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Am i the only person thinking that "best of" compilations are not financially viable any more? I mean, bands that have 10+ years of experience should release a "best of", just for the fuck of it. However, if we consider that target audience are primarily youngsters that aren't familiar with Maiden discography, IMHO those kids are going to find what they need on Youtube, and they are going to get albums / songs off the 'net for 0$. In best case they're going to get songs they like from services like iTunes, for petty cash.

So i think this kind of CD is good only when you have a senior Maiden fan trying to introduce them to somebody.

I'd like to see numbers regarding sales of this CD.

 

[Perun]

Am I the only one to think this is a despicable cash grab?

 

[Deleted member 7164]

I think it's an attempt of cash grab. It'll fail - see my above post why.

 

[snake plissken]

Forostar, are you having a laugh? Maiden became a fucking laughing stock with Blaze as a front man. My feelings on the chap are irrelevant. The speed at which ticket sales and record sales dropped was shocking and the critics were only too happy to report on the state of affairs. Now, whether Maiden cared about what outsiders were saying is debatable but there wasn't one metal band out there who feared being on a bill with Maiden back then. Nobody would wanna go on after them now. The simple fact of the matter is, the Blaze era was a disaster and if it wasn't he'd still be in the band. Nicko is quoted as saying "if things had carried on the way it had they'd have knocked it on the head". I dunno about you but I remember all too well going into a dingy little shithole of a club which WASN'T SOLD OUT on the X Factour and wondering how long it'd take Maiden to get Bruce back. Didn't have to wait too long as it happened.

If people love Blaze so much then that's absolutely fine. Stick on the X Factor and Virtual XI and rock out, they will always be there for you   However you can't expect the band to put out a CD celebrating the success Maiden and having Blaze on it. Especially when Bruce's versions of these songs are what recent fans are more likely to have heard. Makes perfect business sense.

 

[Mega]

I think it's cool. Maybe I just like having Maiden CD's.

 

[Jupz]

Awesome, and I'll probably get it, but I'm not happy with the song selection overall.

 

[Yax]

Makes perfect business sense.

Much like with Priest it makes perfect business sense. Doesn't mean they aren't shitting on their past though.

 

[snake plissken]

Much like with Priest it makes perfect business sense. Doesn't mean they aren't shitting on their past though.

That's an over reaction Yax. Maiden have spent half the last decade celebrating their past, they put out one cd which doesn't feature Blaze and they're "shitting on their past"? The guy is a metal foot note. Maiden are one of the biggest bands in the entire world again. A best of should feature what got them there, not what nearly doomed them.

 

[clivetiger]

I wonder how much money is to be made for Maiden in CD sales these days. They've always been pretty honest that they've made their money on the road, in ticket sales and t-shirts. It used to be that a band would tour to promote the album. From what Rod said, it sounds like they're viewing this as an item to promote the tour. The publicity which surrounds the product is probably worth more to them then anything they'll make directly off the album itself.

Then the new kids see the gig, walk out and think "now I'm gonna get a CD!" and 'From Fear To Eternity' will be the first one they see. In that respect, I think their approach to this is a cool thing - and I say that as a Blaze fan ('X-Factor' is very possibly a top three Maiden album for me). If they're hot from the gig and they pick up an album with Blaze (or Paul) tracks, then they might well ask "What the heck is this?". I know when I got into Maiden it was Bruce all the way, and the Paul albums threw me a bit at first. But I got into them, as today's new generation of Maidenfans will get into Blaze's stuff given time.

We've all got to start somewhere, and this seems like as good a place as any.

I don't quite see where expensive triple vinyls fit into Rod's plan for a handy introduction for the kids,though. But I'll be having one for my collection anyway!

 

[snake plissken]

I wonder how much money is to be made for Maiden in CD sales these days. They've always been pretty honest that they've made their money on the road, in ticket sales and t-shirts. It used to be that a band would tour to promote the album. From what Rod said, it sounds like they're viewing this as an item to promote the tour. The publicity which surrounds the product is probably worth more to them then anything they'll make directly off the album itself.

Then the new kids see the gig, walk out and think "now I'm gonna get a CD!" and 'From Fear To Eternity' will be the first one they see. In that respect, I think their approach to this is a cool thing - and I say that as a Blaze fan ('X-Factor' is very possibly a top three Maiden album for me). If they're hot from the gig and they pick up an album with Blaze (or Paul) tracks, then they might well ask "What the heck is this?". I know when I got into Maiden it was Bruce all the way, and the Paul albums threw me a bit at first. But I got into them, as today's new generation of Maidenfans will get into Blaze's stuff given time.

We've all got to start somewhere, and this seems like as good a place as any.

I don't quite see where expensive triple vinyls fit into Rod's plan for a handy introduction for the kids,though. But I'll be having one for my collection anyway!

Excellent post 

 

[bearfan]

I don't quite see where expensive triple vinyls fit into Rod's plan for a handy introduction for the kids,though. But I'll be having one for my collection anyway!

The triple vinyl release portion is for the hardcore fans that purchase vinyl (Me), the CDs/MP3s are for the newbies.