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BLAZE :
AS LIVE AS IT GETS
Well, I'll preface this review by 'fessing up to the fact that I've never really been a fan of Mr. Bayley. I did not know of his early band "Wolfsbane", until he joined the ranks of Iron Maiden. And I was not a fan of his Maiden years, to the point where there is a 2 CD hole in my otherwise complete Maiden collection. On the other hand, I will admit that I saw him live with Maiden, and thought he pulled it off fairly well. He's no Bruce Dickinson, but it was still a fun show. After Bruce came back to the Maiden fold, Blaze went off on his own, and formed a new band under his own name. "Blaze" has two studio efforts under its belt, "Silicon Messiah", and "Tenth Dimension", both of which got decent reviews upon their release. So now, in the tradition of another former Maiden screamer, Paul Di'Anno, we have a double live CD featuring tracks from all of the bands Mr. Bayley has fronted. This was recorded in Switzerland & the UK during the Tenth Dimension Tour. We have 18 tracks, produced by Andy Sneap (Machine Head, Napalm Death), including a "bastardized metal version" of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed & Confused". The disc also comes with a 20-page booklet. I went into this with less than stellar expectations, and even though I still think the Iron Maiden tracks are weak, it's better than I thought it would be. I believe my problem with the Maiden tracks stems from the fact that I know they would just have been so much better with Bruce on the mic, which Mr. Dickinson has proved to me in the live setting. For Blaze's old fans, they might be disappointed that his Wolfsbane career is only represented by one lone track, "Steel". The full track listing, along with the originating bands, is as follows:
CD 1
Speed Of Light (Blaze)
Two Worlds Collide (Iron Maiden)
Steel (Wolfsbane)
Kill & Destroy (Blaze)
End Dream (Blaze)
Stare At The Sun (Blaze)
Land Of The Blind (Blaze)
Silicon Messiah (Blaze)
Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin)
CD 2
Virus (Iron Maiden)
Brave, The (Blaze)
Stranger To The Light (Blaze)
Identity (Blaze)
Sign Of The Cross (Iron Maiden)
Futureal (Iron Maiden)
Ghost In The Machine (Blaze)
Born As A Stranger (Blaze)
Tenth Dimension (Blaze)
In the end, the amount of rotation you give this release will depend on what you think of Blaze's voice. But, the songs are delivered with passion, the sound is quite good, and by the end I was mildly impressed. Still, there is nothing to really elevate it beyond your average live set. However, I'm sure Blaze's small, but loyal following will devour this. For more info, you can find the band here.
RATING = 6 Metal (Released 2003)
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"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls."
-Bruce McCulloch K.I.T.H. '91
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