Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Iron Maiden
Label: EMI Records
Released: 2013
Running time: 100:36
Rating: 4.5/5
Iron Maiden are riding again! Riding relentlessly, in fact. Almost forever! The reissue of the legendary recording from the end of November 1988, when they played the NEC arena in Birmingham on the then »7th Tour Of a 7th Tour«, is admittedly yet another slickly marketed little treat that will fatten the pile of coins in the bank account of the band and everyone who makes a living off it one way or another. And yet this reissue, or rather its thorough update, arrives as if made to order.
We have to remember that »Maiden England« came out in 1989 only as a VHS tape, and then again in 1994 in a strictly limited run, when the package contained a VHS tape and a single live CD. Every edition was missing something. The VHS, for instance, lacked the three obligatory encores. It ends with »Iron Maiden«, which surely won’t feel logical to anyone who knows the band. The audio release came out with space limitations, naturally without the three encores and even without »Hallowed Be Thy Name« and »Can I Play With Madness«. What a sinful move, right? But understandable for those times.
The reissue comes with an even more defined title. An upgraded one. The year ’88 has been added, so it now reads »Maiden England ’88«. And this one delivers everything. A double DVD: the first disc holds the complete concert with no film cuts, and the second, titled “The History of Iron Maiden – Part 3« and running about 40 minutes, holds exactly the stuff that’s interesting even to the more demanding Iron Maiden discography collectors. And there’s a double live CD too. And as usual, I’m once again holding »just« a double live CD by one of the most popular heavy metal bands of all time, and one of the most influential ones too.
Anyone who keeps that famous crate of Danish butter cookies called »Eddie’s Archive« (2002) at home will be able to tell you, going by the »BBC Archives«, that in the summer of 1988 Iron Maiden were already playing big at the major European festivals (the »Eddie’s Archive« set includes a slice of the show captured at the former Donington Monsters Of Rock festival, today known as Download Festival). The set list was a touch different in the summer of 1988, though. It included, for example, »Wrathchild« and »The Trooper«, which the November set list of the arena tour (same year) didn’t have.
As for a live recording like »Maiden England ’88« is now, all that’s left is a sea of superlatives. The band was at the peak of its stage explosiveness. You could say that in those years it shone at its live zenith. Shone its brightest. The main plus of this concert document is the outstanding set list, which nicely skirted the sea of standards from the already well-worn iron repertoire, like »The Trooper«, »Wrathchild« and »Two Minutes To Midnight«. Songs that were big live treats return to the set list, like »The Prisoner«, »Still Life« and »Killers«, and the lads decide to keep two Somewhere In Time tracks in it as well, »Heaven Can Wait« and »Wasted Years«. But the main thing, the winning poker hand of aces for Iron Maiden, is of course the part of the »Maiden England« repertoire tied to the promotion of the now-cult Iron Maiden record »Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son« (1988). It’s played almost in full, minus two songs (»The Prophecy«, »Only The Good Die Young«).
Iron Maiden show outstanding stage sharpness. The guitars sustain that familiar power of the live document »Live After Death«, and the sound is enriched by the integration of synthesizers. Maiden were one of the few bands that successfully managed to work the hugely popular guitar synths into their unique metal sound in such a way that the metal riff carried it superbly, meaning they achieved a sonic harmony there that rivals Judas Priest and Saxon didn’t pull off nearly as well at the time.
The sound of the reissue is fully digitally remastered. The mix belongs to the man and work of Martin Birch. The exception is the three added tracks, »Run To The Hills«, »Running Free« and »Sanctuary«, which were, as expected, mixed after the fact for this release by Kevin Shirley.
As said. The audio recording is killer. In general, the performances of the classics from the »Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son« album are the most precious listening experience of that album. The songs »Moonchild«, »Infinite Dreams« and of course the ultimate monstrous metal epic »Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son«. Want more? It reads like a fairy tale! Never mind that in 1988 Bruce Dickinson is a true stage beast and of course a siren for air-raid panic, a vocalist who confirms that the Iron Maiden repertoire is the hardest one to sing in heavy metal. In heavy metal as the world knew it in 1988, that is. At the same time, you can feel that in this period Dickinson’s voice had started to struggle to keep up competently with the highest sequences of the vocal melodies. Today Iron Maiden solve this situation by tuning lower live. On this legendary recording, though, the man still tries to hit the right pitch even in the toughest ranges and doesn’t adapt them. So he goes at it flat out and squeezes out his maximum. Such strain occasionally pulls the rug out from under him by half a tone. That’s how it is with every voice. It’s the only living instrument, and so over the years its characteristics change the most noticeably. Iron Maiden’s stage interpretation holds the level of their past live documents. Once again they play the material considerably faster than documented on the studio recordings.
It’s wild to open the booklet of an Iron Maiden release in 2013 and find pictures of young lads in it. Those lads, who long ago became gentlemen of metal, are in this very year doing the European leg of the »Maiden England« world tour. It’s a recap of the 1988 tour, using the same stage sets and a set list that’s very close to the repertoire of the »Maiden England ’88« release. That’s why the band found this release, first planned back in 2008, so much more sensible. People will be curious how an Iron Maiden show on the 2013 tour looks before they go see it, while the people of North America, where Iron Maiden already did part of this world »Maiden England« tour in 2012, will surely buy it as a precious souvenir! And what’s the main thing in all this? At long last we’ve got a thoroughly authentic official document of what went down on that historic night of November 28, 1988 in Birmingham, England.
Line-up
Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Dave Murray – guitar
Adrian Smith – guitar, backing vocals
Steve Harris – bass guitar
Nicko McBrain – drums
Production
Martin Birch
Track list
CD 1.:
1. Moonchild
2. The Evil That Men Do
3. The Prisoner
4. Still Life
5. Die With Your Boots On
6. Infinite Dreams
7. Killers
8. Can I Play With Madness
9. Heaven Can Wait
10. Wasted Years
CD2.:
1. The Clairvoyant
2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3. The Number Of The Beast
4. Hallowed Be Thy Name
5. Iron Maiden
6. Run To The Hills*
7. Running Free*
8. Sanctuary*
*… tracks officially released for the first time
