Bruce Dickinson on Maiden England

[JayKeeley]

This could possibly be his best live performance (on an official recording) that I've heard. Yep, better than Live After Death. [Granted, there could be overdubs but then there could be overdubs on all their live releases.]

It's almost as if he fine tuned his voice for the Seventh Son tour and then just blew it out for No Prayer.

His follow up best performance was on The Chemical Wedding obviously, but Roy Z writes in a more accomodating scale.

Anyway, if Maiden England gets released on the next DVD batch, you lot are in for a treat (if you don't have the VHS already). That + Live After Death in one DVD release? Could be the best buy ever.

 

[matt99_crew]

That + Live After Death in one DVD release? Could be the best buy ever.

Absomuthafuckinlutely

Can't wait!

 

[JayKeeley]

9 reads, 1 response. Nice.

ALRIGHT YOU VUNTS, tell me the winnar of this:

Transylvania vs. Genghis Khan

:Spin:

 

[JayKeeley]

Transylvania, hands down

Hands down, eh? I thought it would be a pretty tough decision. Now, let's go into the details of how you made the decision..... *laughs at self*

OK, I'll go with Transylvania too. The less is more approach works, and it is one of the few instrumentals that I works very well live too (according to The Easrly Days DVD footage).

 

[JayKeeley]

Listened to "A Real Dead One" the other day. Piece of fucking shit mostly. How could they release anything like that, after Bruce's departure no less? To make it perfectly obvious exactly WHY he left while cramming £££ out of the fans? I mean hearing Bruce on "Prowler" and such on that record is just... sad.

Not to mention the 'orrible production on most of the album.

I've never heard this release. Tell me more, or rather, why is it just so bad? Is it a bad production or something? Or is it the fact that Bruce sounds sooo boooored.

 

[JayKeeley]

The Early Days DVD captures the entire gig at the Ruskin Arms!

 

[JayKeeley]

Now if you know your Maiden history, you will know that right during the 92/93 tour, Bruce decided to leave Maiden, but vowed to fulfill all booked dates before actually leaving... and the fans knew this... and from reading the official biography book ("Run to the Hills", a quite worthy read indeed) it's apparent that most of the nights, Bruce REALLY didn't bother at ALL after announcing his departure. Most of the nights, he just kind of mumbled and wailed along to the songs (Steve tells stories of sometimes thinking the monitors didn't work because he couldn't hear any singing,) never giving more than about 50% of his capability (which already was going down after 7th Son as everyone knows) and towards the end of the tour the entire band were well pissed off and tired, just happy to see Mr. Dickinson go really.

The "A Real Dead One" release is a compilation of old songs ("Powerslave" and earlier) from the '92/'93 tour, and though you would expect that Mr. 'Arry 'Arris had chosen the recordings where Bruce sounded "least bad", he's still pretty much atrocious on some of the '93 stuff mainly. He avoids all high notes anywhere, and "Prowler" and others are just pretty much him mumbling along.

It's just fucking sad, I mean like when they play "Hallowed be Thy Name" in Russia in '93, the FIRST Maiden concert in Russia ever, and you can tell that the fans are SO excited to hear them for the first time and really into it, but everyone knows that Bruce is leaving, and the entire band does a half-assed performance at best, with the boredom just dripping off the microphone in Bruce's case. Not fun. Steer clear of this CD except for historical purposes.

Yeah, interesting.

If you see that video of the last performance of Bruce (where they cut off his head), he's still not making the effort (even though it's the last performance).

In Maiden England, he is PSYCHED! "Moonchild" is blistering -- he hits the highnotes perfectly -- and he can't stand still in "The Evil that Men Do", and during the "standing on a razor's edge..." bit, he even balances on one foot on the edge of his monitor, arms reaching out to the sky like he does...

I was really nicely surprised with Maiden England, and I haven't even watched it all the way through yet where the gigantic Eddie figures start emerging from all the stage glaciers.... (like on the album cover) !!!

 

[matt99_crew]

I had A Real Dead One at one point but ditched it. Not horrible, but not very impressive, either. Anyone have Eddie's Archives? Some good stuff on that.

 

[JayKeeley]

Anyone have Eddie's Archives? Some good stuff on that.

Yeah, totally!!

Beast over Hammersmith: http://www.royalcarnage.com/Features/iron maiden/reviews/hammersmith frame.htm

The BBC Archives: http://www.royalcarnage.com/Features/iron maiden/reviews/bbc frame.htm

Best of the B-Sides: http://www.royalcarnage.com/Features/iron maiden/reviews/best frame.htm

The BBC Archives are excellent.

[Hey Erik, can we archive our features somehow when we move to RC v2.0? Even if they're just links to the frames, it would be a shame otherwise to lose this stuff completely].

 

[matt99_crew]

Damn--I opened the first one and realized those are WAY too long for me to digest on the company clock. I'll check 'em out tonight. Thanks for the links.

 

[Ayeka]

Anyone have Eddie's Archives? Some good stuff on that.

Yup. Ver' nice

I haven't watched Maiden England for a long time, though I took the CD to work with me awhile back. Twas ok...

I'd also like to add crappy guitar sound and Steve Harris' horrible 'clunk-clunk' bass to why A Real Live Dead One is not so good. Haven't listened to it for years...

 

[JayKeeley]

What's wrong with the "clunk clunk" sound to his bass? I thought that was pretty much his signature...

 

[Ayeka]

What's wrong with the "clunk clunk" sound to his bass? I thought that was pretty much his signature...

Well, he didn't use it in the early days, and it's not so pronounced on the later albums. But that clunk-clunk-clack-clack...I seem to be the only person who not only finds it VERY IRRIATATING, but also COULDN'T GIVE A SHIT if it's his signature sound or the Pope's...it still sounds annoying! And it's not like how a bass should sound...there's no bass to it, only CLUNK!