REVIEW: Iron Maiden – The Trooper (2005 single, CD/12″/7″/download)

1703Part 35 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews! 

SAM_1706

IRON MAIDEN – “The Trooper” (2005 single, available on CD, 7″, 12″, and a special download with an exclusive track)

“The Trooper” was re-released as a live single, in support of Maiden’s forthcoming Death on the Road live album (up next in my series of Maiden reviews), and their then-current Eddie Rips Up the World tour. It was released in numerous formats, each with its own exclusive content. Let’s look at ’em all:

SAM_1709

CD Single

This, the most common format to find, contains 3 audio tracks and 2 videos. Personally, I never watch these enhanced CDs, and both these videos are available elsewhere on DVD. They are the 2003 live version of “The Trooper” from the Death on the Road DVD, and the original music video.

The 3 audio tracks are:

  1. “The Trooper” – 2003 live version from Death on the Road
  2. “The Trooper” – original album version from Piece of Mind
  3. ‘“Prowler” – 2005 live version from the Eddie Rips Up the World tour

I love when Bruce sings the old Di’Anno-era classics, and this version of “Prowler” is exclusive to the CD format. During the Eddie Rips Up the World tour, they only played tracks from the first 4 records! That was because at the same time, they were also promoting their 2004 The Early Years DVD, which I talked about last time.

SAM_1711

mp3 Single

Undoubtedly, the rarest version. Since you can’t take a picture of a non-physical format, here’s a picture of the CD that I made of it!

This is what the download site had to say at the time about this odd-duck release:

To celebrate the release of their new single The Trooper, Iron Maiden are also releasing an exclusive EXTRA digital-only version of the track. Taken from their concert at Eglishollin Stadium, Reykjavik, ONLY AVAILABLE HERE complete with some very special extras!

I don’t have a clue what the extras were supposed to be, all I got was the mp3.  If there was anything exclusive such as artwork that was supposed to come with it, I’ve never found any evidence of it.  I have to discount any rumours of artwork.

  1. ‘”The Trooper” – 2005 live version from the current Eddie Rips Up the World tour, Reykjavik, Iceland

This is a slightly more frantic version than the 2003 live take, and trying to find a copy online is futile today.  I’ve had many people ask me to send them a copy.  Sorry, that’s not what this blog is for.  I don’t know what copyright laws regarding this are, but more to the point, I’m here to share my knowledge, not my music.

SAM_1707

7″ Single (blue vinyl)

I love this one. Here’s the track list:

  • A. “The Trooper” – 2003 live version from Death on the Road
  • B. “Another Life” – 2005 live version from the current Eddie Rips Up the World tour

Again, another Di’Anno classic from the Eddie Rips Up the World tour, and a smokin’ one at that. The only other place you could hear Dickinson sing this song is a 1982 version, exclusive to the massive Eddie’s Archive box set, which we’ve already covered.

SAM_1703

12″ Single (picture disc)

These 12″ picture discs are desired by collectors, but never sound as good as regular vinyl. Play it once, put it on your computer, and keep the record safe.

  • A1. “The Trooper” – 2003 live version from Death on the Road
  • A2. “The Trooper” – original album version from Piece of Mind
  • B. “Murders in the Rue Morgue” – 2005 live version from the current Eddie Rips Up the World tour

So again, a Di’Anno era classic, exclusive to this format. A couple earlier versions with Bruce singing are available on the Eddie’s Archive box set. This is the most current recording available of Maiden playing this song. Maiden generally don’t play a lot of the old Di’Anno’s anymore, excluding stuff like “Iron Maiden” and “Running Free”.

So, as a huge fan of Bruce singing Di-Anno era Maiden, and as a big fan of beautiful vinyl, gotta give this:

5/5 stars

Next time, we’ll talk about Death on the Road itself.  Stay tuned.

Note: All comments regarding trades will be deleted.

16 comments

    1. Maybe I scared people off with my stern warning eh? LOL.

      I take it, HMO, that you haven’t been into singles until recently?

      For those who don’t know, HMO is doing an awesome weekly series on cheap singles that he is finding about town! Check these out, he’s made me jealous twice in a row now.

      http://heavymetaloverload.com/

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Aw, thanks for the plug. No, I was never into singles at all. It just never really occurred to me that there would so many, otherwise, unreleased tracks on them. I just concentrated on albums. It was the acquisition of a turntable a few years ago that got me thinking about them and seeing all the unusual stuff you own got me even more into it!

        Like

        1. That reminds of when I first started working at the store with T-Rev. He didn’t understand why I was always buying singles, he thought they were a waste of money. Then he realized all the cool rare stuff you could get, and he dove right in. Now he has an excellent collection too!

          Like

        2. It’s just something I never really thought about. I assumed that the B-sides would just be album tracks most of the time and then when I started getting CDs I just stopped paying attention to them altogether.

          Like

        4. Cool. You get extra bravery points for putting that photo of yourself on the internet! Haha

          I really don’t know why I just decided that singles weren’t for me. It was a stupid decision. I knew about Maiden, Marillion, Leppard etc… putting unreleased stuff on them so I should have known better.

          I’ll blame KISS cause I was so caught up with them years. They were never very good at putting unreleased stuff on their singles. It was mostly always other album tracks.

          Like

        5. Dude, you think that’s bravery? That’s nothing. Nothing at all. THIS was bravery!

          Part 7: A Shitty Story

          Kiss usually suck for B-sides, I’ll agree with that. That’s one reason why I’m really on the fence about buy that pretty, pretty new box set of theirs. It’s a lot of money for stuff I probably have. At the time I felt that “Oh, Kiss just don’t want to rip off their fans by making them spend extra money on songs.” I clearly did not know who Greed Simmons was at that time!

          Like

        6. That story was quite something! Thanks for sharing… bravery indeed! I did clean up a lot of shit when I worked in a store but it was never my own. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse!

          Like

        9. I take it you guys had restrooms that were open to the public. I would take my experience over that any day!

          We had people who would say they’d never shop here again unless I let them take a shit in our washroom.

          Like

  2. Of all the Maiden live albums why not one from the Early Years Tour??
    Considering they put out live album after live album,bummed me out that there was no official release for that tour….

    Like

    1. Agreed Deke — all we got are these B-sides here.

      I would have liked a live album from A Matter of Life & Death as well, since they played the entire album on that tour. Instead all we got are two B-sides, but I’ll be talking about those soon enough.

      Like

  3. Haha I love how Mike goes to all the work of putting up all of this incredibly rare Maiden stuff ofr us to ogle and admire, and then the majority of the comments are about people taking dumps! Haha.

    Dude, that’s some seriously cool stuff you’ve got, there. I’m new to this whole Maiden thing, and even I know there will be people out there with hard-ons just from looking at the vinyls in those pictures.

    I understand your need to tell people not to ask for trades. It’s a smart thing to do. After all, the point of collecting is to actually own the physical record (except in the case of the MP3).

    You are amassing quite a pile of Maiden info, reviews and pictures in one place, man. Your site is likely to become a go-to for other fans looking for this stuff!

    Like

Comments are closed.