beast over hammersmith

Beast Over Hammersmith: Harrison Hosts and Mike Learns!

Episode 6 of 50 Years of Iron Maiden (and episode 93 of Grab A Stack of Rock) was a learning experience as Harrison schooled us on the Beast On the Road Tour.

A fabulous live album recorded in 1982 but not released until 2002, Beast Over Hammersmith rivals Live After Death in metal mastery.  The lively comments section anticipated all of our praise for this album, which you can get on vinyl, but probably not on CD without buying the Eddie’s Archive box set.

Harrison Kopp was the master of ceremonies, and this episode was all his.  Hear about the unusual opener, the instrumental, the guitar solo, the B-side, and much more.  Several things came up multiple times in this episode:  1) Bruce Dickinson’s voice at this point in 1982.  2) Clive Burr’s masterful performances of these songs.  3) The band’s fresh take on the songs that would later be played hundreds of times.

This is episode is certain to go down as a favourite.  Join us next week with Melissa Nee, for Piece of Mind!

 

Past episodes:

 

Show notes:

Recorded 20 March 1982 – 2 days before album was out, released 2 November 2002.

Never released in full on video as the band were unhappy with the quality, but you can see part on the 2004 Early Days DVD.

Opener:  Murders in the Rue Morgue!  Starts slow, showcasing Steve’s bass harmonics.  Then goes breakneck!  What a strange opener!

Wrathchild is another great Steve bass opener.  This one is more along the lines of the album version, but with Bruce singing.

New song Run to the Hills is 3rd in the set!  Not as breakneck speed as some versions.

Another new song, Children of the Damned.  Bruce announces the album will be out March 22.  Tour de force vocals and some nice guitar harmonics added in.

Crowd is very quiet except for a few pockets of cheers to open Number of the Beast.  Bruce mentions the “problems” they had in the studio.

Great version of “Another Life”, with Clive absolutely on fire on the snares and cymbols.  Bruce’s vocals make the lyrics more clear:  “As I lay here lying on my bed.”  Amazing Davey soloing here.

Screaming version of Killers next.  Bruce at peak voice tackling this song.  Otherwise pretty faithful to album cut, especially the guitars and guitar tone.  We also learn Adrian had some bruised up ribs that night.

22 Acacia is introduced as an Adrian co-write.  Another perfect performance.  Bruce’s vocals are biting and growly during the intro.

Bruce says Total Eclipse isn’t really a B-side, but it is.  “Didn’t have enough room on the album.”  This song and Run to the Hills were on a vinyl single already.  The vocals are a little haggard toward the challenging ending high notes.

Leads into instrumental Transylvania, played as it should be by Clive.

Crowd is silent during the Prisoner opening.  Great hearing it like with Clive on drums.  The drums are fast, frenetic and flawless.  Tempo seems a bit faster in the latter part than the album.

Hallowed comes in with no intro from Bruce.  Better live version than Live After Death, as Bruce sings the opening a little more true to album.  Passionate singing from Bruce.

Phantom – Top performance from Bruce, expressive and soaring!  Tempo feels a little faster than album.

Iron Maiden – Breakneck version!

Sanctuary – Same with Sanctuary!

Drifter – Songs tend to flow one into another.  I don’t like when Bruce refers to some in the audience as a “fucking women,” but that was the 80s.  I doubt he’d say this today.

Running Free – A top Bruce version, with impassioned and wild vocals.

Prowler – Crazy to hear this album opener as a closer.

 

 

 

 

🅻🅸🆅🅴 50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 6: Beast Over Hammersmith

50 Years of IRON MAIDEN episode 6:  Beast Over Hammersmith

A special 🅻🅸🆅🅴 episode

GRAB A STACK OF ROCK #93

Good evening Hammersmith…or wherever you are!  Tonight on 50 Years of Iron Maiden, Harrison and I are appropriately tackling this live album with a live episode!

Beast Over Hammersmith is a double live album recorded just before The Number of the Beast was released.  The band played a rare mix of Di’Anno classics and deep cuts, along with new material, and one B-side!  Bruce explains to the crowd that it’s not “really” a B-side, which it was, but we’ll get into that, as well as “all the lazy bastards from EMI in the back.”

This episode is our sendoff to Clive Burr, and we’ll be talking about him, though not for the last time in this series.

Beast Over Hammersmith was first issued as a 2 CD set within the Eddie’s Archive box set, which we have taken brief looks at in the past.  Today you can get Beast Over Hammersmith on vinyl, so it is a significant enough release to warrant its own episode.

So give us a yo, yo yo yo! and see us tonight, live!

Past episodes:

LIVE on Friday February 28 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic.   Enjoy on YouTube or Facebook.

REVIEW: Iron Maiden – “The Number of the Beast” (2005 single) / The Early Days (DVD)

Part 34 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!

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IRON MAIDEN – “The Number of the Beast” (2005 CD/vinyl single)

I’ve decided, much like my idol Martin Popoff, to stick pretty much to audio releases when it comes to this series of Maiden reviews.  To get into video just opens a big can of worms that I don’t think I can handle.  However worth mentioning is the excellent Maiden DVD The Early Days.

SAM_1611A two-disc set, The Early Days combines an excellent documentary with lots of rare early Maiden footage featuring Di’Anno and Dickinson.  Live At The Rainbow, Beast Over Hammersmith (audio available on Eddie’s Archive), Live In Dortmund, and Live at the Ruskin Arms are all a part of this, as well as some videos and Top of the Pops performances.  The documentary chronicles the early days and features interviews with ex members Paul Di’Anno, Clive Burr, Dennis Stratton, Dave Sullivan, Terry Rance, Doug Sampson, Ron “Rebel” Matthews, Terry Wapram and Bob Sawyer.  There are very few members missing from this documentary; most notably singers Paul Day and Den Wilcock, and drummer Thunderstick.

The following year, Maiden re-released “The Number of the Beast” as a CD single, with an advertisement promoting The Early Days on the back.   Therefore I’ve decided to consider this single as promotional to The Early Days, which also contains the video for “Beast”.

The tracklisting is as follows:

  1. “The Number of the Beast” (original version)
  2. “The Number of the Beast” (live at Brixton ’02)
  3. “Hallowed Be That Name” (live at Brixton ’02)

plus videos:

  1. “The Number of the Beast” (Camp Chaos version — essentially has added animations)
  2. “The Number of the Beast” (live at Brixton ’02)

I also have a red vinyl 7″ single with a lovely poster.  This one just contains the two versions of “Beast”.

These live tracks being ’02, they featuring the six-man lineup of Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Adrian Smith, and Nicko McBrain.

So what can I say as far as an actual review goes?  Well, it’s Maiden live in ’02, two of their all time best tracks.  “Hallowed” in particular smokes with fiery solos by Dave and Janick.  Janick simply burns up the fretboard with the kind of speedy fingerwork that the fans love him for.  Bruce is in top voice.

As a nice little extra bonus single for the fans, I have no complaints.

5/5 stars

REVIEW: Iron Maiden – Eddie’s Archive (2002)

Part 30 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!

IRON MAIDEN – Eddie’s Archive (2002, limited edition)

Eddie’s Archive was released simultaneously with another (!) greatest hits compilation called Edward The Great.  We’ll talk about that one next.  This is the real meat of it all!

This box set defines limited edition. I’m not sure how many copies were made, but the first printing with blue inlay was sold out nearly immediately. That’s the version I have. It was soon reissued with a red inlay to differentiate it, but even it is long out of print.

Inside you will find three individually packaged jewel cases, each containing 2 CDs for a total of 6 discs. These three “double albums” (for lack of a better term) are:

BBC Archives
Beast Over Hammersmith
Best of the B’Sides

The main reason to buy this set are the first two albums, BBC Archives and Beast Over Hammersmith.  To me, the Best of the B’Sides only scratches the surface of the treasures to be found on the numerous Iron Maiden singles and EP’s.  And as loyal LeBrain readers know, I’ve talked about ’em all.

BBC Archives contains numerous goodies. It starts off with a rare four song session by an ealy version of Maiden featuring Doug Sampson (drums) and Tony Parsons (guitar). Listening to “Sanctuary” as an example, you can tell it’s a guitar player you’re not familiar with. This is Parsons’ only recording with Maiden, but “Sanctuary” was previously released on the very rare NWOBHM compilation that Lars Ulrich put together.  I love the pure fire and raw youth of these early recordings.  “Transylvania” feels very different from its album incarnation.  You can tell it’s a different drummer.  And of course since it is the BBC, they are expertly recorded.

From there it’s a scorching ’82 set with Dickinson at Reading. Then back to 1980 for a Di’Anno Reading set, and finally to 1988 for a Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour (Donington) recording. All of these are pure smoke and it’s great to hear Bruce in peak voice. Unfortunately, on this album alone, you will hear “Iron Maiden” four times!  It is what it is.  You wouldn’t want them to leave any tracks out, would you?

Next disc has the ’82 Hammersmith show. A couple tracks from these were issued as B-sides on the “Run To The Hills” single from Rock In Rio. Anyway, like the BBC discs, this is pure smoke. It is a pleasure to finally have a full concert with Clive Burr on drums and Bruce in top form. Of course you will hear “Iron Maiden” and numerous others again. With a box set of this nature it’s inevitable. If you’re a Maiden fan, you don’t care.  Do you?

Finally, the B’Sides.  Everything here has been made available before on singles.  There is nothing truly “unreleased” here as far as Maiden goes. There’s also nothing that is previously unreleased on CD unfortunately, like Maiden Japan or “I Live My Way” from the “Man On The Edge” 12″ single. For me, these discs are more just a “best of”. There are some cool tracks here such as the Montrose cover “I’ve Got The Fire”. (Maiden chose Dickinson’s version rather than Di’Anno’s, which is fine.) Other highlights include the pop metal goodness of “That Girl” and “Reach Out”, as well as originals such as “Burning Ambition” and “Invasion”. The covers that Maiden selects are mostly obscure enough (Nektar? Marshall Fury?) that they may as well be originals.

Then you get some of Maiden’s little-known jokey material: “Sheriff of Huddersfield” for example. I’m not sure how well it works as an overall listen. I prefer the singles in their original context, personally. As I mentioned, this is far from a complete set, and you can argue all you like for what you would have included. Certainly you can make solid arguments in favour of the Thin Lizzy cover “Massacre” or the rare “I Live My Way”.

Each CD jewel case features its own extensive booklet with photos, Derek Riggs cover art, and liner notes, with the exception of Beast Over Hammersmith. That one contains a booklet which is a reproduction of the original tour programme! Works for me! Otherwise, there is no book for the box set itself.

What you do get includes a neat scroll with the Iron Maiden family tree on it, wrapped inside a metal ring. (I’m sure this family tree is loaded with errors like the previous one included inside A Real Dead One, I’ve never bothered to check.) You also get this cool shot glass with Eddie’s face in the bottom. A cool treat. The box itself is a shiny tin masterpiece. It snaps shut securely and it is very detailed and cool looking.

What are you willing to pay for this set? That’s entirely up to you, but if you don’t have it, expect to pay through the teeth. Personally, to me it’s all about the music. Decide how much you’re willing to pay for approximately four discs of previously unreleased Maiden and purchase accordingly.

For me? 4/5 stars!