I put in just shy of 12 years at the record store. That’s a lot of time to work retail. If you’ve worked retail, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, it has its ups and downs. The ups include discounts. The downs entail being abused by the general public on a daily basis.
I have a nice plaque around here somewhere, commemorating 7 years at the store. It was a pretty cool gift. It was a total surprise, how it happened. My boss phoned me out of the blue one day.
“Mike,” he said. “I need a list of the top 5 albums of all time. It’s for an article we’re doing.”
“Cool!” I responded eagerly. “But what are the parameters? Is it like rock, or all genres? Because that’s just a wide-open question.”
“Just what you think are the top albums of all time, that’s all I really need.”
Cool! I started work on it. I wanted to be objective, fair. If I were making a personalized list of a top 5, it would be easy, I know there would be some Kiss and Sabbath in there. I wanted to discount my own personal biases and try to be as open as possible for this particular list.
First of all, I chose The Wall. I admit that I chose this over Dark Side due to personal preference, also I think a double album like The Wall deserves many accolades. I obviously had to give respect to two of the greatest bands of all time, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. I chose Zeppelin IV and Abbey Road. I really couldn’t choose a Zeppelin, so I went with IV as kind of a default answer. Abbey Road is arguably the most genius the Beatles ever were, so I could easily choose that over Sgt. Pepper’s.
OK, three down! Even though all three artists I chose were different from each other, they were all rock, so I needed to go outside that box. To represent country, I decided on Folson Prison by Johnny Cash. Were this a more personalized list, I would choose San Quentin, but I went with Folsom as it seems to be the best known.
I didn’t know what to pick last, so I went with a cop-out answer. Back In Black. What a weak, spineless choice! What am I a college student? Anyway, again I decided to be open and think about how many copies it sold, not about the many superior AC/DC albums.
I submitted my list. A month or two later, I was presented with this plaque! And these five albums were on the plaque! My boss had collected lists from a few of us who had been there a while, and given us custom made plaques, with the CDs and everything. It was really cool and I treasured mine for years.
I only wish he had worded his question differently! If I had known in advance what he was really asking (thus spoiling the surprise) I would have chosen these five:
5. Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind
4. Kiss – Alive
3. Kiss – Hotter Than Hell
2. Deep Purple – Fireball
1. Black Sabbath – Born Again
The original plaque is packed up in a box, as Mrs. LeBrain and I are planning a move to a bigger place. Here’s the five albums that made it onto the plaque though, at least all albums I proudly own. And because I don’t do anything small, I own them all in some kind of crazy deluxe box set. Enjoy.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 216: The Most Expensive Thing I Ever Destroyed
The most expensive thing I ever destroyed was a Michael Jackson Ultimate Collection 5 CD box set. The discs were pretty hacked, but salvageable. We had the means to repair such discs, but the deeper the blemish, the harder this is. Retail price on it was probably around $55, we had sunk at least $20 or $25 into it. We didn’t see too many of them, which is why one of the staff paid $20 or $25 for a hacked box set.
Four of the discs we were able to fix no problem. One of them was really bad. It had one deep scratch in it that just refused to come out. Other staff members, even the guy who was generally the best at getting scratches out, had failed as well. One night it was slow in the store so I decided to take another shot at it.
I could see the scratch, clear as a bell, but I couldn’t feel anything with my fingernail. We must have buffed it down so close to the actual scratch. I just needed to buff a little more…and then I applied a little pressure. A little more. Looking good. A little more…
Then I felt the familiar, frictiony bite of the plastic in the CD melting. Once you’ve melted a disc, it’s done. Finished. Garbage. Worthless. You can see, if you look close enough. You can see a tiny deflection, a distortion, kind of like a hot road on a summer day. Once the plastic is melted, your player’s laser is refracted and the CD will skip. And it will probably skip very, very badly.
That’s how I destroyed an expensive and rare Michael Jackson box set, forever and ever.
This review dedicated to the greatUncle Meat. Part 1 of a 2 part series!
MARILLION – Early Stages (Official Bootleg Box Set 1982-1987) (EMI)
This is the first of two Marillion Official Bootleg box sets. The second covers the Hogarth years 1990-1994. Mine came with an autographed print!
I listened to this box again over the course of a week. I chose the car as the setting. I’ve spent a lot of time driving to Marillion in the past (lots of great memories) so this setting works for me. I enjoy loading long box sets onto my car MP3 player. I did that recently with the 12 CD Deep Purple Bootleg Series box set. As soon as I was done with that one, I dove into Early Stages.
I also acquired the recent compilation Early Stages: The Highlights. Why, you ask? Well, like many “highlights” packages, they usually stick on one exclusive song to get you to buy the same thing twice. The bait is “Market Square Heroes” Fife Aid 1988, the final song of the final show with Fish. OK, I’ll bite.
I don’t have a lot to say specifically about any of the concerts included in this box set. There are a lot of songs from periods before they were recorded on albums, and that’s cool. There are four different drummers on this set*, representing the rarely documented transitional periods in Marillion’s lineup. The discs are all of great sonic quality considering the years they were recorded. Fish is a great frontman, usually funny but occasionally serious, and always entertaining.
Here are some observations about some of the set’s highlights. From The Mayfair, Glasgow, 1982: “He Knows You Know” is not quite as slick as we’re used to, a little tentative, but no less powerful. An early version of “She Chameleon” is quite different musically from what it would become, although the lyrics are mostly in place.
When you get to the Marquee show (December of ’82), Fish is especially talkative and sentimental. The gem here is obviously “Grendel”, a song which never ceases to amaze me. Fish’s expressive voice has me hook, line and sinker. You’ll be treated to the complete workout of “Grendel” again in 1983 (Reading). The 1984 Hammersmith concert has emotional classics like “Jigsaw” and “Cinderella Search”. The real treat is an early version of the first track for the forthcoming album Misplaced Childhood; a track Fish calls “Side One”. It’s an early version, the lyrics still not all the way there, and it’s missing the entire “Lavender” section. But you can hear the shape of things to come.
Hey Uncle Meat! Who’s your favourite lyricist?
The box set closes with a late period show, and a big one: Wembley, 1987. A good chunk of Misplaced Childhood (all of Side One) and Clutching at Straws are presented. There are only a couple oldies: “Fugazi” and “Incubus”. This is a slicker, more commercial-sounding band, much more skilled at writing complicated yet catchy music.
Of note: there are a whopping 15 pages full of liners notes by one Derek W. Dick, aka Fish, and new cover art by Mark Wilkinson! If that doesn’t sell this set, then nothing will.
5/5 stars
* Mick Pointer, John Martyr, Andy Ward, and Ian Mosely. Only Jonathan Mover is not heard on this, although he is on the 6 CD Curtain Call box set.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 200: Just Another Annoying Day…
It was a Wednesday in May, 1997. Early afternoon. This big, big dude with a shaved head walked into my store. I greeted him, as I did all customers. By all appearances he was perfectly normal.
“Hi there,” I said a few moments after he walked in.
“Do you have any Metallica box sets?” he replied, skipping the formalities.
I didn’t need to check inventory to know the answer. The Metallica box set, Live Shit: Binge & Purge was huge. It housed three VHS video tapes, 3 CDs in one jumbo “fat” case, a nice booklet, a “backstage pass”, and a stencil.
Legend has it that Peter the Rocker stenciled the “Metallica Guy” on the hood of his car.
There were other things that you might have classified as a Metallica “box set” at the time, but it was 1997 and there weren’t many. The first Fan Can was out (1996), and there was the vinyl-only The Good, The Bad and The Live: 6½ Anniversary EP Box Set that we wouldn’t have carried (no vinyl in 1997).
“No, I don’t have any. I know for sure that one of our other stores had one a few days ago. Want me to check if it’s still there?”
“No. How much will you pay me for one?” he asked.
“Well, that depends on a lot of things. It’ll depend on if it’s complete, condition…”
Cutting me off, he abruptly said, “Yeah, yeah…it’s brand new. It’s my buddy’s. He has lots of Metallica box sets. What will you pay me for the rest of them? He has all of them.”
“All of them?” I queried. “What do you mean by all of them? Binge & Purge is the one most people are thinking off.”
“Yeah he has that, and all the others too,” he continued, “all sealed. Metallica have a lot of box sets. He has doubles of all of them.”
The dude smelled fishy, and it sounded to me like he was setting up a story in order to possibly go across the street to the mall, steal one or more, and sell them to me. At this point, my guard was up and I wasn’t interested. So, as diplomatically as possible, I addressed the big guy.
“Well dude, I can’t make any promises. I can’t give you any kind of quote or promise without knowing what I’m buying.”
Cutting me off again, he repeated, “They’re all brand new. Still in plastic. Yeah, my buddy, he collects them. But, uhh, he owes me money, and uhh…he said I could sell what I needed to get the money. Can you give me $400?”
If I was drinking something I probably would spat it up. “Umm, no man, listen, I really can’t help you out with that right now.”
“Are you hiring?” he replied, changing tack.
I paused, trying to keep up with the guy’s racing thoughts. Even if I was hiring, there was no way I was telling him that! I replied in the negative.
“No? Can you hire me just for this afternoon? I could lift stuff and help around the store,” he persisted.
“No. I got it covered. Thanks, I’m good.”
“I just need enough for the bus. I have to be in Hamilton on Friday. I’m going to Hamilton to work, but I don’t have a way of getting there yet. Can you just, you know, give me some money?” I couldn’t believe I was hearing this.
“Sorry man, I really can’t. Maybe someone else can help you if you go elsewhere,” I said, politely terminating the conversation.
“OK. I’m going to go get those Metallica box sets. My buddy lives really close. I’ll be back in 20 minutes,” he announced, as he left the store.
I knew a guy at the HMV store at the mall, so I gave him a call. I asked him to keep an eye on a big bald guy who might be eyeing the Metallica box set a little too closely. He called the other music stores at the mall and gave them a heads-up as well.
Part 1 of a miniseries on Rob Halford’s solo career!
FIGHT – War of Words (1993 Sony)
I was devastated when Rob Halford left Priest. I was so heavily invested emotionally in the excellent Painkiller album, I couldn’t believe it was over! Last I had heard, the band were going to be working on two new songs for a greatest hits album (Metal Works) and then Rob would take a break to do a solo album. Instead, the band split completely! Halford and drummer extraordinaire Scott Travis formed Fight with guitarists Russ Parish and Brian Tilse, and the bass player from hell, Jay Jay. (Today, Parish goes by the name “Satchel” when he plays with Steel Panther!) Regarding Jay Jay, Halford says that he did a number of Rob’s own tattoos. Rob figured if he could play bass as well he he tattooed, he was in. Jay Jay also does the grunt-metal backing vocals.
The resulting album, War of Words, is a Pantera-esque thrash-fest, one of the heaviest things Rob had ever done (until Halford’s Crucible album), undeniable brutal, scream-laden, and punishing from start to finish. Halford had cleverly assembled two shredding guitar players with differing styles too: Tilse specialized in the noisy speedy solos, while Parrish played the more melodic and traditional speedy solos! War of Words is solo nirvana for fans of Rob and Priest. And Rob wrote every single song by himself.
The twin openers, “Into the Pit” and “Nailed to the Gun”, are two of a kind: they are rip-yer-head-off thrashers with Rob’s patented glass-breaking screams. The song structures on War of Words are simpler than what we heard with Priest, no doubt since Rob composed the songs by himself. This simplicity serves to make the album feel even heavier and more relentless.
The lyrics, just as simple and aggressive. “Into the Pit” doesn’t feature much in the way of poetry:
Conspiring, for sation Malfeasance, on high Obstruction, of duty Disorder, will rise
Rob takes the pace back a bit on the third track, “Life in Black” which I don’t think you can fairly call a ballad, to me it’s more Dio-era Sabbath with a very vintage-Dio sounding solo. (Rob had just helped out Sabbath live after Dio left, singing lead for two shows while opening for Ozzy Osbourne.) Meanwhile “Immortal Sin” bears a slow groove with a melodic chorus, downtuned but a bright spot in the proceedings.
The title track opens with the American First Amendment (Rob was living in Phoenix). It’s another aural assault with Rob keeping his vocals in the upper register. Travis’ incredible drumming punctuates every venomous word. Considering that less than three years prior, Rob (with Priest) was in court defending his band during the infamous “suicide trial”, the words are apt.
Dream Deceivers, directed by David Van Taylor, the excellent documentary on the Judas Priest trial
It’s back to dark haunting territory next: “Laid to Rest” ended the first side of the album. I find this one to contain one of Rob’s best vocal performances of the album. It’s reminiscent of “A Touch of Evil” by Priest, but downtuned and slightly exotic.
Side Two’s opener, “For All Eternity” is really the final reprieve. It is most definitely a power ballad in vintage Priest vibe, but again with the modern downtuned guitars. A song like this really proved Rob’s songwriting chops. He’s capable of writing emotive, catchy powerful music completely on his own, and the song is an achievement. The bridge around 2:25 is just awesomeness, but Tilse’s guitar solo completes the picture. As if that wasn’t enough, Rob returns to full on scream mode for the end.
“Little Crazy” was a critically acclaimed heavy metal blues, and the second single/video. I’m struggling to describe it beyond “heavy metal blues”, but this song is definitely a highlight. Rob puts everything he has into the slinky lead vocal, while band fuse the blues feel with heavy metal’s precision. I recall reviews of the time saying, “If Rob wanted to drop metal and go full-on blues, he could.” Now that would be interesting.
The rest of the album is no-holds-barred. The triple threat of “Contortion”, “Kill It”, and “Vicious” is almost too much. Each song strips everything down to the basics: simple riffs, violent words, relentless drums, without much in terms of melody. This is the most difficult part of the album to penetrate. In time the three songs grow. “Contortion” protests what we are doing to the Earth with angry frustration. “Kill It” is about TV preachers (whom I’m sure had their opinions on Priest during the trial). “Vicious” was always my favourite of the trio:
You cheating, lying, mother-fucking son of a bitch..
Vicious, vicious, Fucker, fucker!
I was going through an angry phase at the time!
Rob saved the best track for last. “Reality: A New Beginning” is a weighty epic, a perfect closer, slightly exotic and successfully combining Fight’s heavy side with Rob’s ability to write great melodies. This is simply an incredible song, a jewel in Halford’s crown, and a song which definitely deserves another look. The lyrics seem to be autobiographical:
This time, when I’m leaving, Who cares where I’ll go?
There was a hidden CD bonus track (not on cassette) after a five minute silence, a jokey song called “Jesus Saves”. Rob’s voice is electronically manipulated to sound…well, not sure what he’s supposed to sound like. An angry elf, I guess.
4.75/5 stars
There are some supplementary releases available:
1. This one is on my wishlist, I don’t own a physical copy: In 1994 Fight released a Christmas CD single called “Christmas Ride” with a message from Rob! They later reissued this as a free download from Rob’s site, but that is no longer around.
2. The live/remix EP, Mutations (next up in this series of reviews).
3. In 2007, a demo album called K5: The War of Words Demos was released. This featured demo versions of most of the album, plus five more. These include four new songs, and “Psycho Suicide” which was later remade for the second Fight album, A Small Deadly Space. The demos reveal that a much more conventional-sounding metal album was initially planned. (“The Beast Denies” is a very different version of “Reality: A New Beginning”.)
4. The 2008 Fight box set Into the Pit contains remixed versions of War of Words (again without “Jesus Saves”) and A Small Deadly Space. But the cool thing it contains is a DVD, Fight Live In Phoenix. The band rips through the entire album, in sequence (no “Jesus Saves”!) and then Rob’s solo track, “Light Comes Out of Black” (from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie soundtrack).
5. Buffy the Vampire Slayer original motion picture soundtrack. This is the only place you can get the studio version of “Light Comes Out of Black”, featuring his backing band…Pantera. All of Pantera.
I like “Light Comes Out of Black”, but it’s a lot easier to swallow than Fight is on first listen. I remember a M.E.A.T Magazine interview with Glenn Tipton and KK Downing, where they trashed it. “If it were on Painkiller, it would be one of the weaker songs, if not the weakest,” said KK.
KK might have been right about that to a certain extent, but only because Painkiller consists of 10 awesome songs!
DEEP PURPLE – Collector’s Edition: The Bootleg Series 1984-2000 (2000 Thames Thompson, Australia only, 12 CD set)
There are two (!) 12 CD Deep Purple bootleg collections; this is the first and best of them. Although Deep Purple’s career is chock full of live albums chronicling this period, this set does feature many treats that are hard to find or not available on official live albums. These really are bootlegs; the band decided to release their own versions of pre-existing audience bootleg albums! All artwork, errors included, are copied from the original bootleg releases.
Before you get too excited I will state right off the bat: There’s no Deep Purple Mk V or VI. No Joe Lynn Turner, or Joe Satriani. There is, however, a show from 1995 with Steve Morse, previewing tracks from the yet-to-be recorded Purpendicular album. This transitional period is very cool. You get to hear Morse perform “Anyone’s Daughter”, which was dropped from the set not long after. Since Morse and Blackmore’s styles are vastly different, it’s a cool take on a track that you don’t hear often as it is. In addition, you’ll hear Morse reinvent “Woman From Tokyo” on a bootleg from 2000.
The Bootleg Series also contains my favourite version of “The Battle Rages On” ever released. 1995, Ft. Lauderdale Florida, Ian Gillan tore the roof off with that song. In my mind I always imagined his screams directed towards Blackmore, even though he was probably furthest from Gillan’s mind. It’s a magical version, you can hear the electricity and the emotion. Just awesome.
Also a treat is a revisiting of the old In Rock classic, “Into the Fire” from 2000. This version crushes! Unfortunately, a stiff and slow version of “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” follows it. Deep Purple are that kind of band, usually they just kill it. But their history does contain rare stumbles, and this take of “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” is nothing stacked up against other versions available. On the other hand, Purple just smoke the Abandon track “’69” immediately afterwards! They extend this concise rocker to include an extended jam with a nod and wink to “Paint It, Black”.
Other highlights: Blackmore’s solo spot “Difficult to Cure”. Rarely heard 80’s-era tracks such as “Under the Gun”, “A Gypsy’s Kiss”, “Nobody’s Home”, “The Unwritten Law”, “Bad Attitude”, “Hard Lovin’ Woman”, and “Dead or Alive”. You can’t buy a live version of “The Unwritten Law” anywhere else. “Fools”, a rarely played track from Fireball, simply crushes. Holy Ian Paice, Batman! Steve puts his own slant on the guitar part in “Fools”, but it is his solo spot on “Cascades” that is truly intoxicating.
These being bootlegs, don’t expect sound quality or packaging or liner notes, unfortunately. The sound quality does improve as you go from the oldest discs to the most recent. The oldest shows have a lot of crowd noise, and poor sounding drums. By the time you get the Japan 2000 show, things sound much better although can still stray towards muddy at times. Packaging-wise, what you see is what you get: A box, six jewel cases, front covers and back covers.
This was an Australia-only release. I have no idea what it’s worth today. I haven’t seen one in years.
I decided that there’s no point rating these bootlegs individually. For one, it’s a set, and when it came down to splitting hairs, I like them equally. And that speaks volumes as to the consistency of this band.
This one goes out to Rich from KamerTunesBlog, a great, informed site that you should check out.
I got the other two Sectors for Christmas, but this is an older review.
RUSH – Sector 2 (2011 box set, 5 CD + 1 DVD)
Damn you Rush. Damn you!
If it wasn’t for the fact that I liked their past 5.1 mixes so much, I wouldn’t have bought each of these albums again in this box set. And the fact that only one album (A Farewell To Kings) has been mixed in 5.1 really grinds my gears. Because you know more is coming. 2112, recently released as a part of Sector 1, in normal stereo, is now coming again in 5.1. It’s obvious Rush are going to continue to issue 5.1 mixes of their albums, in seemingly random order, which will probably make these box sets completely redundant in the future.
Rich Chycki did the 5.1 mix once again, and once again, it’s a pleasure to listen to. In particular I found “Cygnus X-1” to really benefit from the treatment. The swirly opening section made me feel as if I too was aboard the Rocinante, wheeling through the galaxies. The album sounds three dimensional, clear, shimmery. I’m very happy with the 5.1 mix.
Farewell is included on a standard stereo remastered CD, and also in stereo on the DVD. I have read online that there are flaws with the stereo mix of this DVD but I’ve never played it. I’m not that much of an audiophile that I would really care to, when I already have a CD.
The other CD’s included in the set, aside from A Farewell To Kings, are:
Hemispheres
Permanent Waves
Moving Pictures
Exit…Stage Left
…all of which I have now bought more than once. In Moving Pictures‘ case, three times now, since they just issued that as a deluxe edition with a 5.1 surround blu-ray last year! (Reviewed here.) Bastards.
I’m not going to review each individual album in this set. That comprehensive task would require separate blog entries of their own. They’re all great, of course. Some (Moving Pictures) more so than others (Hemispheres) in my own personal opinion. And of course, within this box set you will get such classics as “Closer To The Heart”, “The Trees”, “The Spirit of Radio”, “Freewill”, “YYZ”, “Limelight”, and “Vital Signs”. In addition there are plenty of brilliant album tracks like “La Villa Strangiato” and “Natural Science”.
The box itself is attractive enough, and if you’re sucked into buying all three, then they all fit together on your shelf as one handsome library. But you already own some of these albums, if not all, don’t you? The bait is that 5.1 mix of Farewell. And it pisses me off that Rush would treat their fans in that way. Why not just remaster and re-release these albums on their own and in a box set?
The individual album packaging is nice enough too, mini record sleeve reproductions, with a nice booklet with lyrics and liner notes for the whole shebang, all taken from the albums. As far as the booklet goes, there’s no exclusive essays or other content that is new to me.
And as for the new remastering? I can’t tell the difference between this and the 1997 remasters. I can’t. Sorry. I’m sure an audiophile would call me an idiot for saying so.
I probably won’t buy Sectors 1 and 3, not unless the prices drop dramatically. I was able to re-gift my original Rush remasters off to other people, which is one way of dealing with the duplicates, but I’m not going to be getting rid of my deluxe Moving Pictures, since it has the blu-ray and a David Fricke essay. So I’ve got two copies of that, and people who collect 5.1 mixes and have Sector 1 will end up with two copies of 2112. Nice eh?
After a few years had gone by, there were too many damn rules to follow. There were so many, we literally had books full of them, with new rules being added regularly. It was pure insanity, because you had to remember some rule that was made (for example) 26 months ago. Not to mention if you dug far enough back, you could find rules that contradicted each other. It was like telling a dog to sit and come at the same time, you can’t do it.
One rule that stood firm was: “Thou Shalt Not Buy Product From a Sister Store“.
We had a complex structure of locations, but under no circumstances could a staff member buy product from a store that had a different owner. Their product was for their customers and not for us to pillage. But, when one of those owners who was a friend, sees the Iron Maiden First Ten Years box set come in, they call you to tell you. The rules meant nothing at that point. There were greater goals at hand.
This ultra-rare box was issued in 1990, as 10 discs, all sold separately. You could also get them on vinyl. I recall seeing a few of them, on 12″ vinyl, at my local Sam The Record Man (run by the near-legendary Al King) during one of my many teenage record store excursions.
CDs are my preferred format today. Collect all ten of the Maiden singles, and you could send away for the box that contains them. Obviously, a complete set is a rare find. This set came in complete, as is. I still have the receipt. I paid $135.99 on Oct 7, 2003. (With taxes, $156.39.)
It was worth every penny, but it was also worth the shit I caught for buying it from another owner. And did I get in shit for it!
At best, I was bending the rules. At best! I paid full price (no discount!), the owner himself rang it in, and he was happily on board with making a quick buck. He even personally delivered it to Kitchener. He could have simply said, “No”. He didn’t. Now, I take responsibility for my actions, but an owner has a lot more say in things than I do. I didn’t deserve what happened next.
A higher-up stormed into my store, pulled me into the office, slammed the door, and yelled. And yelled. And pointed a lot, and yelled some more.
It was a weird feeling. Here I was getting screamed at so much that the dogs could hear it 4 miles away, but also elated about my Iron Maiden find at the exact same time. It was like I didn’t know if I should be happy or pissed off! It’s like any time you see someone trying so hard not to smile.
I pulled it off. I also owned the fucking Iron Maiden First Ten Years box set!
Their big argument was “It’s a bad example to the employees”. But really, that wasn’t an issue. No employees knew about it — not one! — until they made a big show of it by yelling at me in store! The one that said I was a bad example, was the one who let the cat out of the bag.
I walked out of the office, head hanging, but then when out of sight, grinning ear to ear. Of course the two people who overheard the whole thing asked about it afterwards. Dandy Douche asked, “Do you think it was worth it? Would you do it again?” I said, “Absolutely. But next time I’m wearing a beard and a moustache, the whole disguise, and buying it in person!”
Unfortunately I never had the chance to do that. The Iron Maiden box set was one of the last big big items from my “holy grail list.” that came in.
Each disc contains two singles, plus an unreleased 10 minute interview with Nicko. One on every disc. They are called “Listen With Nicko!” parts I through X. Well worth the money, Nicko is friggin’ hilarious.
All singles included are complete (except Maiden Japan), plus a “Listen With Nicko!” bonus track. And again, you had to buy these all separately! On import! And according to the terms on the mail-in card, only UK residents could order the boxes to house the discs. Another thing I found interesting was that you had to mail in all ten slips in order to get the box. Whoever owned my box previously still has nine of his ten slips! (I am missing #9, “Can I Play With Madness” / “The Evil That Men Do”.) This can only make my box set rarer and more desirable to collectors.
DISC 1 – Running Free / Sanctuary
DISC 2 – Women In Uniform / Twilight Zone
DISC 3 –Purgatory / Maiden Japan
DISC 4 – Run to the Hills / The Number of the Beast
DISC 5 – Flight Of Icarus / The Trooper
DISC 6 – 2 Minutes to Midnight / Aces High
DISC 7 – Running Free (Live) / Run to the Hills (Live)
DISC 8 – Wasted Years / Stranger in a Strange Land
DISC 9 – Can I Play With Madness / The Evil That Men Do
DISC 10 – The Clairvoyant (Live) / Infinite Dreams (Live)
Click below to embiggen the brand new photo gallery!
: Lebrain
mikeladano.com 