This one arrived too late to slide into the schedule when I posted my own review of A Matter of Life and Death. Better late than never! Here’s the infamous Meat with his take on the album. A more seasoned take, perhaps. Enjoy!
That’s the Meat Man on the left, in case you didn’t know.
He’s a pretty big Iron Maiden fan…
IRON MAIDEN – A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
The Reincarnation of Iron Maiden
To semi-quote a good friend of mine, “I have seen Iron Maiden live…I have seen Iron Maiden live…a lot”
November 30, 1984 –Maple Leaf Gardens- World Slavery Tour (Twisted Sister opening)
July 20, 1999 – Massey Hall – Ed Hunter Tour
May 5, 2003 – Molson Amphitheater – Give Em’ ‘Ed Til I’m Dead Tour (Motorhead and Dio opening)
August 3, 2005 – Air Canada Center – Eddie Rips Up the World Tour
October 16, 2006 – Air Canada Center – A Matter of Life and Death Tour
March 16, 2008 – Air Canada Center – Somewhere Back in Time World Tour
July 13, 2012 – Molson Amphitheater – Maiden England World Tour
I was 15 when I first saw Iron Maiden live. I remember standing outside Sam the Record Man downtown Kitchener to get the tickets. Took one of those party busses up to Toronto for the show. When I saw Maiden this last July, it was hard to believe that the first time I saw them was 28 years earlier. While there are specific memories from each and every one of those shows, the aforementioned A Matter of Life and Death Tour holds a special place in my concert-loving heart.
Having seen Maiden four times previous, I was obviously excited for another great show, but was also expecting another “greatest hits” tour with a dabble of new material. What I and the other 15,799 concertgoers got was something else. I have seen a shit load of concerts. But never have I seen a band come on stage and literally play their new album to a sold out crowd… from track 1 to the end. I didn’t really even know the album that well going into the show. But it was one of my favorite concert experiences ever. I can imagine that rehearsals for this tour were quite extensive. It’s one thing for them to get together and polish up “The Prisoner” or “Clairvoyant”. It’s another thing to rehearse all your new material and get it ready for touring. And this album especially…for these reasons…
The shortest track on the album is 5:08 (“The Pilgrim”)
This may be the band’s most progressive album, song-structure wise.
With all due respect to Dance of Death and Brave New World, I believe Iron Maiden had not released something this relevant since 1988’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. A Matter of Life and Death sees Maiden finding a seamless way to connect hooks within unpredictable progressive grooves. This band has always been linked with Thin Lizzy in several ways, but never more than this album. There are moments where you start to actually appreciate Thin Lizzy more by listening to it, which I suspect may have been a conscious or sub-conscious goal in the creation of this album.
There is not a weak track on this album. There are several A++ songs. The opening track, “Different World” is as such and is and was a great song to start off a show. “For the Greater Good of God”, the longest track on the album, sees Maiden showing heavy chops while somehow staying bluesy. “The Longest Day” might be the most progressive Iron Maiden track of all time. Also my favorite track on the album, “Brighter Than a Thousand Suns”, hypnotically kicks ass with melody. Hey, that pretty much defines the band itself doesn’t it?
A Matter of Life and Death is indeed “Brighter Than a Thousand Suns”; one of the most important albums in the Maiden canon.
IRON MAIDEN – “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” / “Different World” (CD, vinyl, DVD, download singles)
There were a lot of B-sides made available for A Matter of Life and Death, so let’s talk about ’em all, shall we? It’s the last time we’ll have a chance to do so, as since this time Maiden haven’t released any B-sides at all.
“The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” (CD, 10″ vinyl)
This awesome song was made available in two formats. Both had BBC Legends sessions. The CD has a great version of “Hallowed By That Name”, which is also the iTunes bonus track. If you’re like me, no doubt you prefer a physical format to a bunch of 1’s and 0’s floating invisibly on your hard drive, yes? If that is indeed the case, then the CD single is where it’s at, and it’s a corker. I love the sound of the three guitars on this one. Not one, but two playing the melody, with one playing the rhythm.
There’s also a beautiful 10″ vinyl, with a sticker. Clear 10″ vinyl, very cool. The vinyl had two more songs from this session: “The Trooper” and “Run to the Hills”. Now, if you’ve been following along, then you’re already aware there are plenty of live versions of all three of these tracks on the various Maiden live albums, not to mention previous B-sides, and the Eddie’s Archive box. What’s the difference? Well, if you want all the power and breakneck energy of a Maiden live performance without crowd noise, this is the way to hear it. It’s live in the studio.
CD
“The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg”
“Hallowed Be That Name” (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)
10″ vinyl
A. “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg”
B1. “The Trooper” (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)
B2. “Run to the Hills” (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)
5/5 stars
“Different World” (US CD single, UK CD single, DVD single, 7″ single, download)
This is where things start getting a little crazy. Yes, you had to buy five different formats to get all the tracks. Incredible. It’s stuff like this that makes me miss the simpler old days of collecting! Let’s go through these, one by one.
US CD
This one was redundant if you already own the “Benjamin Breeg” singles. This one repeats “The Trooper” and “Hallowed” from that single, leaving “Run To The Hills” as a vinyl exlusive.
“Different World”
“Hallowed Be That Name” (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)
“The Trooper” (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)
UK CD
Europe had their own exclusive CD B-side, however.
“Different World”
“Iron Maiden” (Live in Copenhagen on the A Matter of Life and Death tour)
So, yes, I shelled out for a live version of a song that I already have numerous live versions of! (4 versions on the BBC Archives album alone!) Life of a collector. How does it differ from other live versions? Shit, I don’t know.
DVD single
DVD singles seemed to be a passing fad, somewhat. I hope so anyway. I don’t like ’em. I don’t see the point of 1) putting out a single that you can’t play in some countries due to region codes, and 2) putting out an audio track on a video format. This being Maiden though, I made sure I bought this, from the UK Amazon site.
“Different World”
“The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” (Live in Copenhagen on the A Matter of Life and Death tour)
“Hocus Pocus”
At least the music has some value to it! A live version of “Benjamin Breeg”, the first and thus far only live release of that song. And as per Maiden’s usual high standards, it’s freaking great.
But the real cool thing is “Hocus Pocus”, a cover of, yes, the song by Focus! Lead vocals…sort of…are by Nicko. No yodeling though. Just Nicko’s usual nonsensical ramblings in the background! Worth having for sure, but as a cover…what’s the point without the yodeling? As a cover version, it’s disappointing. Nicko yodeling? That would have been awesome.
7″ single
A picture disc, and a sweet looking one at that, this one has a live version of “Fear of the Dark”.
A. “Different World”
B. “Fear of the Dark” (Live in Copenhagen on the A Matter of Life and Death tour)
Once again, it’s a B-side that we already have lots of live versions of, nothing wrong with it, but nothing especially different either.
mp3 download single
“Different World” (Live in Aalborg on the A Matter of Life and Death tour)
“Interview with Steve Harris on A Matter of Life and Death”
And another brand new live track! Once again, this one has yet to be released on any live albums, so it truly is an exclusive. It was available via the official Maiden site. It’s cool to hear Steve and Adrian joining Bruce on the chorus, it sounds great.
The interview with Steve, 10 minutes long, I do not have. Interviews are not high on my priority list for collecting, and it is no longer available. It was only made available to those who pre-ordered the mp3 single, which I did not do. There was also an interview disc made available with the Eddie’s Head box set, which I do not have. Not a big deal to me, the music has always been what I’ve aimed to collect.
IRON MAIDEN – A Matter of Life and Death (2006 CD/DVD)
“Majestic” is the best word I can think of to describe A Matter of Life and Death, the 14th studio album by Iron Maiden (and 3rd of the “reunion era). That, and “classic”! This truly is classic Maiden: Most songs running between 7 and 9 minutes long, recorded virtually live off the floor, raw and epic. I truly believe that this represents the absolute peak of Maiden’s creativity. While not a concept album like Seventh Son, it does indeed follow themes: war, religion, humanity.
Anybody who thought Dance of Death sounded tired had better get ready to be blown away by a revitalized band. This is the best album of the reunion era, my favourite from the sextet period, and a shining moment in the Maiden canon. 10 songs, over an hour of music. If you’re not a fan of long-winded Maiden, then perhaps this one’s not for you.
While “Different World” starts the show in a fast and furious way, similar to “Wildest Dreams” from Dance of Death, this is no re-tread. This time, melody is at the forefront, especially when Bruce lets rip in the chorus. To boot, there’s a great dual guitar solo before Adrian (the master of melody) takes one of his own. This one was written by Steve Harris and Adrian Smith, which almost always proves to be a ferocious, melodious combination. But it is also the shortest number on the album, and not in any way indicative of the challenging songs to come!
As if the opening was not good enough, “These Colours Don’t Run” is next. Going through multiple tempos, from that slow-burn Maiden opening that they’d become known for, to a pounding march, this is another winner. It is a seven minute epic with many changes, never getting dull, dueling guitars and complex rhythms, always sounding like Iron Maiden. Producer Kevin Shirley says that Bruce laid down all his vocals live off the floor. If that’s the case, it explains why there is so much magic in his voice. This is incredible. The lyrics reflect an older, wiser Maiden. No longer satisfied with simple war epics, there is a sadness here now.
Far away from the land of our birth
We fly a flag in some foreign earth
We sailed away like our fathers before
These colours don’t run from cold bloody war
“These Colours”, and the next song, “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns” were written by the triumvirate of Bruce, Steve and Adrian, which has produced so many Maiden classics in the past. The lyrics for “Thousand Suns” reflects religion, war and the atomic bomb. I’m a big fan of Bruce’s lyrics. There is even a subtle reference to Robert Oppenheimer:
Whatever would Robert have said to his God?
About how he made war with the sun
E equals MC squared, you can’t relate
How we made God with our hands
This song is not as immediate as the first two, and the chorus still has that repetition that had plagued previous albums, but its melodic quality and epic solos allow it to rise above. It’s 9 minutes long, probably could have been shorter, but aside from a couple repeated lines of chorus, I don’t know what I would cut. I like it all.
A shorter one (but still over 5 minutes), “The Pilgrim”, was written by Steve and Janick. Religion and war are the themes here, seen through the eyes of Steve. Musically it starts with a stomp, similar to a section of “Afraid to Shoot Strangers”, but then they release the brake and accelerate, culminating into another melodic chorus. Short songs like this help balance the longer material, although the previous songs are superior.
“The Longest Day” begins ominously, like a landing craft gliding quietly through the water. Once again, Steve, Adrian and Bruce have written a war classic. Something about Bruce’s lyrics, they’re never simple. They always have layers to them, and “The Longest Day” is like that. He spits the words out like a rifle, and the song is spellbinding for its entire 8 minute length, guitar harmonies intertwining with Nicko’s relentless war march. And that ends side one.
“Out of the Shadows” begins side two on a somewhat mellow note, acoustic guitars mixed with electrics, and a slower tempo. Bruce wrote this one with Steve, a rare pairing. It is probably a good thing to sequence a slow song somewhere in here, as the relentless pounding of the previous five may well have left your brain nothing but mush. Fortunately there is an epic chorus here to keep us firmly in Maiden-land.
And oh-my-God, if you happened to sleep through “Out of the Shadows”, then Benjamin Breeg has arrived to wake you from your slumber! I’ll say it again: the rare occasions that Dave Murray writes a song, it usually produces gold. “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg” is a monstrous epic, and even though it starts slow, that riff will make the dead rise from their graves. “Benjamin Breeg” is certainly one of the most immediate songs on the album, no mean feat for a song that is 7 1/2 minutes long! That time goes by in a blur so quickly, you’ll want to hit the back button on your player of choice and see what you may have missed. Awesome song, and a very brave choice as first single. There is no question: This one would make any Iron Maiden mix tape that I put together, hands down.
And as if that wasn’t enough, almost 10 minutes of “For the Greater Good of God” follows. Another condemnation of the combination of religion and war, “For the Greater Good of God” is the only song written solely by Steve. That too is a rare thing, as in the past he usually provides half an album on his own. A Matter of Life and Death truly is a collaborative effort. Twisting and turning through many sections, light and shade, this song too would fight for space on any Maiden mix CD that I make. I have heard criticism that its flaw is Steve trying to cram too many syllables into one line during the choruses. After a few listens, you don’t really notice anymore.
If you still have any life left in you after that pummeling, then prepare to meet the “Lord of Light”. Yet another Smith/Dickinson/Harris composition, it too exceeds 7 minutes. Starting quietly, it soon turns into a relentless pummeling, the three guitars behaving as one, Bruce soaring overtop. Nicko and Steve drive the whole Beast forward, this is probably the heaviest song in many respects, with a great chorus and many changes in tempo.
And finally, “The Legacy”. Almost 10 minutes long, “The Legacy” is very different for Maiden. It is a Steve/Janick composition, mellow, and lyrically devastating.
Sent off to war to play little games
And on their return, can’t name no names
Some strange yellow gas
Has played with their minds
Has reddened their eyes, removed all the lies
As if the acoustic “Journeyman” from the last album injected a new dose of courage into the band, “The Legacy” is a daring way to end an album this heavy. It begins acoustically and takes a little while to start cooking. When it does kick into gear, it is a relentless rhythm, and a total triumph. One of Maiden’s more challenging but rewarding epics.
The sound of this album is the perfect mix of heavy and raw with just enough polish. The sound straight from the mix was so hot, the band and Kevin Shirley chose not to master this album. The CD on the shelves is straight from the mixing desk, an unusual choice in mainstream music. I can’t name another album that wasn’t mastered! But the sound is perfect, I can’t fault this choice. It has an immediate, lively, vital sound. Certainly Bruce’s vocals are a highlight, and if they were live off the floor then more power to him.
(Hey, what happens when they eventually remaster the Maiden catalogue? What will they call this album? Just “mastered”?)
As far as the direction goes, the tempos are more “march” and less “gallop”, and that’s fine. It’s not about repeating the past, it’s about making a great heavy metal album, and Maiden have done that. Did I miss “the gallop” on this album? No more than I did on previous Maiden platters like Brave New World. The album is riff laden, complex, and layered. You can’t “get” it in just a couple listens. A Matter of Life and Death demands that you devote a great deal of time to it, but when you do, it will pay you back a hundred fold.
Even the cover art is a vast improvement over Dance of Death. Even though Eddie is in the background this time, it’s a great piece of art, by Tim Bradstreet with Grant Goleash. It is evocative of the music and lyrics, and just a great picture to look at.
iTunes offered a bonus track, a live version of “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, but it is available on some of the singles that we’ll talk about later. Stay tuned and we’ll discuss all the bonus tracks and B-sides. There is also a bonus DVD, a documentary on the making of the album. Included is the “Benjamin Breeg” video, a photo gallery, and an in-studio performance of “Different World”.
In summation, I believe that A Matter of Life and Death is the greatest album of reunion era Maiden. I also believe it to be their best album since Seventh Son, perhaps even surpassing that lofty masterpiece in some respects.
…And the era of Maiden compilations had begun. And I did buy them all.
The Essential is a series. I have The Essential Johnny Cash as well as others. So, this one was not put together by the band. There’s no Eddie on the cover, no exclusive content, no liner notes from Rod Smallwood nor Steve Harris. Instead there are liner notes from Lonn M. Friend of RIP Magazine. They’re aimed at newbies, but at least all songs get full musician and writing credits.
Much like 1996’s Best of the Beast, the tracks are reverse-chronological. This time, it works better than on Best of the Beast. The cool thing is that this means you start with the incredible epic “Passchendale” from Dance of Death. What an opening. Every album (studio and live) is visited, including four Blaze Bayley tracks.
Everybody bitches about what tracks should have been left off, and which should have been included. Here’s mine:
1. I would have included no Blaze tracks, and instead included live versions of Bruce singing them.
2. Those are the only times I would have included live tracks.
3. I could do without “Holy Smoke” and “Bring Your Daughter”. Give me “Tailgunner” instead.
4. Give me “Stranger In A Strange Land” instead of “Heaven Can Wait”.
But that’s about it. You get a healthy mix of hits along with great album cuts such as “Wrathchild”, “Killers”, and glory be, “Phantom of the Opera”! Those, plus “Passchendale”, make this a passable greatest hits disc.
Tracklist is below, but only you can decide if this one’s worth buying. I bought it for “the collection”. As far as a complete career-spanning set goes, this is about as close as it got without having to buy multiple sets. However it’s now out of print, so the point is moot.
When Death On The Road came out, I was very excited. When a band of Iron Maiden’s age (or Rush’s, for that matter) put out great new studio albums, I like a live album to follow. Back in the 80’s I would have found this unnecessary However, let’s face it — how many more Maiden tours will be there be? How many times will Maiden play “Passchendale” live? It may never happen, so a souvenir like this is important to me. Some fans would simply choose not to buy an album like this since they may already own Rock In Rio, and that’s fine. For me, I want to hear more. I want to hear “Dance of Death”. I want to hear “Passchendale”. I want to hear “Journeyman”.
Anyway, what I’m getting at is: If you don’t want it, don’t buy it. If you love Maiden, and if they never play these songs again, then why miss out? New fans would be better off picking up Live After Death or Flight 666 (which we’ll get to in due time) for a better overview of the whole Maiden shebang. For the diehards, this is solid.
Death On The Road, recorded in Dortmund Germany on 24 November 2003, has a good mix of newer “reunion” era Maiden with the classics. Yes, I could probably go the rest of my life without ever hearing another version of “Run To The Hills” or “Running Free”, but it’s a double CD and you may as well get the whole setlist. If Maiden didn’t play those songs live, there would be riots. The real treats here are the Dance Of Death material. There’s a DVD too, which I don’t have — very expensive and hard to get here.
The show opens with one new track, “Wildest Dreams”, the first single from Dance of Death. While this was never a personal favourite of mine, it is better live than on the album. Also better live is the single “Rainmaker”. It just has a little more energy which helps compensate f0r the “repetitive chorus syndrome”. “Wrathchild” and a somewhat flat “Can I Play With Madness” represent the early material right off the bat, before Maiden slam into “The Trooper” which was the single from this album.
“Dance of Death” begins with Bruce quoting Hamlet: “There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I love this song. The afforementioned “Rainmaker” and “Brave New World” follow. Surprisingly, “Brave New World” is the only song from that album, where Rock In Rio had plenty of material from it. This is why it is important for a band of Maiden’s stature to keep releasing live albums. The setlists change drastically tour to tour.
The best of the new songs, “Passchendale” (with more poetry, this time from Wilfrid Owen), stokes the fire, taking its place in Maiden history as one of their best live epics. It shines live. It is followed by a lackluster “Lord of the Flies”. While these Blaze Bayley songs sound awesome with Bruce’s pipes, it was probably past time to retire them from the set. After all, they could have played “The Wicker Man” or an older song like “Powerslave” instead of this tune that, frankly, isn’t up to the quality of the rest of the concert. Anyway, it’s nice to have a Blaze song “sung properly” so to speak, although Bruce has to awkwardly shift from his low voice to high. It was clearly not written for his voice, but he does his best with the material at hand.
It is on disc two that the classics come out. After a repetitive “No More Lies” that goes on a bit too long, you are assaulted with “Hallowed”, “Fear of the Dark”, “Iron Maiden”, “Beast”, and of course “Run to the Hills”, with only the acoustic “Journeyman” breaking up the slew of hits. “Journeyman” was a brave choice live, but the crowd know every note. Judging by the sequence this seems to be the first song of the encores. Wonderful soloing here.
Production by Kevin “Caveman” Shirley and Steve Harris is fine, but a little bit more dull than the stellar Rock In Rio. Cover art (once again by Melvyn Grant who did Fear of the Dark) is a bit cheesy and I’m not too much into the choice of colours. The booklet, as always, is loaded with awesome live shots.
With this album in the can, Bruce had time for another solo album. How could he possibly top or even equal The Chemical Wedding? With a Tyranny of Souls…
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:
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:
“The Trooper” – 2003 live version from Death on the Road
“The Trooper” – original album version from Piece of Mind
‘“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.
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.
‘”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.
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.
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.
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.
A 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:
“The Number of the Beast” (original version)
“The Number of the Beast” (live at Brixton ’02)
“Hallowed Be That Name” (live at Brixton ’02)
plus videos:
“The Number of the Beast” (Camp Chaos version — essentially has added animations)
“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.
Part 33 of my series of Iron Maiden reviews!…and CONGRATS TO MAIDEN on your Grammy nomination!
IRON MAIDEN – No More Lies EP (2004, enhanced)
Don’t ask me what qualifies this as an EP and not a single. I don’t know. Anyway, “No More Lies” was from the Dance of Death album, and this EP comes handsomely packed in a cool box with a Maiden wristband. Collectors will want to keep that clean — not for working out in!
The tunes, however, are why you should be buying this, and it is worth buying for the orchestral version of “Paschendale”. One of the best war epics ever written by Iron Maiden (please, bring it back live?), it paints a vivid picture of the trenches during WWI. Guitar melodies dance, and the song is in your head after only one listen. You also get an electric version of “Journeyman”, which was acoustic on the album. I’m not a huge fan of the song “No More Lies” itself. It’s fine but would have been better two minutes shorter.
But what’s this? A hidden track? Yes it is! Nicko McBrain takes lead vocals (!) on a comedic rendering of “Age of Innocence”! We all know Maiden enjoy their joke tunes (“Sheriff of Huddersfield”, “Black Bart Blues”) and it is great to see that they still have a sense of humour.
If you can find it at a decent price (might be hard today), do it.
Dance of Death (Iron Maiden’s 13th studio album and 2nd since the triumphant return of Bruce and Adrian) is yet another monster filled with dramatic metal. Yes, I do find it slightly inferior to the previous album, Brave New World, which was near-perfect for its time. However, Dance of Death should not be dismissed. There are Iron Maiden classics here to rival material from the glory days, plus deep album tracks worth listening to.
First I want to mention the album cover — for the second time, Iron Maiden have done what I consider to be a terrible cover! (I consider the original No Prayer cover to be almost as bad.) I’d never wear this on a T-shirt! This is awful, awful, awful! This is, by far, the worst album cover Maiden have ever used. If you look carefully there are mistakes all over the place, such as the baby’s foot going through the wolf! Fortunately, the inner booklet is much better. Like a ghostly version of the orgy scene in Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, the indifferent band are surround by masked, topless, phantom women.
Onto the music!
I found Bruce Dickinson’s voice on this album to be weaker than Brave New World. My personal feeling at the time (and this is just my opinion) was that the band rushed into recording too soon after touring. As such, Bruce’s voice sounds more worn out, similar to the way it did on No Prayer. The rest of the band is as strong as ever, and all six members write. Even Nicko McBrain, who gets his first-ever writing credit…”Mission From ‘Arry” notwithstanding!
The album starts with the first single, and unfortunately one of the weakest songs. It is the brief Smith/Harris rocker, “Wildest Dreams”. This ain’t a “Wicker Man” nor a “Tailgunner”. It’s lacklustre, and I have no idea why it was chosen as the first single.
The second single “Rainmaker” follows, a much better song. Bruce’s voice seems stronger here. The vocal and guitar melodies are excellent and memorable. Great chorus, great guitar lines, good choice for a single.
“No More Lies” is next, and the only weak thing about the song is that it follows the same formula as the Brave New World tunes — too much repetition in the chorus. There’s only so many times you want to hear, “No more lies, no more lies, no more lies, no more lies!” Alright! I get it already! Bizarrely, this was the third single (technically an EP) even though it’s over 7 minutes long.
Next is the first historical epic of the album, “Montségur”. One of the fastest and heaviest songs on the album, it is lyrically better than it is musically. Musically, it stumbles a bit, with the vocal melodies not fitting quite right and the lyrics sung too fast.
Finally the album really picks up steam with the centerpiece, “Dance of Death”. Beginning slow with some nice clean picked guitar and ‘Arry’s bass, Bruce sings of a strange night when he’d “had one drink, but no more.” This is a classic, a fantastic song lyrically similar to “Number of the Beast” but musically a beast of its own. Some critics likened it a bit too much to “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap. Well, fair enough. It does share some similarities, especially when the dwarves start dancing! But admit it to me: You liked “Stonehenge”, didn’t you? I did!
“Gates of Tomorrow” and “New Frontier” (co-written by McBrain) are up next. Both are strong rockers, typical Maiden album fare. Perhaps nothing that needs to be performed live when your canon is as strong as Maiden’s, but nothing skip-worthy.
“Paschendale” is arguably the best song on the entire album. Another historical war epic, this one was written by Adrian Smth and Steve Harris. It is pure, classic Iron Maiden. Clocking in at 8:28, there is not one dull moment in the entire song. Often I find myself skipping back to hear it again. Lyrically it is very powerful, bringing to mind the muddy stinking conditions of the trenches in World War I. Musically this is among the very best songs Maiden have ever composed. This was also released in an orchestral version but I’ll discuss that later on. (How did they do that eagle screaming sound? Is that a guitar?)
It’s hard to follow a song like that, but “Face In The Sand” is another great album track, memorable and heavy. Again, not really worthy of the live set, but certainly not a bad song by any stretch.
I have always been partial to the rare songs that Dave Murray writes, such as “Deja Vu” or “Still Life”. “Age of Innocence” has a powerful memorable chorus and is a personal favourite. If I had been in charge at EMI, this would have been a single instead of “No More Lies”. After hearing it once, you cannot get the chorus out of your head.
So we only get one chance, can we take it?
And we only get one life, can’t exchange it
Can we hold on to what we have? Don’t replace it
The age of innocence is fading…Like an old dream
The album ends with one of most unique Iron Maiden songs ever written. “Journeyman”, which sounds to me like a Dickinson baby, is a quiet acoustic number with orchestral backing. Don’t call it a ballad! This is a quiet epic, a new kind of Maiden sound that they were able to expand upon in later albums. The choruses are powerfully sung by Bruce. It’s certainly one of the most adventurous tunes Maiden have done, simply because it is so different from anything in their past.
And that’s the album. It is easy to see why Dance of Death does not sit will with some fans. Some of the early songs suffer from repetition again. Bruce’s voice is not as strong as the previous album (to my ears). You have to listen to it multiple times to get into some of the tracks. I can see some fans, whose tastes are more narrow and specific, not wanting to give Dance of Death another chance. That’s a shame because this is a good Iron Maiden album. Not among their top three, or even the top five, but Iron Maiden do not have very many weak albums.
I mentioned the orchestral version of “Paschendale”. There are three singles to be collected from this album:
1. “Wildest Dreams”: B-side was a very funny and rare jam session by Iron Maiden called (ha ha!) “Pass the Jam”. There are also other tunes on the different editions. The CD has an orchestral mix of “Blood Brothers” from Brave New World, while the DVD has a “rock mix” of both “The Nomad” and “Blood Brothers” from the same album. I do not have the DVD single, and Christmas is coming if you feel generous! The orchestral version has, unsurprisingly, more orchestration. The rock mixes are very similar to the album versions, perhaps the rhythm guitars are louder in the mix.
2. “Rainmaker” contained a dramatic orchestral version of “Dance of Death” and a second jam session called “More Tea Vicar”. This is another jokey tune featuring Bruce rapping! The Japanese single, which I recently acquired from eBay (so recently that it actually arrived TODAY) at an excellent price has two exclusive live tracks! It even had the obi strip intact.
The live tracks are 2002 live recordings of “The Wicker Man” and “Children of the Damned” at Brixton, but the vocals on “Wicker Man” aren’t mixed high enough. “Children of the Damned” is in the only live version available featuring the six-man lineup, and my God does it smoke! It really benefits from the three guitars, and Bruce nails that scream at the end. The domestic single lacks these two live tracks. Who wants my old copy of the domestic? Speak now or forever hold your peace.
3. No More Lies: Technically an EP, I’ll do a full review of this one next.
“If you have purchased this then you have no doubt heard of Iron Maiden at some point during the band’s career over the last two-and-a-half decades.” – from the liner notes by Steve Harris
Clearly this CD (released simultaneous with the Eddie’s Archive box set) was not designed for the existing Iron Maiden fans. The die hards were not the intended target market, they got the box set to satisfy them.
In fact, Maiden wisely made the cover art (a ho-hum piece by someone named Tom Adams) available for free download. They knew some fans would just want it, and didn’t to force them to shell out for an album full of songs they already had. Again.
Yes, this was Maiden’s third compilation CD since 1996’s Best of the Beast. To keep things interesting, at least they shook up the format a bit. Unlike Beast, this is not a career spanning anthology. Unlike Ed Hunter, the fans did not vote on the tracks. Edward the Great was a simple chronological compilation of singles from 1982 to Brave To World. It ends with a recent track, a live version of “Fear of the Dark” from 2001’s Rock In Rio disc. I don’t understand the lack of Di’Anno tracks while still including two Bayley songs.
(NOTE: Maiden have also re-released the disc with an updated tracklist. I don’t have that, so I can’t really talk about it. Except to say it still has Blaze stuff on it!)
There’s an attractive booklet but not enough pictures. For a CD called Edward the Great, I think a few Eddies from the past would be in order. Oh well.
With the exception of the Blaze material, which simply breaks up the flow of the disc, every song belongs here. You could argue about exclusions, certainly. Most conspicuous by its absence is “Aces High”. You could also make a case for including the original studio version of “Fear of the Dark”. Playing Devil’s advocate, perhaps Maiden included the live version to demonstrate the power of an Iron Maiden concert to the initiated.
Whatever the case may be, as a greatest hits set I find this one lacking a bit. Considering the format, I would have chosen to call it the “Bruce years” and remove the Blaze tracks. Then you’d have room for two more classic singles (perhaps “Aces High”, “Tailgunner”, or “Be Quick of Be Dead”. As it stands I don’t understand excluding Di’Anno classics in favour of more recent Blaze material (two songs that they weren’t playing live anymore anyway).
This one arrived too late to slide into the schedule when I posted my own review of A Matter of Life and Death. Better late than never! Here’s the infamous Meat with his take on the album. A more seasoned take, perhaps. Enjoy!
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