MAIDEN JAPAN

I remember this one being released in Brazil and costing the same price as a full length LP! Of course, 12 inch EPs were something of a novelty by then and I guess most store owners though that if it looked like a LP and had the same size then it was an LP, no matter if the total time was only 16 minutes of music. The same happened to a few 12 inch EPs of the time (U2 and Dio), and most fans felt betrayed. Anyway, this was, for a long time, the only officially available live recording of Iron Maiden with Paul Di' Anno as their lead singer for a long time. Later the complete Tokyo show of their 1981 tour of Japan would be found as The Big Heat bootleg CD, with 73 minutes of running time.

As for the EP itself, the band delivers a terrific performance, as usual, with specially energetic versions of Killers and Innocent Exile. Unfortunately, Di´Anno voice is not at his best. It seems his drinking and drug habits were beginning to take their toll. Small wonder he was fired after this tour. But it is still Iron Maiden, and although their singer was not sounding as good as he was in the studio, the sheer power of all band members and the high quality of the songs made this EP worth buying it at the time. It seems that Maiden In Japan (a really good pun!) was never released in the CD format on its own (but it did appear as a bonus CD for one of their early albums reissue). I can only recommend any people interested to try to find the complete show version. It is really worth it.