A REAL DEAD ONE

This is the other part of the double live recording Iron Maiden chose to split up into two entities. The first part is A Real Live One and contains songs from Somewhere In Time to Fear Of The Dark. I gave that 2 stars and a roasting.

........counting to ten.......... slowly........... here is the other album. This album though, contains songs from their debut album to Powerslave. The sound quality is pretty bad and the compilation of this live album pretty crude. Is this the same band who released Live After Death ? The album opens with the worst versions of The Number of the Beast and The Trooper I have ever heard Iron Maiden do. This is a live album ? I am right ? So why the woodpecker's bottom does these two songs sounds so lifeless ? Then we are treated to some old Paul D'Anno era numbers. Prowler is horrible. Transylvania and Remember Tomorrow best forgotten. Moving onto the brilliant Where Eagles Dare, the eagle flies over the dunes like it's had one beer too many. I have a bootleg from 1983 with a far superior version of this sadly underrated song than this version. Moving on, their versions of Sanctuary, Running Free, Run to the Hills, 2 Minutes to Midnight and Iron Maiden sounds tired and uninspired. Their best song ever, Hallowed Be Thy Name is delivered with as much conviction as Barack Obama praising the economic policies of George W Bush. Without doubt, this is the worst version of this track ever.

I repeat what I wrote about A Real Live One: The best description of this live album is the word ripoff. That's what it is. It is an attempt to fleece the gullible, loyal Iron Maiden fans. Those who are putting food on the table for Iron Maiden, it's managment and record label. To give their good fans this live album, is utterly disrespectful. To split an double album into two separate live albums and charge full price for them, is a blatant ripoff. It is degrading towards the trademark Iron Maiden. Even a supermarket have more self-respect than this.

2 stars because I cannot give an album which contains Hallowed Be Thy Name only one star. But I am seething with anger.