Air Raid Tour (2002)
With the exception of the Clive Burr one offs, 2002 was to be a year of no Maiden activity. Bruce Dickinson stated that Maiden would transform into a more off and on affair, as opposed to the constant stream of activity throughout the 80s and much of the 90s. With Maiden on hiatus, Bruce decided to play the European festival circuit. In a bit of a surprise move, the backing band was not going to include the Accident of Birth/Chemical Wedding lineup that brought Bruce’s solo career so much recognition in the late 90s. Instead, Bruce went with Alex Dickson and Chris Dale from the old Skunkworks band plus a second guitarist and new drummer. The tour would give Bruce a chance to send a message that even though he was back in Maiden, he still had a solo career and material that he was dedicated to.
The setlist was probably among his more well rounded since the Accident era. Where The Chemical Wedding and Accident of Birth tours heavily focused on his latest material, the Air Raid tour was more of a career retrospective. Both Broken and Silver Wings were played from the Greatest Hits album as well as a couple songs from Skunkworks (after being ignored since the tour for the album). Of course there were some Maiden covers, mostly material that hadn’t been played by Maiden in years, such as Revelations, The Prisoner, and Flight of Icarus. Bruce also performed Bring Your Daughter To the Slaughter, a song that began life as the catalyst for Bruce’s solo career. There was even a cover of Tom Jones’ Delilah (Bruce sang the song on a British TV show in the late 90s).
The tour was very short at a mere six gigs, so unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of bootlegs or pro shot footage. As far as I know, there are no soundboards or pro shot footage of the tour. The fan shot videos are pretty spotty, although they can be found easily on YouTube. Normally I’d include a bootleg, but honestly I have a bootleg of every show on this tour and none of them sound that good. PM me if you really want something, but you might as well go on youtube and check out what’s there.
Eddie’s Archive (2002)
In the early 00’s, collectible box sets were pretty popular. The rare content and memorabilia was an effective way of persuading people to buy a physical product when it was becoming increasingly easy to pirate music. Some of these boxsets were ripoffs, not being much more than an overpriced best of album. Some contained rare material, some had a bit of both. Eddie’s Archive was Maiden’s box set and contains material that, to this day, can’t be found anywhere else. Housed in the metal tin was a shot glass, a scroll depicting the Maiden family tree, and three double albums. I will go over each album individually.
Beast Over Hammersmith
This CD was actually already discussed as part of the Beast On the Road tour, but it’s worth mentioning again as it is really one of their best live albums. An uncut concert from 1982, features most of the Number of the Beast album, Total Eclipse, and several songs from the Di’Anno era that aren’t on any other live album. It’s worth mentioning that this was released before the Early Days DVD which included a video excerpt of the same performance. Until the release of Eddie’s Archive, it could only be found on low quality bootlegs.
Best Of the B-Sides
As the title makes clear, this is a collection of some of the band’s most memorable b-sides from over the years complete with liner notes from Rod Smallwood discussing every track. The songs are presented in chronological order so it serves as a nice history of the band up until 1999. You hear how the band’s sound has evolved even though most of the content is made up of covers. The only time the b-sides were released in CD format was on The First Ten Years collection and the Castle reissues of the discography that are now very rare. So this is a good way to get most of them in one shot.
I intentionally talking much about the band’s b-sides so that there would be stuff to discuss when we got to this compilation, but Maiden were one of those bands who really gave the fans their money’s worth with singles. Very rarely would a b-side be simply another track from the album or an alternative version of the a-side. That being said, the band also never wrote more than they needed for an album. If a song wasn’t good enough for the album, the band typically didn’t record it. For that reason, most of the b-sides are covers which also provides insight on the band’s influences.
There’s a lot of interesting stuff on here. Covers of Cross Eyed Mary and King of Twilight that turn the originals on their head, a cover of A Rainbow’s Gold (which contains lyrics that were used on Hallowed Be Thy Name), and some early recordings that were never on a studio album. For me, the most interesting b-sides are the ones from Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. As mentioned earlier, the band rarely wrote songs for b-side use, but 1986-1988 was an especially creative period. Sheriff of Huddersfield and Black Bart Blues are both original tunes which, despite not being serious at all, are pretty strong for b-sides. The former is a tribute to the manager, Rod Smallwood, and the latter is a tale of life on the road. For the Somewhere In Time b-sides, they also recorded some songs from Adrian and Nicko’s The Entire Population of Hackney project. Among them is Reach Out, which features Adrian on lead vocals. Also from the Seventh Son era are two re-recordings of songs from the debut: Prowler and Charlotte the Harlot. These two were unexpected due to the band not typically redoing old songs and the ultra polished sound of Seventh Son is a stark contrast to the sound of the debut. Charlotte the Harlot is also a song that was never performed live with Bruce (and remained that way until 2005), so this was the first recording of him singing it.
In the 90’s, the covers were lighter on the prog rock side and more along the lines of traditional hard rock of bands such as Led Zeppelin and Free, which fit the more stripped down sound of those albums. They covered Montrose for the second time with Space Station No. 5 and, with Blaze in the band, finally did their own take of UFO’s Doctor Doctor. There are a few more originals in the 90s. Two of the three songs that were left off of X Factor are included here (Justice of the Peace and Judgement Day). Going back a couple years, there’s also Nodding Donkey Blues which is (to my knowledge) the first recording that is credited to the whole band. It’s also Nicko McBrain’s second writing credit (the first was also a b-side: Mission From ‘Arry). They also recorded a parody of Roll Over Beethoven called Roll Over Vic Vella, a tribute to Steve’s personal friend and assistant.
The remainder of the album consists of live recordings. There’s a recording of Drifter with Paul on vocals and Remember Tomorrow with Bruce on vocals (which is actually Bruce singing over the Maiden Japan track. There are also two rare live recordings with Blaze, Blood On the World’s Hands and The Aftermath, both recorded in Gothenburg. Finally, there are two recordings from the Ed Huntour: Futureal (which was only played with the current lineup on that tour) and Wasted Years.
As mentioned earlier, this is just a selection of the best b-sides, although they did a pretty good job getting most of the essential ones. The only glaring omissions for me are their cover of Massacre and Mission From ‘Arry. After 2003 Maiden pretty much stopped doing b-sides and any b-sides that were released were just live tracks. That being said, there is probably enough for another double album and, with that in mind, here is my “Rest of the B’Sides playlist for a reference of the other essentials (there’s still stuff missing but it’s mostly live songs that have been released on several live albums):
Disc 1:
1: Sanctuary (1979 Metal For Muthas)
2: Wrathchild (1979 Metal For Muthas)
3: I’ve Got the Fire (live recording with Paul on vocals)
4: Phantom Of the Opera (live 1980)
5: Women In Uniform (not a b-side, but also not widely available on CD)
6: Total Eclipse (included on the most recent release of The Number of the Beast, but should be here for completion sake)
7: Mission From ‘Arry (legendary recording of an argument between Steve, Nicko, and Bruce)
8: Murders In the Rue Morgue (Live at Hammersmith 1984)
9: Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra) (Live At Hammersmith 1984, also the only officially released live recording of this song)
10: Massacre (Thin Lizzy cover)
11: Bayswater Ain’t a Bad Place To Be (8 minutes of Blues and the band screwing around in the studio with acoustic guitars)
12: No Prayer For the Dying (Wembley 1990, the only officially released live recording of this song)
13: Public Enema No. 1 (Wembley 1990, the only officially released live recording of this song)
14: Holy Smoke (Wembley 1990, the only officially released live recording of this song)
15: The Assassin (Wembley 1990, the only officially released live recording of this song)
16: Hooks In You (Wembley 1990, the only officially released live recording of this song)
Disc 2:
1: Wasted Years (Germany 1993)
2: I Live My Way (the third X Factor reject)
3: Virus (again not a b-side but is only available on the out of print Best Of the Beast)
4: The Wicker Man (Radio edit)
5: The Nomad (Alternate mix)
6: Blood Brothers (orchestral mix)
7: Pass the Jam (2003 studio jam)
8: More Tea Vicar (2003 studio jam)
9: Dance of Death (orchestral mix)
10: Paschendale (orchestral mix)
11: Journeyman (electric version)
12: Hocus Pocus (Focus cover from 2006)
13: Space Truckin’ (Deep Purple cover from 2006)
14: Tush (Unreleased ZZ Top cover from 2006)
The BBC Archives
This is a compilation of various recordings that were broadcast on the BBC. This CD captures four different performances, two with Paul on vocals and two with Bruce on vocals. Of the three albums included on Eddie’s Archive, this is the least essential and is probably for hardcore fans only. The two Bruce recordings are from tours that already have full length live releases with arguably better setlists and performances (Beast Over Hammersmith and Maiden England). That being said, it’s a nice treat especially for those who are fond of those particular eras. For fans of the Di’Anno era, this just adds to the small amount that’s already out there. The best part of this album is actually the expansive liner notes, written by Radio 1 producer Tony Wilson. They go into great detail on the significance and history of each gig.
The first set of recordings is a studio performance from 1979. This is perhaps the most historically interesting recording on the album because it features the lineup of Paul Di’Anno, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Doug Sampson (drums) and Tony Parsons (guitar). These are the only officially released recordings with Parsons on guitar and are worth checking out for that alone. The song selection isn’t anything too exciting, but the unique lineup gives these familiar songs a different vibe.
The rest of Disc 1 is made up of Maiden’s legendary performance at Reading 1982. Where Beast Over Hammersmith was recorded very early in the Beast On the Road tour (the album hadn’t even been released yet), Reading took place at the end of the tour after the band had made runs through Europe and North America. The album had proven to be a hit, the new lineup was successful, and Reading served as a sort of homecoming or victory lap for the band. With Beast On the Road already part of this collection, it might seem redundant, but it is one of the band’s most memorable performances. That being said, it is not a complete performance and is more like a highlight reel. Although it is missing the encore where they were joined by members of Blackfoot to perform a cover of Tush.
Disc 2 turns the clock back a couple years to 1980 where the band performed at Reading for the first time. This predates Live At the Rainbow by a few months and is from when Dennis Stratton was still in the band. The only other live recording with Stratton is Live At the Ruskin Arms on The Early Days, which was from earlier in the year. Not much else to say about this one, it does have a rare performance of Killers with the alternate lyrics and Stratton on guitar.
The final recording is an excerpt of the band’s legendary headline performance at Donington 1988. It’s good to finally have some of it, although it’s not much compared to the far superior Maiden England. Of course it’s also incomplete, although 3 additional songs (The Prisoner, Heaven Can Wait, and The Clairvoyant) were released on The Clairvoyant single, so a good chunk of this performance has been released in different forms. Like Reading 1982, it’s somewhat redundant if you already have Maiden England and is mostly appealing for its historic significance.
Overall the BBC Archives is a decent release that manages to catch several live recordings that were heavily bootlegged and requested by fans. I would’ve preferred the complete Donington, Reading, or even something else entirely such as Hammersmith 1984 or Wembley 1990. BBC Archives is interesting, but it’s one of those albums that you only really need to listen to once.
Visions Of the Beast (2003)
While we’re on the subject of archival releases, released in early 2003 was a DVD that collected all of Maiden’s music videos up until that point. They had released several video compilations on VHS, the last one covering everything up to Fear of the Dark. This DVD includes all of those videos plus the ones that came after and some alternate/unreleased cuts such as the “Football” version of Futureal and an alternate version of Man On the Edge. It also has a video for Afraid To Shoot Strangers with Blaze Bayley on vocals, which was one of his better renditions of the Bruce era material. As extras, there are also animated videos for six songs. Of course all these videos are now on YouTube (most, if not all, uploaded by the band themselves) so this release is fairly obsolete. But we can use it as an excuse to discuss the band’s videos in general.
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Maiden might not have been actively touring or recording from 2001 to early 2003, but the Maiden PR machine was certainly moving at full speed with all the archival releases (there was also another greatest hits release, Edward the Great, but there’s nothing on there worth mentioning). There was certainly an element of the band taking advantage of their new status as a “legacy” act in a way that they consciously avoided during the Brave New World cycle. They had proven that their priority was the future, but now there was a chance to look back and give fans some rare goodies from the 80’s. But that too was now over with and soon it would be time for Maiden to look forward again with what is the most divisive album of the reunion era. Stay tuned for Dance of Death!
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