We'll be getting to NOTB soon, but some stuff to talk about before we move on:
Closing Thoughts On the Di’Anno Years
Maiden began experiencing problems with Paul Di’Anno during the Killers tour. He was unhappy with the long stretches of touring and began abusing drugs. His performances suffered and it became obvious that Maiden were in need of yet another change. Paul was dismissed from the band at the end of the band’s Autumn European tour. Maiden returned to the stage with a new singer just a month later. Bruce Dickinson (or Bruce Bruce, as he was known then) had already gained notoriety in another NWOBHM group, Samson, and Maiden knew immediately after Paul’s departure that he was the right man for the job.
Bruce Dickinson sang on two albums with Samson:
Head On (1980)
For some reason my Head On review is giving me a 403 error. Not sure what to do about it, although it's accepting this part:
Overall, Head On is a decent album but it’s clear that this material is beneath Bruce’s abilities. There’s a lot of hard rock/blues influences and the music is fairly simple. Yet Bruce’s operatic and theatrical vocal style brings the otherwise generic music to a higher level. It’s not hard to see how Maiden knew right away that this was the man for the job. Also check out this album for Samson's version of Ides of March!
Shock Tactics (1981)
The followup to Head On is a stronger effort, although still quite a few degrees lower than what Maiden were doing. Still, Bruce is able to flex his muscles more here and the music has some more variety. The clear highlight of the album is the Russ Ballard cover, Riding With the Angels. The Kiss fans here will know the significance of the original writer of Russ Ballard, because he also penned New York Groove and the original version of God Gave Rock and Roll To You. Samson nail this cover, mostly thanks to Bruce’s vocal performance. Easily the highlight of the band’s short career.
Some interesting trivia for this album: It was recorded in the same studio at the same time Maiden were recording Killers. According to Bruce, he sat in on some of Maiden’s sessions and witnessed the band having difficulties with Paul.
Bootlegs
There is a decent amount of officially released Di’Anno era live material. In addition to what we’ve already discussed, there’s some stuff on Eddie’s Archive (we’ll get to that later) and various b-sides from the period. However, there are no full shows officially available and I’m not sure if the spirit of that lineup has been truly captured on an official release. Fortunately, there are actually a few good bootlegs from this era, so I thought I’d share some before we move on to Number of the Beast.
https://tiny.cc/Tokyo1981This is a recording from the band’s first Japanese tour. It’s not the same show that was released on Maiden Japan (pretty sure that would be against the rules) but it’s the same setlist. It’s a soundboard recording with a great setlist. Included are songs that were never played again after this tour such as Purgatory, Genghis Khan, and Twilight Zone. There’s also a guitar solo and a rare instance of Maiden playing a cover live: I’ve Got the Fire by Montrose. This bootleg is a soundboard recording and is very high quality, some even prefer it to the sound of Maiden Japan. Arguably the best Di’Anno era bootleg.
https://tiny.cc/Milan1981This is a recording of the band’s first tour with Bruce in late 1981. It’s still part of the Killers tour so the setlist is very similar, so you get a few tracks that were only played with Bruce on this tour. The quality isn’t as good but it’s passable and the historical value makes it worth at least skimming through. Bruce sounds great on Purgatory, I’ll never understand why that song never got played again.
https://tiny.cc/RuskinArms1981One more “Breaking In Bruce” recording. Again, the quality isn’t great on this but the historic content is incredible. This was the band’s final performance of 1981 before going into the studio to record Number of the Beast. The venue is of course the Ruskin Arms, so the performance acted as a sort of homecoming for the band after their first world tour. What makes this album especially special is the performance of some NOTB material. Run To the Hills in particular is a really fascinating listen because nobody in the audience recognizes it! Hearing it introduced as a new song is surreal. This bootleg also includes the soundcheck where they rehearsed Hallowed Be Thy Name.
And if you want more early Bruce performances, here’s video of his first show with Maiden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k5CF_6bIgA