2013 CD Reviews - Iron Maiden - Maiden England '88

Iron Maiden
Maiden England '88
Universal Music Enterprises - 2013
http://www.ironmaiden.com

Iron Maiden reaches back into the past to update and release this live concert from their 1988 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour.

This is the two disc CD set that was released in conjunction with the DVD concert. The original concert was released on VHS in 1989 and it has now been put out on DVD for the first time. They added the three previously unreleased encores back in as well.

The audio set is perhaps in danger of being dismissed as just another live Iron Maiden release. That is until you listen to the concert and realize that this might just be Iron Maiden at their live performance peak.

The sound quality here is superb and while I would never question the band's energy output in their shows, you can really feel a difference with this performance.

The material covered in the concert ranges across the band's catalog from "Run To The Hills" to "The Clairvoyant".

While there isn't anything overly historical about the show other than its original VHS release, I'm of the opinion that you can never have too much Iron Maiden.

Longtime Maiden producer Kevin Shirley was responsible for the audio upgrades to the soundtrack. The original audio recordings were done by Martin Birch. It appears that the only songs not digitally remastered on the set are the three songs during the encore ("Run To The Hills", "Running Free" and "Sanctuary").

While the casual Maiden fan might find this lacking as an essential purchase, hardcore Maiden fans should be lining up to hand over their cash.

Grade: A MINUS