816. Iron Maiden / Maiden England '88. 2013. 5/5

Back in 1989, Iron Maiden released a live video of the concert from Birmingham on their 'Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour' entitled Maiden England, and for those of us lucky enough to find the right package, it also came with a CD which contained an abbreviated version of the set list, also entitled Maiden England. For years though, it was not available to the general mug punter, unless you recorded the audio from your VHS copy onto cassette to take around with you. Yes, that was an option in those days of the early 1990's. Eventually though, whether it be from the wish that all mug punters should be able to listen to and view this great material, or a way of squeezing more money out of the Maiden promotion machine, it came to pass that not only was the footage remastered and released on DVD for all the kids who had been born since it was recorded to view, it was also re-released on CD and vinyl in remastered form.

All of this was good news for those of us who are still living in the 1980's in our middle age. Better yet was the fact that the audio version was remastered and released in its entirety, meaning that five songs that had been left off the original CD version in order to keep that release to a single CD were now being reinstated, and the release becoming a double album.
Restored to this release that were missing from that original album were "Can I Play With Madness?" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name". "Can I Play With Madness?" was the sixth song from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album in the set list, and is just as terrific as ever. As the first single taken from the album it is great to hear it here again. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" has been in the set list ever since it was first recorded, and having it restored here helps to complete that set. Also restored is the complete encore trio of "Run to the Hills", "Running Free" and "Sanctuary", all Maiden favourites and all as iconic as the band itself.

As I stated in my review for Maiden England, there was always a possibility that this would forever be compared to the brilliant Live After Death album, and be seen as the inferior younger brother. Certainly it did not, in fact it eventually complemented that album perfectly, bookending the best part s of all Iron Maiden releases during that decade. Now here with the full concert reinstated and remastered to its full beauty, we truly have two great live albums worthy of each other, showcasing the greatness that is Iron Maiden.

Rating:  Now I've got to look for sanctuary from the law.  5/5