Since his split with Iron Maiden in 1993, Bruce had experienced the ups and downs of life after the biggest ride of his career. Playing smaller venues, with less promotion and hype, hoping to build something away from the spotlight that he had been a part of for that previous decade, and on the back of albums such as “Balls to Picasso” and “Skunkworks”, discovering the pitfalls of putting your heart and soul into a project, and not getting back the unadulterated adulation you may have felt it deserved. He has commented in interviews since that he was at his lowest moment at this time, and felt perhaps he needed to start looking at another profession. Then through the help of partner in crime Roy Z and former partner in crime Adrian Smith, the rise began in earnest, with albums such as “Accident of Birth” and “The Chemical Wedding” which were lauded by critics and fans alike, and the quality of both of those albums meant Dickinson and his band were making inroads and beginning to become a force in the world of music. This, and the falling album and concert sales of Iron Maiden in that time frame, and the real possibility that that band would shrink in popularity considerably should something not be done about it, led to the announcement on February 10, 1999, that both Bruce and Adrian were returning to Iron Maiden as full time members, something that the world greeting with ecstasy and excitement. Of course, this meant that Bruce’s solo career would have to be put on hold, perhaps permanently, although he publicly stated that was not something he wanted to occur.
What it did mean was that his tour following this date could be celebrated on all fronts. A tour to promote “The Chemical Wedding” album with its amazing material, as well as celebrating the fact that soon fans would be able to hear new material and the live the reformed Iron Maiden, and the excitement that would bring. With this in mind, and as a way to give this period of his career the proper ending and send off, it was decided to release a live album from this tour, to properly give the end of this moment in time with a true reflection of the band at its peak, and of songs that may never again have been played in the live environment. And so, the show played on 25th April 1999 in Sao Paulo, Brazil was recorded for this purpose and released in the sunset of the band but the sunrise of the new dawn of Iron Maiden, and appropriately titled “Scream for Me Brazil!”.
The release of this live album had to be well conceived in order to make the most of the moment in time, and it appears there was also some discussion about what to include on the final release. Given that there were two former members of Iron Maiden in the Bruce Dickinson band, it was obvious that they would cover some of those songs in their live set list. On this tour, there were three Maiden songs each night, those being “Powerslave”, “2 Minutes to Midnight” and “Flight of Icarus”. All three songs were excluded from the final album release. Whatever decision process may have been invloved in that decision, whether it was just the fact that Bruce only wanted the bands songs on the album (which would be a reasonable action) or whether they decided against having songs from the band he and Adrian were about to rejoin so close to the reunion (quite possible) or whether it was just the time constraints on only having a single CD release rather than a double CD of the entire gig (also a reasonable action), they missed the final cut. And while it would have been great to hear those versions of those songs, it was not to be. Two other songs were also cut, those being “Tattooed Millionaire” and “Taking the Queen”.
Instead, we have 12 of the 17 songs played on that night, the first 11 songs, and then the penultimate song of the night “Road to Hell” closing out the album. And the first half of the setlist is all off the album they were touring to promote “The Chemical Wedding”. Indeed seven songs in total come from that album, a rare event when bands play live. But that was the best example of just how popular Bruce’s solo work was becoming with both “The Chemical Wedding” and “Accident of Birth”, that he and his band could play more than half of that album live and be feted for it rather than criticised. And the live versions hold up spectacularly well, being at least as good as the studio versions, and in places providing even more in the live environment than those studio versions could offer. And while those seven songs they play, “Trumpets of Jericho”, “King in Crimson”, “Chemical Wedding”, “Gates of Urizen”, “Killing Floor”, “Book of Thel” and “The Tower”, are spectacular, I can’t believe they didn’t play “Machine Men”. That for me is a missed opportunity.
Beyond that, we also getting excellent live versions of “Laughing in the Hiding Bush” and “Tears of the Dragon” from “Balls to Picasso”, and “Accident of Birth”, “Darkside of Aquarius” and “Road to Hell” from the “Accident of Birth” album, rounding out a fabulous live album.
The performances here are amazing. Eddie Casillas on bass and David Ingraham on drums excel again as they have on previous albums, while the dual guitars of Roy Z and Adrian Smith are superb. And of course, the voice him, who on this album proves he could still sing every song the same way as he does on the studio versions – and more! - the incomparable Bruce Dickinson.
Here’s my usual spiel about live albums, to get it out of the way. Live albums should be automatic 5/5 albums, because they should contain the bands best songs performed in their best environment. That is certainly the case here with “Scream for me Brazil”. It is a top shelf, top rated live album that everyone should check out.
Even more than that, this album proves that Rod Smallwood had to be very canny to protect his number one priority when it came to this situation. Because there is no doubt Bruce was in the ascendancy at this time, and this lie album is the final proof of that. Neither “The Chemical Wedding” nor “Accident of Birth” could have been written of recorded in Iron Maiden. It isn’t their style and has a different set of writers and people in charge that would not have occurred in the other group. “The Chemical Wedding” is a superior album in every respect over Maiden’s “The X Factor”. And if the status quo had remained onto another album cycle... would Maiden have survived? Would Bruce and band have gained further success? This live album asserts that the band was firing on the stage, and that this scenario was more than possible. And while Rod was probably just looking to save his longest investment by insisting that Steve and Bruce meet up and see if their differences could be resolved, he probably also saw the future and knew that the true longevity lay in Bruce, and Adrian, returning to Maiden and getting that ship righted and sailing true once again.
I bought this pretty much on its release, and it has been a gem from the first day I had it. And all of those thoughts ran through my head at the time... as excited as I was to see those two return to Maiden, and hear what the reunited band would produce, I also wondered if another Bruce Dickinson album would be just as worthwhile. We did of course eventually get another album, the Bruce and Roy written-by-correspondence effort of “Tyranny of Souls” which showed that even in that environment they could produce another great album, and of course more recently the excellent “The Mandrake Project”. In essence, we have had the best of both worlds. But this album does capture a moment in time, where this band was on a high, riding on the coattails in particular of two amazing studio albums, with the surge of momentum driving them to greater heights, and also of the butterflies of expectation of what the following year would bring with the return of Iron Maiden. All of that comes through on this album, and it is all the better for it.
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