OFF: Re: Dio, Maiden, etc.

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

On 09 Sep 2008, at 14:31 , gary shindler wrote:
> I only heard Dickinson's first album with "All the Young Dudes." He  
> does have a movie now of "The Chemical Wedding."


That would be _Tattooed Millionaire_, which is IMO in nothing like  
the same league as _The Chemical Wedding_ (which is effectively a  
William Blake inspired concept album).  TCW has Adrian Smith aboard,  
with guitar duties rounded out by the mighty (if not widely known)  
talents of Roy Z, and contains very serious rocking indeed.  Go forth  
and listen of it!  (TCW also, with all respect, beats the crap out of  
Maiden's _Virtual XI_, released the same year.  I reckon Steve Harris  
probably decided that inviting Smith and Dickinson back was a must-do  
after listening to TCW! ;))

The followup to TCW was _Tyranny of Souls_, which is also quite good  
(definitely better than _Tattooed Millionaire_, IMO) if not quite as  
fab as TCW (IMO).  It lacks Adrian Smith (both he and Bruce being  
back in the Maiden fold by then) and is largely a Bruce/Roy Z  
collaborative effort -- but that still produces an album better than  
many I've heard.  I have heard some fan's pick _Accident of Birth_,  
the predecessor to TCW as a favorite Dickinson solo album (and it has  
the same band as TCW, I think), but I definitely prefer TCW and Tyranny.


> Iron Maiden was my first rock concert with Fastway and Saxon. It  
> was the "Piece of Mind" tour. Cue up the mullets and spandex.



I've never actually seen Maiden live!  I only started warming to them  
recently (despite getting hooked by a Dickinson solo album 10 years  
ago) and though I would have seen their concert earlier this year in  
Bogotá, it was actually already sold out when I arrived late last  
year.  (It was their first ever gig in the country.)  Still, not  
having any long held expectations, I find I really like some of the  
stuff on the recent _Matter of Life and Death_ album at least as well  
as anything from the "classic" period.

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
http://www.carlaz.com/