Doveva essere il più grande live degli Iron Maiden, invece questo doppio cd si è solo rivelato l'ennesima dimostrazione del fatto che quando Harris cura la produzione si ottengono quasi sempre disastri.
Andiamo con ordine: l'anno è il 1993, un periodo buio per gli Iron Maiden. Adrian Smith, grande chitarrista e grande vena creativa abbandona dopo Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, lasciando il posto a Janick Gers, assolutamente non alla sua altezza. Dopo di lui anche la voce storica dei Maiden Bruce Dickinson, stanco delle ambizioni prog di Harris, abbandona il gruppo lasciandolo in una crisi che non finirà fino al suo ritorno nel 2000. In questo periodo di crisi creativa Harris si butta in operazioni commerciali per assicurare la sopravvivenza della "sua" creatura... questo live è una di queste.
Quello che doveva essere il Live definitivo è diviso in due cd: nel primo, il più interessante, A Real Dead One, ci sono i brani più vecchi tratti dai primi cinque album, mentre nel secondo, A Real Live One si trovano i successi più recenti. L'unico motivo d'interesse che potrebbe spingere a acquistare questo live sono alcune chicche contenute nella sezione Dead: Where Eagles Dare, Prowler, Transylvania e Remember Tomorrow.
Avendo sicuramente letto il voto verrà da chiedersi: quali sono i difetti? Anzitutto la scelta di registrare tutti i brani da concerti differenti, scelta che rende il Live abbastanza poco coinvolgente. La produzione di Harris poi, è davvero scarsa e il suono orribile. E poi last but not least, la prestazione di Dickinson. Nel suo tour di addio, da dove sono state estratte tutte le tracce, Dickinson è assolutamente svogliato e stanco, e la sua prestazione ne risente parecchio, e anche il resto della band dà la stessa impressione.
Insomma il povero Harris ha toppato di brutto con questo doppio album live, per quanto mi spiaccia di dirlo in quanto amante della band. Da evitare come la peste. Se volete un live come si deve degli Iron Maiden, puntate su Live After Death.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 The Number of the Beast (04:54)
I left alone, my mind was blank.
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind.
What did I see, can I believe,
That what I saw that night was real
and not just fantasy.
Just what I saw, in my old dreams,
Were they reflections of my warped mind
staring back at me.
'Cause in my dreams, it's always there,
The evil face that twists my mind and brings
me to despair.
Yeah!!!
The night was black, was no use holding back,
'Cause I just had to see, was someone
watching me.
In the mist, dark figures move and twist,
Was all this for real, or just some kind of hell.
666 the Number of the Beast.
Hell and fire was spawned to be released.
Torches blazed and sacred chants were phrased,
As they start to cry, hands held to the sky.
In the night, the fires burning bright,
The ritual has begun, Satan's work is done.
666 the number of the beast.
Sacrifice is going on tonight.
This can't go on, I must inform the lord.
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream.
But I feel drawn towards the chanting hordes,
They seem to mesmerize...can't avoid their eyes,
666 the Number of the Beast.
666 the one for you and me.
I'm coming back, I will return,
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn.
I have the fire, I have the force.
I have the power to make my evil take it's course.
02 The Trooper (03:55)
You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back.
The bugle sounds and the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As I plunge on into certain death.
The horse he sweats with fear we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall
We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We were meant to fight another day.
We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below.
And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan
03 Prowler (04:15)
Walking through the city, looking oh so pretty,
I've just got to find my way.
See the ladies flashing. All there legs and lashes.
I've just got to find my way.
Well you see me crawling through the bushes
With it open wide.
What you seeing girl?
Can't you believe that feeling, can't you believe it,
Can't you believe your eyes?
It's the real thing girl.
Got me feeling myself and reeling around,
Got me talking but feel like walking around.
Got me feeling myself and reeling a...
Got me talking but nothing's with me...
Got me feeling myself and reeling around.
05 Remember Tomorrow (05:52)
Unchain the colours before my eyes,
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies.
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher,
I shall return from out of fire.
Tears for rememberance, and tears for joy,
Tears for somebody and this lonely boy.
Out in the madness, the all seeing eye,
Flickers above us, to light up the sky.
Unchain the colours before my eyes,
Yesterday's sorrows, tomorrow's white lies.
Scan the horizon, the clouds take me higher,
I shall return from out of fire.
06 Where Eagles Dare (04:49)
It's snowing outside, the rumbling sound
of engines roar in the night
The mission is near the confident men
are waiting to drop from the sky
The Blizzard goes on, but still they must fly
No one should go where eagles dare
Bavarian Alps that lay all around
They seem to stare from below
The enemy lines a long time passed
Are lying deep in the snow
Into the night they fall through the sky
No one should fly where eagles dare
Their closing in, the fortress is near
It's standing high in the sky
The cable car's the only way in
it's really impossible to climb
They make their way, but maybe too late
They've got to try to save the day
The panicking cries, the roaring of guns
Are echoing all around the valley
The mission complete, they make to scape
Away from the Eagles Nest
They dared to go where no one would try
They chose to fly where eagles dare
07 Sanctuary (04:53)
Out of winter came a warhorse of steel
I've never killed a woman before but I know how it feels
I know you'd have gone insane if you saw what I saw
So now I've got to look for Sanctuary from the law
I met up with a 'slinger last night to keep me alive
He spends all his money on gambling and guns to survive
I know you'd have gone insane if you'd saw what I saw
So now I've got to look for Sanctuary from the law
CHORUS: So give me Sanctuary from the law
And I'll be alright
Just give me Sanctuary from the law
And love me tonight..........tonight
I know you'd have gone insane if you saw what I saw
so now I've got to look for Sanctuary from the law
CHORUS: So give me Sanctuary from the law
And I'll be alright
Just give me Sanctuary from the law
And love me tonight............tonight
I can laugh at the wind
I can howl at the rain
Down in the Canyon or out on the plains
I know you'd have gone insane if you saw what I saw
so now I've to look for Sanctuary from the law
CHORUS: So give me Sanctuary from the law
And I'll be alright
Just give me Sanctuary from the law
And love me tonight...........tonight
09 Run to the Hills (03:57)
White man came across the sea,
He brought us pain and misery.
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed,
He took our game for his own need.
We fought him hard, we fought him well,
Out on the plains we gave him hell.
But many came, too much for Cree,
Oh will we ever be set free?
Riding through dustclouds and barren wastes,
Galloping hard on the plains.
Chasing the redskins back to their holes,
Fighting them at their own game.
Murder for freedom, a stab in the back.
Women and children and cowards attack.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
Soldier blue in the barren wastes,
Hunting and killing for game.
Raping the women and wasting the men,
The only good Indians are tame.
Selling them whisky and taking their gold,
Enslaving the young and destroying the old.
Run to the hills, run for your lives.
(repeat to end)
10 2 Minutes to Midnight (05:37)
Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don't need a reason
The Golden Goose is on the loose
And never out of season.
Blackened pride still burns inside
This shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune and the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
The blind men shout let the creatures out
We'll show the unbelievers,
The Napalm screams of human flames
Of a prime time Belsen feast...YEAH!
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat
and lick the gravy,
We oil the jaws of the war machine
and feed it with our babies.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune and the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
The body bags and little rags of children
torn in two,
And the jellied brains of those who remain
to put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words and make us all
dance to their song,
To the tune of starving millions
to make a better kind of gun.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune and the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
Midnight... is all night...
Midnight... all night...
11 Iron Maiden (05:24)
Won't you come into my room,
I wanna show you all my wares.
Want to see your blood,
Want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow
as it pours upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can't be fought,
Iron Maiden can't be sought.
Chorus:
Oh Well, wherever,
Wherever you are,
Iron Maiden's gonna get you,
No matter how far.
See the blood flow watching it shed
Up above my head.
Iron Maiden wants you for dead.
Won't you come into my room,
I wanna show you all my wares.
Want to see your blood,
Want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow
As it pours upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can't be fought,
Iron Maiden can't be sought.
12 Hallowed Be Thy Name (07:51)
I'm waiting in my cold cell, when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time
'Cause at 5 o'clock, they take me to the gallows pole
The sands of time for me are running low.
When the priest comes to read me the last rites,
I take a look through the bars at the last sights,
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me.
Can it be that there's some sort of error
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end, not some crazy dream?
Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming,
It's not easy to stop from screaming
But words escape me when I try to speak.
Tears fall but why am I crying,
After all I'm not afraid of dying.
Do not believe that there never is an end.
As the guards march me out to the courtyard,
Somebody cries from a cell God be with you.
If there's a God then why has he let me go?
As I walk my life drifts before me,
Though the end is near I'm not sorry.
Catch my soul, it's willing to fly away.
Mark my words believe my soul lives on
Don't worry now that I have gone
I've gone beyond to see the truth
When you know that your time is close at hand.
Maybe then you'll begin to understand,
Life down here is just a strange illusion
Hallowed Be Thy Name
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Altre recensioni
Di the x factor
La scaletta impeccabile e la prestazione canora di Dickinson, specialmente in Fear Of The Dark, lo rendono davvero bello.
Questo live paga molto per colpa della scarsissima produzione, altrimenti sarebbe stato davvero il miglior live dei Maiden.
