Customer Reviews
Great archive of Iron Maiden's best years 
2008-12-25
I read online how good this was. When I found it in my local mom 'n' pop CD shop here in Singapore, my curiosity got the better of me and I bought it. Five hours of early Maiden, great great great. I watched snatches of it late into Monday night and it was fascinating.
Iron Maiden's two main guitarists, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, are magicians and really awesome to watch. When I was a kid, I loved listening to this stuff; as an adult, I have to admit that I still love listening to this stuff, but now I love watching it just as much! I'd never seen the band play. Dave Murray always plays a black Fender Stratocaster just like the one I have, and Adrian Smith sometimes also plays a Les Paul like I have (although he's probably playing a top notch version, while mine is an el-cheapo Epiphone Les Paul Studio). Paul DiAnno is an awesome frontman, and I love his voice, although the studded wristlets are a bit much.
In the video you also see how the young Bruce Dickenson, while a very intelligent person with a great voice, is a bit of a cheezy showman, and his outfits are also quite corny - especially the red tights (Steve Murray also seems to favour tights). Well, they make great music, forgive them their fashion faux pas.
The documentary on the second disc is really good fun, although it basically looks like Steve Murray's only strategy was to get a dozen ex-Iron Maiden members down to the pub one afternoon, buy them beer, and let them wander down memory lane for the cameras one after the other while the others hung about playing darts and eating crisps. That's interspliced with pics and live clips to put it in context, but it only backs up the impression that it's impossible to think of Iron Maiden without thinking about - love him or hate him - Steve Harris. Sure, why not, he started the band, and has been the only one who has been with it throughout, and he seems to write most of the songs as well.
If you're as much of a Maiden fan as I am, GET THIS!!!! NOW!!!! 2008-11-17
While I was in HMV back in September, I saw this on the DVD rack, and being the Maiden fanboy I am, I so HAD to buy this. I've been a Maiden fan for over 2 years, and still am, and always adding to my Maiden library. Maiden are my favorite band, so I bought this. And this definitely is worth owning for sure!! 2 discs worth of material nobody has seen until they own this DVD. You get a bunch of concerts, TV interviews, rare performances you'll never get anywhere else. What more could you expect?
Below is a brief summary of what's included:
-LIVE AT THE RAINBOW (30 minutes)
This is the band's first video they ever recorded. It was recorded and released sometime after the Debut album was released, and features at-the-time newcomer to the band Adrian Smith. Filmed at the Rainbow theatre in London, this was an introductory video to the fans, and proved they were not nervous at all to film themselves. Interesting note is that during the filming, the power was lost for some reason, and that the band had to re-film and re-perform the first half of their set. And be sure to listen closely to "Killers"- it has a COMPLETELY different set of lyrics than on the album that they wrote in the dressing room the same night!
-BEAST OVER HAMMERSMITH (45 minutes)
Filmed on the "Beast on the Road Tour", the first tour with Bruce Dickinson and also the tour supporting "The Number of the Beast", this is a clip of selections from their show at the Hammersmith Theatre in London. Bruce is AMAZING here (but then again, he always is amazing), the band play tightly, and one funny note is that everyone on the stage is wearing tank-tops and sleeveless shirts except for Adrian- he's dressed up all formally!!! Anyways, amazing performance, and it's interesting to see what the tour was like with Dickinson in the band, and it's also safe to say that this is Clive Burr's last tour with the band before he left and replaced by Nicko McBrain.
-LIVE AT DORTMUND (45 mins)
This was the final date of the World Piece Tour, except instead of the usual setlist, they had played a shortened 50 minute set (I'll explain why I said 45 later). This was the Dortmund Festival filmed at Westfallenhalle arena in Dortmund, Germany. They were playing with Ozzy, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and a bunch of other bands. This is, again, a tightly performed set, and what's missing here is "Iron Maiden", where Eddie is brutally murdered! This was cut since it was deemed too graphic for TV, but a clip is shown in the documentary on Disc 2.
-LIVE AT THE RUSKIN (45 mins)
This is the oldest live Maiden footage avaliable. It was filmed on the day of the release of the debut album, and contains a rare performance of Charlotte the Harlot not found anywhere else. This is a pretty interesting video, and is a good taste of what the boys were like when they were just a small-town punk band.
-20TH CENTURY BOX (20 mins)
An English TV episode devoted to Maiden. Aired in 1980, and quite interesting.
-TOP OF THE POPS (8 mins)
Contains 2 performances, Women in Uniform and Running Free. Actually pretty cool video, and good quality.
-THE HISTORY OF IRON MAIDEN PART 1 (90 mins)
This is an informative, hilarious, and fun-filled documentary about the band told by the members themselves! Interviews with the band, plus former members Paul Di'Anno, Clive Burr, Thunderstick, and Paul Mario Day. You even have interviews with Rod Smallwood (band's manager), Ross Halfin (band's photographer), and Martin Birch (band's producer in the 80s) too! It has LOTS of interviews, some of which are quite hilarious, and is worth seeing!
So overall, this is worth owning if you're a Maiden fan!!! This has a lot of cool footage, and is definitely candy for the Maiden fan. So if you are as big a fan as I am, definitely buy this!!
Wonderfully insightful! 2008-08-01
Bravo! What a well done Maiden documentary this is. There are so many great interviews. I leanred much that I did not know even after being a Maiden fans for over 20 years. Very well put together. The menus are great. It is shot very well. Editing is great. Just perfect!
Iron Maiden DVD's are always great and full of footage 2008-05-27
This DVD has about 4 concerts on it, it has interviews and history. It seems like they took all of the Videos and turned them into DVD's. It lasts for about 5 hours and 15 minutes, well worth every penny of the price.
It's easy to see that this band wanted success and worked hard for it 2008-03-30
Too many highlights to list them all here. It's a shame that Paul Di'Anno chose partying over significance, but Bruce Dickinson is a much stronger performer and frontman, so everybody won (except, of course, Di'Anno).
"Beast Over Hammersmith" is unbelievably raw and vital, and it doesn't let up. The performance of "The Prisoner" is a real jaw-dropper...the band just CRANKS.
I'm glad that we have the Dickinson lineup of Maiden still rocking in 2008, but this DVD gives you a rare glimpse into the history of a band who set out to conquer the world...and DID.
Up the Irons! 2007-11-13
Studio: Sony Music Release Date: 02/01/2005 Run time: 315 minutes
Definite keeper for the true Maiden Fan 2007-06-08
Uh... yeah.... There's not much else to say,
everyone already said it-- just get it!!!!
This is the definitive starter collection for Real Maiden Die Hards, and new discoverers alike---10 stars!!!!
Great f'ing dvd!! 2007-03-08
The interviews and extra stuff is worth it alone. Great stuff. Just get it!
Best Iron Maiden video yet! 2007-01-03
Though I've been a huge Iron Maiden fan for over 20 years and have tons of videos including bootlegs, it took me a while to pick up this one...and after viewing it I must say I was very impressed as this is without question their best and definitive video to date...and this is only Part 1! To be honest I've been getting somewhat tired of the band as of late they've been releasing so much live material...a live double album/DVD after each studio album/tour plus that boxset which seems to have neverending endless live versions of "Sanctuary" and "Iron Maiden" but watching and listening to this DVD made me realize once again what a great ferocious band Iron Maiden is in the live setting. The concert footage and documentary material deal with the band's history from their very beginnings in 1975 till the Piece Of Mind era circa 1983.
Disc 1 is all concert footage. It starts off with Live at the Rainbow from 1980 which features Paul Di'Anno as well as Adrian Smith who had just joined the band, this was right before their 2nd album Killers was to be recorded and released. The video has been around for years though very hard to find and now looks and sounds better than ever. For those of you who've never witnessed or heard the Di'Anno era live this is a must-have, while only about a 1/2 hour in length, the sheer power of the band in their early days will floor you...it's funny seeing when Dave Murray was young, he was moving and banging his head all over the place while when I saw them live not long ago he just stood and smiled for 2 hours, not that there's anything wrong with that, he must be pushing 50!
The next two concerts, both about 45 minutes each are from the next two tours with their then new singer Bruce Dickinson. Beast Over Hammersmith was initially supposed to be released officially as a concert video but some poor lighting caused the band to scrap those plans. I could be wrong but I do not believe all the songs from that original show are here but the most important ones are, plus the audio sound is out of this world. Live At Dortmund recorded during the Piece of Mind tour featuring their then new drummer Nicko McBrain has quite a few tracks missing that supposedly were lost or destroyed and while it is an important document of the band's history, the audio quality wasn't as good as the other two previous concerts but they still pulled off the energy the other two possessed.
Disc 2 is chock full of everything you'll ever want to know about Iron Maiden. Starting with a 90 minute documentary called The Early Days, there's tons of interviews with current and many past members as well as more live footage and rare photos nevermind lots of info on the band that many are not aware of such as the fact that Paul Di'Anno is actually the band's third vocalist plus they went through countless numbers of guitarists and even a keyboard player before recording their first album. Some advice for you Yanks...you might want to select subtitle mode on your DVD player for the interviews. Some of the old members are interviewed for the documentary, besides a couple who let themselves go they all look like accountants or something. Another documentary about 20 minutes in length recorded in Britain in 1980 just after the band got signed is also of interest, and good for laughs with the cheezy 80s intro, the host, and early 80s headbangers with cardboard guitars and bad teeth. There's yet another concert, some homemade videotaped show called Live at the Ruskin which is around the time the first album came out and has the seldom seen Dennis Stratton who actually sounds way better singing backup here than he did on the first album...interesting to note Steve Harris says somewhere in the video that he doesn't like the first album so much because of the production. There's also some music performences from British and German TV shows, kind of like what we used to have here in the States with Solid Gold. All the band's music videos from this point of time are also presented, as well as tons of photos, Steve Harris' diary during their beginnings, and even all the tour programs...my only complaint is especially with the tour programs you'll need a large screen TV to read the written segments on the pages. There's a few easter eggs, when you go to main menu on the different sections on disc 2, press the down arrow button and it'll go to an icon of what looks like two crossed axes. Though I haven't heard or read any info regarding future releases of The History of Iron Maiden, I suspect Part II will probably have the long sought after Live After Death and maybe Maiden England finally on DVD.
Everything for the casual fan to the harcore army 2006-10-02
This, simply, has it all - whether you are a casual fan or a more hardcore follower. I remember watching "Live at the Rainbow" when it was shown on Nickelodeon back in the early 80s (it was among the first of the home video concert releases. That was a jewel for me, because it was my first experience seeing Iron Maiden - on TV when I was 12. I'm more than a casual fan, but not quite the full-on devotee of all things Maiden...and this DVD is everything I love about them.
