» Dvd reviews |
« back
|
Bruce Dickinson - Anthology
The air-raid siren sounds again with echoes from the past. Bruce Dickinson has beside his role as vocalist in Iron Maiden done a bunch of albums as a solo artist, but you all know that so I guess that I can safely skip the introducing words here. Dive Dive Live -The picture quality is rather good considering it was recorded some sixteen years ago, and the sound also holds a fairly good quality. It is a stripped down concert and it is a pretty basic hard rock concert with not much more than a stage and the band, and the longer the concert goes the better it gets. The performance is great and future Maiden guitarist Janick Gers shows off as always and Dickinson sings just as good as one is used to. Bruce had only done one album at this point and the entire album is played along with some other songs including a couple of cover tracks. Dive Dive Live is a good club-gig with an intimate feeling. Skunkworks Live - This concert looks like it is filmed with a web camera, the picture is a bit fuzzy and dark while the picture is twitching, which is a bit disturbing. It is also edited with many fast cuts between the cameras, something that adds to the disturbing account but luckily it does not take away too much of the listening pleasure as the sound quality is good. The performance from the band is not the best as it sounds a bit untight at times but nevertheless they are in a playful mood and overall it is mostly worthwhile to watch, not least because of the performed songs from the underestimated album Skunkworks. Once again, like with Dive Dive Live, it is a stripped down concert and yet once again the vocals from Bruce are good. Skunkworks Live is not much more than just an average concert if it hadn't had been for the songs that I think are underrated. Scream For Me Brazil - This is the best of the three concerts on the Anthology triple DVD. It contains a killer performance from the band that is a lot heavier compared to the other two concerts. The picture quality isn't exactly top of the line here but the performance from Bruce and the band definitely is, most likely since this features two guitarists. Bruce's song writing partner and producer Roy Z along with Maiden axe-man Adrian Smith really makes this concert more intense and the sound becomes heavier. Another reason why this is the best concert is of course that the song material is the strongest. All songs apart from Tears Of The Dragon are picked from the albums Accident Of Birth and Chemical Wedding that is by far Bruce's best albums so you can't really go wrong there. Scream For Me Brazil is basically one damn great concert, simple as that. Promotional Videos - All of the promotional videos that Bruce Dickinson has done, a great collection and a great introduction to his solo career. Some might be a little low budget and some look really professional. Tears Of The Dragon is not only one of his better songs but the video is also so good that you can't watch it enough. The big up on this part of the Anthology DVD is that Bruce before each video comments it, this is something that gives some nice depth to the DVD and something that I find very interesting. Tyranny Of Souls EPK - Is a promotional interview or something thereof for the Tyranny Of Souls album where Bruce speaks for about 50 minutes about the album, the story behind it, his relation to producer and songwriter companion Roy Z and a lot more. For a metal nerd like myself this is indispensable. Samson: Biceps Of Steel - Oh dear, this is something that was done with Samson during the time while Bruce Dickinson was part of the band. Two songs taken from a fifteen-minute film that has Spinal Tap written all over it, enough said. Finally, we can say that this DVD is a pretty damn good
introduction to his solo career and further a must for the fan. Three
concerts from different periods in his solo career give you a good perspective
and that the set-lists are as different as they are makes this the perfect
summary of Bruce Dickinson live. In addition, you get a full disc with
videos to further complete the retrospective of the air-raid siren.
To see Bruce in smaller venues and still see him deliver in the grand
way that he does with Iron Maiden at vast arenas is purely a pleasure.
Related links: |