Finally, the long awaited Bruce
Dickinson solo DVD collection is here, and it’s a 3 disc set! This truly
has just about everything one could ask for. The quality of production, however,
varies from superb, to disappointing. The collection contains material spanning
Dickinson’s entire solo career going all the way back to his
pre-Maiden days when he was in the band Samson. For those of you
who didn’t already own it, the Samson – “Biceps of Steel” video is a
short but sweet blast from the past, and comes along with a recently filmed
introduction by Bruce explaining all the details. But that is only the tip of
the iceberg here. This set is huge…
Disc1 contains Dive Dive Live, (18 songs, at 70mins) a performance of Bruce
recorded during the Tattooed Millionaire Tour, August
14th, 1990
at the Town and Country Club in Los Angeles, California. This was Bruce’s first outing as a
solo artist with his new band made up of Janick Gers (guitar – Iron Maiden), Andy Carr (bass), and Dickie Fliszar (drums). Bruce was
also playing in Iron Maiden at the time. This solo outing actually
transpired before he left Maiden (we would be tortured by Blaze Bayley for two albums till we eventually were rescued by
Bruce’s triumphant return to the Maiden fold where he belongs–thank the gods of
metal). Iron Maiden’s No Prayer on the Road tour began on September
19th, 1990
with the album No Prayer for the Dying being released on October
10th, 1990.
It was during this tour that Maiden gained a number one single in the
form of “Bring your Daughter to the Slaughter” which was a Bruce solo tune
intended for Tattoo Millionaire that ended up becoming a Maiden
song on No Prayer for the Dying (for more information on this, I highly
recommend the authorized Iron Maiden biography Run To The Hills
by Mick Wall, 3rd edition pgs. 281-282). You can now hear Bruce’s solo take of “Bring
Your Daughter to the Slaughter” on Dive Dive Live.
Honestly, this show is fantastic, and it certainly is the crown jewel of this
DVD collection. All the raw energy and commanding long hair stage presence of
early Iron Maiden era Bruce Dickinson explodes in this
performance. This show has a more heavy Rock N’ Roll edge than the darker metal
edge that Bruce’s excellent, more recent solo albums have been noted for. Dive
Dive Live is a fun, explosive, let it all out
hang out kind of performance. Sound and video quality are superb. Grab some
beer with this one, it’s a real treasure!
The second live show on this first
disc is Skunkworks Live (12 songs,
60mins). It was filmed during the Skunkworks
Tour in Pamplona and Gerona, Spain on May 31st and June
1st 1996.
Bruce was fronting a new young band, with Alex Dickson (guitars) Chris Dale
(bass), and Alessandro Elena (drums). Originally created for a four track video
EP release in Japan (and it shows) this is the
hour-long concert in full. The sound is great, and you can tell that Bruce is
really going for a younger angle here. His hair was cut, the music is more in
your face, they all look like they came right out of someone’s garage, etc. The
main problem is, is that the entire damn show is filmed in that MTV sludgy
video looking style that was “in” at one point. I found it a royal pain in the
ass to try to watch this show for any long span of time. It’s better to find
something else to do while this is on in the background.
The third show takes up the entire
second disc as it contains rare footage of Bruce performing in Sao Paula, 1999
during the Chemical Wedding Tour (10 songs, 60mins). Scream For Me
Brazil represents Bruce’s last solo outing before rejoining the ranks of
Iron Maiden shortly afterwards. This new, heavy lineup is made up of long time
songwriting partner Roy Z (guitar), Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith,
Eddie Casillas (bass) and Dave Ingraham
(drums). This show is great and filmed decently enough, but it is hampered buy
the weak sound. The music is left somewhat in the background with Bruce’s
vocals on top of them. This sounds like a bootleg. Its good enough, and
certainly a nice treat to own, but the quality hinders the full enjoyment of
what was obviously a great show. This sort of raw bootleg quality seems to be
what is being released more often these days with other metal DVD artists doing
this sort of thing, so maybe some people won’t care that much. If you don’t mind
a raw club sound (even though this is obviously a big crowd), then cool. After
one watches it for a while, it seems to become easier to deal with and is a
nice show. But this really deserved the decent sound treatment of a
professionally produced Iron Maiden concert if you ask me.
Disc 3 contains all 14 promotional
videos of Bruce’s solo career, the above mentioned Samson – “Biceps of
Steel” video, as well as other extras. Like the ups and downs of Bruce’s solo
career (or more accurately, the up, then down, then back up again) this
collection is a good representation of the man outside of Maiden. All in
all, this entire collection is a must have for any Bruce Dickinson fan.
-Lorn
