Bruce's versions of Di'anno and Bayley era songs

[srfc]

the as live as it gets is diabolical, the monks are out of key!

EDIT: diabolical is going a bit far, the version is actually pretty good, it just winds me up that they either didn't change the key of the monks digitally or else not use it. It reminds of that time Van Halen played Jump and the synths played back at the wrong speed.

 

[GhostofCain]

the as live as it gets is diabolical, the monks are out of key!

At least it was not Blaze who was out of key!

 

[Ruflux]

It's not the heaviness I have issues with, it is what Maturin called, "the mudfest" I don't like, which is created partly by his guitar tone, but also by the production as a whole. I prefer these two:

They tuned to E♭ and I think that Blaze sounds much better than on the studio version because of this. It would have been better with keyboards though.

See, I listen to that and to my ears it sounds tinny and a bit weak. I don't really see the muddiness in the RiR take either, it adds weight to it but I don't feel like it makes it any harder to make out the individual parts.

But yeah, I suppose this is one of those cases where it's totally a matter of preference. I've always loved RiR specifically because Adrian is up in the mix and his playing is unusually heavy-sounding, definitely feels like TCW influence to me.

 

[TheTalisman]

See, I listen to that and to my ears it sounds tinny and a bit weak.

The guitars in that mix have a lot of bottom and that's the first time I have seen someone call a mix by Andy Sneap weak. If he's criticized for any of his work, it's usually for the opposite of that, like to much compression or low end.

Anyway, I like Adrian's tone on Death on the Road more, I think that's the best one he has had since he rejoined the band.

 

[Forostar]

I also really like the version from Nijmegen 2000 because of Bruce's strong performance:

And listen to how loud Janick's guitar is to the right on this bootleg!

 

[matic22]

The guitars in that mix have a lot of bottom and that's the first time I have seen someone call a mix by Andy Sneap weak. If he's criticized for any of his work, it's usually for the opposite of that, like to much compression or low end.

Anyway, I like Adrian's tone on Death on the Road more, I think that's the best one he has had since he rejoined the band.

I think that's when he switched from ADA's to Marshall JMP-1's. If I'm not mistaken H's amps were in that order:

1999-Give Me Ed - ADA preamp
Death On The Road - Early Days - JMP-1
AMLOAD - Marshall 30th anniversary heads
SBIT - TFF - JCM DSL 2000's
ME - now JVM410's

 

[Bassman61]

Bruce's live version of SotC is way, WAY better. Same with The Clansman. Bruce is just such a superior singer to Blaze in every way. He makes those songs come alive. Blaze just is.. wrong for any Maiden song.

My thoughts exactly. Nothing against Blaze but Bruce's versions of those two especially are light years better, IMO.

 

[Ruflux]

I think that's when he switched from ADA's to Marshall JMP-1's. If I'm not mistaken H's amps were in that order:

1999-Give Me Ed - ADA preamp
Death On The Road - Early Days - JMP-1
AMLOAD - Marshall 30th anniversary heads
SBIT - TFF - JCM DSL 2000's
ME - now JVM410's

Do note that he's also used a Peavey preamp/FX unit for a while. Don't know if he uses it anymore (probably not) but it definitely was in use around 2006/2007, no idea if it was just for the effects or if it also served as a proper preamp.

The guitars in that mix have a lot of bottom and that's the first time I have seen someone call a mix by Andy Sneap weak. If he's criticized for any of his work, it's usually for the opposite of that, like to much compression or low end.

Anyway, I like Adrian's tone on Death on the Road more, I think that's the best one he has had since he rejoined the band.

I just don't see it. I'm not that familiar with Sneap's work honestly but that mix just doesn't sound that great. The guitars sound heavily distorted but lack body to my ears. Almost like a more modern version of the TXF guitar sound. I think the issue might be too much midrange making them sound a bit honky, lessen on that just a tad and utilize some trickery to widen them in the studio and it'd probably fare a lot better.

Re: Adrian's tones over the years, I feel like he probably peaked with RiR. Sure the ADA preamp was a sort of an "80s rockstar" kind of sound, but it fit the Maiden sound just fine. After that the crunch sort of lessened from his guitar sound and that was followed with overuse of effects. DotR and the '06/'07 era live bootlegs have this all over the place, most of Adrian's solos have this annoying effect making them sound super tinny.

He's actually gotten better at this since then (effects actually used for, y'know, effect instead of just slapped on top of the solo tone) but I still feel like the '00/'01 period had his best sound overall.

 

[Maturin]

Re: Adrian's tones over the years, I feel like he probably peaked with RiR. Sure the ADA preamp was a sort of an "80s rockstar" kind of sound, but it fit the Maiden sound just fine. After that the crunch sort of lessened from his guitar sound and that was followed with overuse of effects. DotR and the '06/'07 era live bootlegs have this all over the place, most of Adrian's solos have this annoying effect making them sound super tinny.

He's actually gotten better at this since then (effects actually used for, y'know, effect instead of just slapped on top of the solo tone) but I still feel like the '00/'01 period had his best sound overall.

Amen. I think he sounds good on Death on the Road too, but after that I find both studio and live contributions to be severely lacking regarding tone.

 

[matic22]

Do note that he's also used a Peavey preamp/FX unit for a while. Don't know if he uses it anymore (probably not) but it definitely was in use around 2006/2007, no idea if it was just for the effects or if it also served as a proper preamp.


I just don't see it. I'm not that familiar with Sneap's work honestly but that mix just doesn't sound that great. The guitars sound heavily distorted but lack body to my ears. Almost like a more modern version of the TXF guitar sound. I think the issue might be too much midrange making them sound a bit honky, lessen on that just a tad and utilize some trickery to widen them in the studio and it'd probably fare a lot better.

Re: Adrian's tones over the years, I feel like he probably peaked with RiR. Sure the ADA preamp was a sort of an "80s rockstar" kind of sound, but it fit the Maiden sound just fine. After that the crunch sort of lessened from his guitar sound and that was followed with overuse of effects. DotR and the '06/'07 era live bootlegs have this all over the place, most of Adrian's solos have this annoying effect making them sound super tinny.

He's actually gotten better at this since then (effects actually used for, y'know, effect instead of just slapped on top of the solo tone) but I still feel like the '00/'01 period had his best sound overall.

It's possible that AMLOAD was Peavey preamp into 30th anniversary Marshall heads.

 

[Kalata]

According to me, Bruce do better Paul and Blaze songs ! and I'm sure the songs that haven't been played live with Bruce from those 4 albums (IM,K,TXF,VIX) he can do them a lot better - Bruce has such a magic in his voice and every song sing by him is a majestic performance
I really want Bruce to re-record the first 2 albums, and even the Blaze albums, but that never gonna happen !

 

[Dangerina]

I second Kalata's words, I'd rather have IM re-record the 4 albums without Bruce with his fantastic vocals. Too bad we can only hear some of them live, they deserve more!

 

[CriedWhenBrucieLeft]

That's a fucking dreadful idea.

 

[Сури Вук]

Generally, I think Bruce did very good job singing these songs, except for Purgatory. It's my favourite Di Anno years song, so when I heard Bruce's version from...Italy, Bologna or somewhere, it was no good. I guess that's why Purgatory hadn't been played live again.