Nights of the Dead, Legacy of the Beast: Live in Mexico City (new live album)

Did it? I don't remember that.

How about "Live in Sweden" and steal SoTC from the Sweden Rock gig. :D

Edit: Oh yeah. Checked a video.
Sounds way better than Nights. Especially the higher note variation: it doesn't seem like someone stepped on Bruce's toe. That Sweden show would 've give a cool live record.

As for the cover it's simple IMO: even featuring Eddie's kinda meh mug the later tour outdoor simply rules. They could add some Mexican elements to it (like a frame of Dia De Los Muertos skulls) but I'd go with this:

20191107_2941356.jpg
 
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Watching this singular Helsinki clip from the 28th gig resulted in YouTube recommending me a bunch more and I gotta say, fucking wow. It wasn't just my biased personal experiences saying this: Bruce was on fucking point in 2018. Sure, the shitty audio helps him a bit, but he's so nailing it in every song I checked from that gig. Why, oh why, did Steve in his infinite wisdom (because let's face it, it was probably him) decide crowd reactions or whatever the fuck override actual quality of performance and go with a '19 gig? Staggers the mind.

Also, this reminded me: the noticeable lack of "scream for me, Helsinki"s really fucked me up on Hallowed in particular. I was caught off guard by that change in other songs too, but Hallowed was easily the worst offender. I really think it's a bit of a shame Bruce didn't stick with the deliberate minimization of "scream for me" moments as the tour went on because it really did create a new dynamic for the songs.
 
Also, I finally listened to Sign of the Cross since it's now available on YouTube here.

I'm trying to be nice, but I can't. Production wise this is the VXI of Iron Maiden live albums.
 
Also, I finally listened to Sign of the Cross since it's now available on YouTube here.

I'm trying to be nice, but I can't. Production wise this is the VXI of Iron Maiden live albums.

You mustn't have heard any of the 90's live albums.

Also, youtube isn't the actual album, I'll judge it when I hear it lossless on real speakers
 
You mustn't have heard any of the 90's live albums.

Also, youtube isn't the actual album, I'll judge it when I hear it lossless on real speakers

I miss Kevin Shirley’s production skills and this material would surely have sounded better with him producing it, but I agree nothing can be worse than those atrocities produced by Steve in 1993.
 


(If not mistaken, there is 1 song that was not released on a live CD before: For The Greater Good Of God)
I am so looking forward to this album. Can't wait to re-live the memories of such a great tour.
 
I miss Kevin Shirley’s production skills and this material would surely have sounded better with him producing it, but I agree nothing can be worse than those atrocities produced by Steve in 1993.
Shirley is great. Steve isn't. The live broadcast of Ullevi in 2005, mixed by Shirley sounds great (TV version from good source. The FM broadcast had additional processing, native to the media, which degraded the sound a bit).
 
I miss Kevin Shirley’s production skills and this material would surely have sounded better with him producing it...

Actually it's true. RIR, Flight 666 and En Vivo! are sounding great, DOTR is good too. Ullevi 2005 (probably we'll never hear the final product) is a pretty decent for a live mixing without work in the studio. The Caveman should have continued to be the man for the live albums - without Steve.

Let's hear the final version next week first, but I think Live Chapter sounds better than Nights Of The Dead - which is strange since it's the same guy... but this time Steve is also involved in the mix, so....
 
What you mean? We heard the final product. It was a live broadcast mix by Shirley done, live.

I mean the concert was not released on a DVD, thus there was not an additional work in the studio for the mixing - for example, Rock In Rio DVD sounds better than the live streamed version of it. Live mixing and studio improvement work for a DVD are different things.
 
Yes, it won't be released officially. As for me, I don't think it needs to anyway. It's a great, old school mix and the video is of high enough quality. What's missing though is a HD version. It was broadcast on the HD channel as well, but there was some techical difficulties anyway in half the country regarding the HD channel.I haven't found a recording of it anyway.

In any case, everything is most definitely saved in SVT's archives. Pretty sure Maiden could purchase the rights to it anyway, if they don't already own it as part of the original contract or something. They really should just do it, release the HD version, as it is, package it and make some money with close to zero effort. What's the problem?
 
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I really, really don't agree re: the Ullevi mix. Adrian's guitar is practically muted for half the show. I realize that being a live mix done from a mobile it's bound to have some little issues (levels being kind of wacky for the first minute, Bruce's mic being muted for the first few bars, mediocre drum sound, etc.) but Adrian's guitar just kind of only vaguely being there for a pretty noticeable section of the show is a huge problem for me.

Still better than Download '07's webcast where it was basically the entire show, but the less said of that gig, the better.
 
I really, really don't agree re: the Ullevi mix. Adrian's guitar is practically muted for half the show. I realize that being a live mix done from a mobile it's bound to have some little issues (levels being kind of wacky for the first minute, Bruce's mic being muted for the first few bars, mediocre drum sound, etc.) but Adrian's guitar just kind of only vaguely being there for a pretty noticeable section of the show is a huge problem for me.

Still better than Download '07's webcast where it was basically the entire show, but the less said of that gig, the better.
Regarding the mic - Funnily enough, that wasn't the case with the FM broadcast. Maybe SR (Swedish national radio) got stems or something like that and handled their own levels.

Regarding Adrian, yes, he is pretty low at times. But it's there, for the most part. As far in as Where Eagles Dare, it's fairly evident all guys are audible. Three guitars isn't that easy as far as mixing goes - There is a lot of automation with the levels going up and down on the reunion live albums.
Completely disagree about the drum sound though. It's bloody great. Old school and refreshing.
 
I really, really don't agree re: the Ullevi mix. Adrian's guitar is practically muted for half the show. I realize that being a live mix done from a mobile it's bound to have some little issues (levels being kind of wacky for the first minute, Bruce's mic being muted for the first few bars, mediocre drum sound, etc.) but Adrian's guitar just kind of only vaguely being there for a pretty noticeable section of the show is a huge problem for me.

Yeah, it's not perfect (because it was not done work in the studio for the mixing). I like a lot the drum sound on Ullevi 2005. But I hate that on almost all Maiden live streams the solos cannot be heard loud enough (not to mention the editing, which is sometimes poor) - RIR 2019 live stream was good though.

Still better than Download '07's webcast where it was basically the entire show, but the less said of that gig, the better.

The mixing on the new remasters from Download 2007 for the three songs is good IMO (way better than the live stream of that gig).
 
I mean the concert was not released on a DVD, thus there was not an additional work in the studio for the mixing - for example, Rock In Rio DVD sounds better than the live streamed version of it. Live mixing and studio improvement work for a DVD are different things.

I do not agree with this - RiR DVD sounds awfully compressed. The CD version is better.

Just take a quick listen - Intro riff to Wicker Man, DVD vs TV Broadcast. On DVD there's little volume change when the whole band plays the hit. On TV broadcast you can acutally hear the boom of other two guitars doing the hit. Because it isn't compressed.

I mean I like the way RiR DVD sounds, the wall of sound works wonders on Sign Of The Cross, but it is what it is. Since I've listened to it 1568 times I now prefer the TV version which has way better dynamics in the sound, but the quality itself isn't that good because of usual live broadcast stuff - levels going off, drum/cymbal sound a bit questionable.

So DVD for the drums and vocals, TV broadcast for guitars/bass.
 
What you mean? We heard the final product. It was a live broadcast mix by Shirley done, live.

I can't hear that much of a difference between RaR 2005 and Ullevi, at mid set. Yes Ullevi that I have has a bit more rich sound but it's a HD source (the DL-DVD of the satellite re-run), vs standard definition TV broadcast of Rock am Ring.
 
Just take a quick listen - Intro riff to Wicker Man, DVD vs TV Broadcast. On DVD there's little volume change when the whole band plays the hit. On TV broadcast you can acutally hear the boom of other two guitars doing the hit. Because it isn't compressed.
The quick attack/slow release compression was how they used to do it 15 years ago for concert DVDs. The reason, I think, is at least partly because of all those shitty 5.1 systems that used to be so popular. They aren't very powerful, and mostly consisted of tweeters and tiny woofers accompanied by a shitty 8-10" subwoofer which played back everything from 150hz and below, with a nice gap between that and where the tiny woofers started. So a sudden shift in volume could bring those tiny systems over the edge, distort, and possibly, if you play it loud enough, damage the system. And then there's the rest of the compression before that as well.
I can't hear that much of a difference between RaR 2005 and Ullevi, at mid set. Yes Ullevi that I have has a bit more rich sound but it's a HD source (the DL-DVD of the satellite re-run), vs standard definition TV broadcast of Rock am Ring.
Haven't listened to RaR.
 
Nice post Yax, makes a change to hear some technical details on why certain decisions were made rather than the usual conspiracy theories about Steve Harris.
 
I do not agree with this - RiR DVD sounds awfully compressed. The CD version is better.

Just take a quick listen - Intro riff to Wicker Man, DVD vs TV Broadcast. On DVD there's little volume change when the whole band plays the hit. On TV broadcast you can acutally hear the boom of other two guitars doing the hit. Because it isn't compressed.

I mean I like the way RiR DVD sounds, the wall of sound works wonders on Sign Of The Cross, but it is what it is. Since I've listened to it 1568 times I now prefer the TV version which has way better dynamics in the sound, but the quality itself isn't that good because of usual live broadcast stuff - levels going off, drum/cymbal sound a bit questionable.

So DVD for the drums and vocals, TV broadcast for guitars/bass.

IRYO, but I think every CD/DVD sounds way better than every live stream. Always.
 
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