For what it's worth, I'm going to take Shirley's defense here. The man did one horrible mistake with Rock In Rio and Dance Of Death- he did not produce them to be played as CDs on a standard stereo system. He produced them to be played as DVDs on a 5.1 system. Everybody I talked to who have both a 5.1 and the Rock In Rio DVD or Dance Of Death DVD-A told me how brilliant sounding they were, and how much they actually put you there, in the middle of it, while saying at the same time that the respective CD versions had a muddy, almost bootleg-quality sound. The production does not work properly for analogue equipment.
Shirley's mistake was that at the time, he did not realise that only very few people possessed a 5.1, even though it was hugely hyped at that time. Even today, most people consider the DVD to be a medium for films, and discard the idea of them being a format for records to be rather outlandish (plus, still very few people have a 5.1). You could argue that with Dance Of Death, Shirley was -and still is- ahead of his time.
I hate it how Shirley still is slagged for this one mistake. He proved what he has in him with Brave New World and A Matter Of Life And Death (which, in my opinion, is the best-sounding Maiden record since Piece Of Mind) and many other records by other artists. Shirley is still one of the best producers around, and most of his records stand out by miles compared to all those generic-sounding, lifeless products other hyped producers keep putting out.
) remixes/remasters. Especially DOD.
