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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bruce Shows Us All, 5 Nov 2006
For those who attended last year's Ozzfest, Bruce Dickinson will be most recognizable as The Guy Who Pissed Off Ozzy. Most other people will still rather remember him as the vocalist of Iron Maiden, while the fans of Bruce's solo output know him best as the creator of genius "The Chemical Wedding" and several other strong albums. Ozzy Osbourne's most loyal fans will probably choose to ignore Bruce's long time coming DVD, but for the other two groups of people this package is a blessing.
Dickinson could choose the easy way and release three DVD's instead of this anthology. However, he decided that his fans deserve something better than the bare bones perfomances they might have already seen on VHS ("Dive Dive Live" was released on VHS after Bruce's first solo album came out). He decided to combine shows promoting three different albums (thanks to this the live tracks don't overlap too often), add all his promotional videos (with very enjoyable commentaries for all of them) and Samson's wonderfully cheesy "Biceps of Steel" video (where you actually get to see the face of the band's mysterious drummer, Thunderstick!), and also to talk about his latest CD, "Tyranny of Souls". Could anyone expect anything better than this?
"Dive Dive Live" is perhaps the most energetic of the three performances here. It mostly contains material from "Tattooed Millionaire" but also great cover versions of Iron Maiden's "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter", Deep Purple's "Black Night" or Samson's "Riding With the Angels". Dickinson wanted to have this show filmed "rough", with the cameras handed to the audience. The producers didn't allow this to happen but one still has to admit that there is some "savage" feel to it all, especially when the guitarist Janick Gers is going so crazy on the stage that he cuts his arm - and continues playing, hardly noticing the blood flowing from the wound.
"Skunkworks Live" may not be as energetic as "Dive Dive Live" but it is definitely the most coherent show here. Mainly because more than half of it is made of the songs from the "Skunkworks" CD and some of Bruce's earlier tracks ("Tears of the Dragon", "Tattooed Millionaire") sound as if they, too, belonged to "Skunkworks" - after all, the young band supporting Dickinson back then was often accussed of trying to imitate the "dirty" sound born in Seattle; perhaps the only exception is Iron Maiden's "The Prisoner" - not the most typical cover version you can hear, but sounding way clearer than the rest of the tracks here, with the guitar riffs mercilessly biting the air. For those who loved Dickinson's third album, "Skunkworks Live" will be the gem of this "Anthology".
The last concert, "Scream For Me Brazil", is usually considered Bruce's best. And even though I must agree that there are no weak moments here, I think it lacks some X-factor. Both "Dive Dive Live" and "Skunkworks Live" had the cheek of presenting mostly new material (from "Tattooed Millionaire" and "Skunkworks" respectively) but also managed to sqeeze in an unexpected track here and there; "Scream For Me Brazil", on the other hand, sounds like it was made to promote "Accident of Birth" and "The Chemical Wedding" at the same time, not caring much about any earlier albums (apart from material from these two we only get "Tears of the Dragon" and "Laughing in the Hiding Bush"). Then again, this performance is undoubtedly best from the technical point of view, with Roy Z and Adrian Smith playing all the songs brilliantly (some of Smith's solos come so close to what he used to with Maiden that it may make the fans of the band truly ecstatic).
The videos are great fun, too. From the most old-fashioned ones ("Tattooed Millionaire" and "All the Young Dudes"), through the weirdest ("Back From the Edge", "Inertia") to the very best ("Tears of the Dragon", "Shoot All the Clowns" and the latest "Abduction"), they are never bland, stupid or boring. And if you watch them with Dickinson's intros (sometimes longer than the actual videos!), full of hilarious anecdotes - the fun easily multiplies.
All in all - this DVD anthology clearly wasn't meant to hunt for a quick buck. It contains great perfomances, some truly memorable videos and makes it all better by the singer's inspired chit-chatting. Unless you were deeply hurt by Dickinson's critque of the mighty Ozzy Osbourne - do get this lovely set as soon as you can.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love it!, 21 Jun 2006
Got this in the post today and I'm very satisfied!The picture is some of the concerts are not top notch but I guess that's how the masters from the TV broadcasts are, but don't be put off by that it is still wonderful to watch all that stuff.
Try to get on Ebay the bootleg "Accident in Brazil" live 1997 (it could have been included here) and you will have all you'll ever need from B.D.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A MUST OWN, 10 Aug 2009
This dvd is a must have for every rock fan out there.It charts Bruce from his early days in Samson to his most recent solo album.Plenty of live stuff from most of his solo tours and some very rear Samson video from 1980.It also features every promo clip from his solo albums and all in all is a must own dvd from the greatest rock frontman ever to have lived.
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