The Iron Maiden live album series kicks off with the first official full-length live release and it is a doozy. Live After Death was recorded during the band’s World Slavery tour in 1984 and 1985 and has gone on to be a hallmark of Maiden’s catalog as well as live albums in general.

The band line-up was the classic Iron Maiden configuration – Bruce Dickinson at vocals, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith on guitars, Steve Harris on bass and Nicko McBrain behind the drums. The band plowed through 187 concerts in 331 days, a total marathon that would later lead to exhaustion and tensions, with a break that would inform the band’s following “synth” phase. The stage set and production were replete with Powerslave-themed pieces and of course the band’s revered mascot Eddie.

The bulk of the album comes from four performances at the Long Beach Arena in California from March 13^th through the 17^th. The final five tracks are from earlier shows at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England from October 8^th through the 12^th.

Figuring out what song came from what show is an arduous task. It’s back to the primary source for Iron Maiden information – the tome Run To The Hills – The Authorized Biography by Mick Wall. In order to tell this story quickly, Steve Harris states that audio was recorded on two nights and video was also recorded on two nights, but apparently not the same two nights. Bruce references Sunday and the fourth performance during Running Free, the only clue present on the album. Video cues offer different suggestions but again, video was reportedly done on other nights so it isn’t a good source to identify the audio. It’s a little bit of a mystery with some other sources indicating that more than one night’s worth of audio is on the Long Beach portion of the album, but it’s too much detective work for me.

Also from Mick Wall’s biography, Steve Harris emphatically states that the band did not make any corrections or overdubs on the live recordings. Producer Martin Birch mixed the album while Maiden were still on tour and the band would get a few tracks at a time to approve. While overdubs are a very common part of live albums, things had been taken a bit far at times. Judas Priest’s Unleashed In The East found Rob Halford re-doing all of his vocals in studio due to source tape issues, and there was a fair bit of buzz about that and other live albums that weren’t quite “live.” Maiden were bold in their stance that this be a truly live album – produced for the best possible content, certainly, but not corrected after the fact.

Before getting into the album itself, it’s mandatory to discuss the cover art, done as usual by Derek Riggs. This is a classic piece of Iron Maiden art, with Eddie bursting out of his own grave, and even getting the full name “Edward T. Head.” There is plenty more to check out on the back, as the piece wraps around with plenty of tombstones inscribed with various easter egg phrases. It is yet another iconic entry into the Eddie art gallery and one of the more popular Maiden posters around.

Live After Death was officially released on October 14, 1985. While most versions include all 18 tracks, it is worth noting that some older CD editions cut off the London portion of the set to save space. Most any modern-era CD reissue presents the concert in full. To my knowledge, any official vinyl and cassette releases present all tracks in full. The track list is as follows –

Churchill’s Speech (intro)

Aces High

2 Minutes To Midnight

The Trooper

Revelations

Flight Of Icarus

Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Powerslave

The Number Of The Beast

Hallowed Be Thy Name

Iron Maiden

Run To The Hills

Running Free

Wrathchild

22 Acacia Avenue

Children Of The Damned

Die With Your Boots On

Phantom Of The Opera

After all the build up and speculation about exactly what performances these songs came from, let’s actually get into the songs. The song selection is absolutely stellar here. Maiden had the advantage of being only five albums into their career at this point so it was far easier to present a “please everyone” setlist than it is now with them being seventeen albums deep. All of the essential cuts are here from this point in the band’s history, and there some excellent secondary songs presented as well. Stuff like Die With Your Boots On and Children Of The Damned are real treats, as they only get aired out sporadically.

The performances on this album are fantastic, the band is playing with great energy. In what has become Maiden tradition, the songs are amped up a bit and they go by at a faster pace than their studio versions. Take the band’s epic Rime Of The Ancient Mariner – on Powerslave it is a 13:45 track, while here it clocks in at 13:03. The band are truly plowing through the songs here, which has been a criticism for some fans but a selling point for others.

It is in this frantic pace that the band’s magnum opus truly shines – Hallowed Be Thy Name is a spectacular cut from this live album and it has a whole new energy not present on the original studio version. It stands to reason that what is widely considered Maiden’s best song would shine here, but it truly opens up and becomes an even greater entity on this record.

There are some unique moments to be found beyond the songs themselves. Opening the set is the famous speech Winston Churchill gave to English Parliament in 1940 as World War II was in full swing. This has become “married” essentially to Aces High, itself about the Battle of Britain. And for stage banter, look no further than Running Free. Instead of getting the song overwith in a few minutes as it typically runs, there are about five extra minutes added on. This is a long section where Bruce plays with the audience to see who can scream the loudest and he has quite a bit of fun with it. At the end of other songs Bruce famously implores the crowd to “Scream for me, Long Beach!” This is now a common part of Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickinson lore.

Live After Death did very well on release. It charted at number 2 in the UK, number 19 in the US and appeared on charts in 11 other countries. It has been certified platinum in the US and double platinum in Canada, as well as gold in the UK and in 4 other countries.

And beyond the welcome sales numbers, Live After Death is a true hallmark in both Iron Maiden’s lexicon and in live music in general. This was praised by critics and is hailed by fans as one of the band’s best works. A few other live records coming up also vie for the title of “Best Iron Maiden live album,” but the general consensus holds this one up as the winner.

That just about does it for the first entry in the live album series. A few more months of sorting through Maiden’s quite extensive live catalog lay ahead, then at the end we’ll all see if I think this one is the best or if I have a rogue pick. Until then, scream for me, Internet!

The Iron Maiden Live Album Series

Live After Death (you are here)

A Real Live One

A Real Dead One

Live At Donington

Rock In Rio

BBC Archives

Beast Over Hammersmith

Death On The Road

Flight 666

En Vivo!

Maiden England ’88

The Book Of Souls – Live Chapter

Nights Of The Dead – Legacy Of The Beast Live In Mexico City

The Iron Maiden Live Album Ranking

The Maiden Live Album “Wishlist”