"'Maiden England ’88' is a double CD released to accompany the band’s long-awaited reissuing of 'Maiden England' on DVD, and the bonus for fans on this CD version is that it contains the complete audio of the show, including live versions of five tracks from the show that have not been previously released (“Can I Play with Madness” and “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, plus encore songs “Run to the Hills”, “Running Free”, and “Sanctuary”)...
'Maiden England ’88'‘s greatest strength is simply that it includes the band’s classic line-up performing an equally classic album, at a time when Maiden still sounded enthused–right before it all began to slip away...
The overall concert is impressive, and the 18 tracks included pack as powerful and stirring a NWOBHM punch as they did 25 years ago. The temptation to heavily remix Martin Birch’s original recording must have been strong for Maiden’s current producer du jour, Kevin Shirley, who blends in the newly added tracks seamlessly. However, while Shirley’s tweaking has amplified the weight of the material therein tenfold, he hasn’t excessively cleaned it up, and the album sounds visceral and live, right down to the occasional fuzzy note and sonic glitch, and Dickinson’s rough-shot performance on a few tracks. 'Maiden England ’88' is not the most technically proficient live Maiden album ever released, but it more than makes up for it in grit, grunt and sweat. And who wants pristine live albums anyway? Half the fun of a live Maiden CD is simply blasting it to ear-splitting volume, and screaming along.
Unlike many of Maiden’s subsequent live albums 'Maiden England ’88' isn’t a greatest-hits package, and that is also one of its strongest features. The inclusion of “Still Life”, “Killers”, and “The Prisoner” is reason enough to for die-hard Maiden fans to dive in, an the album is the perfect ’80s companion piece to 'Live After Death'–with favorites omitted from one covered by the other.
Of course, what we’re here for is the theatricality of 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son', and “Moonchild”, “Infinite Dreams”, “Can I Play With Madness”, “The Clairvoyant”, “The Evil that Men Do”, and a magnificently dramatic 10-minute version of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” are all included–as are scorching versions of older tracks “Iron Maiden”, “Die with Your Boots On”, and “Sanctuary”. As far as 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' is concerned, 'Maiden England ’88' delivers exactly what fans want. Harris raises his machine-gun bass to thwack and slap on the epic gallops, Smith and Murray beautifully interchange the guitar lines and solos, McBrian wallops the hell out of his kit, and thousands of Birmingham fans sing along to every word–roaring to the heavens every time Dickinson invites them to “scream for me”. Not that we needed a reminder, but if you’re looking for a clue as to Maiden’s enduring popularity and legacy, it’s all here." - Pop Matters
Double Compact Disc
Tracklisting
CD1:
1. Moonchild
2. The Evil That Men Do
3. The Prisoner
4. Still Life
5. Die With Your Boots On
6. Infinite Dreams
7. Killers
8. Can I Play With Madness
9. Heaven Can Wait
10. Wasted Years
CD2:
1. The Clairvoyant
2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3. The Number Of The Beast
4. Hallowed Be Thy Name
5. Iron Maiden
6. Run To The Hills
7. Running Free
8. Sanctuary
