Bruce Dickinson

Six hours of screaming for him, what more could anyone ask for? Split into three discs, Anthology offers up a strong taste of the soaring crooner’s solo career pre-Iron Maiden reconciliation from live footage of the Tattooed Millionaire and Skunkworks tours (disc one), Chemical Wedding (disc two) and every video within that timeframe. With footage ranging from cool and inspiring with the full club show that makes up the Tattooed Millionaire material to pseudo-bootleg with Skunkworks, the live footage is equal parts entertaining and frustrating. But thanks to Dickinson’s boundless energy and disgustingly tight backing band, it still kick-starts the hard rockin’ adrenaline. More importantly, seeing Dickinson from all sides means a sincere, honest representation of his lengthy career. We almost admire him as a rock’n’roller giving it his all despite his inevitable declining stardom after leaving the lofty perch of his multi-mega unit-shifting precursor. Extra features include a track-by-track analysis/explanation of latest effort Tyranny Of Souls, as well as the capper, the monumental (and hereto unforeseen) Samson: Biceps Of Steel, a 1980 short video featuring Dickinson’s pre-Maiden metal outfit. Hilarious and kitschy, dated and cheesy, it’s almost reason enough to own this epic document of an amazing career. (Sanctuary, www.sanctuaryrecords.com)