I have followed Blaze Bayley since he joined Iron Maiden back in mid-1990s. His solo career has been mostly a joy to observe. for some strange reason I've only seen him live once, back in 2007. I mean he's toured a lot. Like really lot. So it's understandable that there's a variety of Blaze Bayley lives available, both as audio and also with visuals.

'Damaged Strange Different and Live' is just an audio release on CD and 12" vinyl, and only with nine songs. First five tracks are his own, and the rest are Iron Maiden covers. He was accompanied by four Englishmen known as Absolva, who had been Mr. Bayley's band since 2014, so they are a great, tight team. The BB songs featured here are taken from the newest album, 'War Within Me' (2021), so they are exclusive to this live release. Three of the IM songs are from 1995's 'The X Factor album and the closer from 1998's 'Virtual XI', and have mostly been available only as digital versions before this. The booklet includes liner notes by the man himself, which shed some light on the songs. Neat!

This is rather short, to tell the truth, by hitting only 43+ minutes. I do not know if this will be inspected by any other people than BB's fans. Okay, those IM covers may interest some folks, both those who haven't followed the man and those who want everything Maiden-related. But for a full price? I doubt. It is impossible to think this will interest Michael or Michelle Metal... I think I can guess the reason why this was put out: To fund the next BB studio album. It is totally understandable, as he's not signed with any record label. This is distributed by Plastic Head, so it's not only available at BB webshop.

This time the production is fantastic. This is not a straight soundboard recording (like several BB ones are), but really polished and good all-around sound, thanks to Chris Appleton. Chris's and his brother Luke's guitar tones are crunchy and biting. The drums are fine except the kick drum is somewhat buried at times. The bass guitar is loud, IM style. Baritone vocals of Blaze have gotten much stronger since is time in Iron Maiden, plus he sings way better. Generally this sounds like it was something else than a small pubs where this was recorded; and it might have been so, as there's no other information about locations as England and France. Or then some reverb was added and some bigger audience sounds (which do not happen during songs).

You know if you want to check this one out or not, it's a no-brainer. The score was given thinking about someone not being a big fan of Mr. Bayley, and not getting everything he releases.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/15/2023 12:15