Ready for Boarding

It’s 1987, and after some line-up changes the world’s leading (and, at the time, only) pirate metal band emerge with a tour to support their popular new album, Under Jolly Roger. They decide to release a documentation of the tour, so a couple of shows in Germany get recorded, and released in early 1988, making up the content of what I consider to be a very, very strong live album. It wasn’t widely recognised, which is a shame, because this album is in my opinion just as good as Live After Death, Live in the UK, maybe even the immortal Unleashed in the East (okay, maybe not THAT great, but you see my point).

Pretty much every song on here is represented in its ultimate form. Most of them are also faster than the originals, which is never a bad thing. The traditional shout-along crowd pleasers, like Raise Your Fist, Raw Ride, and of course the band’s ultimate classic Under Jolly Roger, work better than ever. The earlier songs from the two first albums, Gates to Purgatory and Branded & Exiled, are pumped up to the maximum on here, thanks to the new members (Bass virtuoso Jens Becker and drum ditto Stefan Schwarzmann) and increased experience and skills for the two guitarists, Majk Moti and the one, the only Rock N’ Rolf. The two axemen really show their true quality, which wasn’t always apparent in RW’s early catalogue, on songs like Raise Your Fist, Prisoners of Our Time and the oh so underrated Diabolic Force (damn, that song should be fucking legendary, it would probably be if every metalhead got to hear this version).
Purgatory is a song that has never been released in a studio version, which doesn’t bother me at all since no fancy studio equipment could do this song justice. It’s a live song all the way through. Interesting too how it sometimes resembles Judas Priest’s version of The Green Manalishi.
I also have to point out how amazing my Branded & Exiled favourite Mordor sounds on Ready For Boarding. It used to be a dark haunting piece, but not very headbangable since it was a bit too slow. On here, it sounds like it’s on fast forward. Amazing.

This overlooked gem is the perfect documentation of RW’s early years, since it’s pretty much as great as a live album gets. My only complaint would be Rolf’s audience talk, which, probably as a result of record company pressure, is entirely in English even though the audience is German. It sounds really silly. Also, there is no real sing-along section to be found.
But if you’re a fan of RW, it’s a must to get this. This is the classic Running Wild line-up if you ask me, and they’re all at their personal best here.
READY FOR BOARDING!?