Pretty Maids - Maid In Japan

The 80s –especially the second half of the decade- have been etched in my memory as those of the absolute success of the record purchases I made. You see it was almost impossible to buy a record then and having second thoughts or even regret it. In the case of “Future World”, the joy was even greater as Pretty Maids was not the super name that would secure its purchase. And yet, this album together with “Jump The Gun” which followed three years later, made the Danes one of my favorite hard rock bands and these records still keep my turntable busy to this day.

“Maid In Japan” is nothing but the live performance of “Future World” in its entirety, thirty-one years after its release in Kawasaki, Japan and specifically on November 17, 2018. This is an enjoyable, live recorded album, with some remarkable and some excellent moments. Of special note is definitely the overall fabulous performance by Atkins while the crowd reaction is definitely something to be underlined, too. Concluding with “Future World”, we are treated with five more songs, of which only “Sin-Decade” from the 1992 album of the same name that closes the show is considered a classic, since the rest of the tracks is cued from the releases of Pretty Maids after 2010.

“Maid In Japan” will evoke beautiful memories in the friends of European hard rock and I am sure that it will lead many to listen once again to their releases of that time.