Iron Maiden released the live album The Book of Souls: Live Chapter on November 17, 2017. Its 15 tracks assembled performances from the band's 2016 and 2017 world tour into a running order based on the 2017 show. “Speed of Light,” recorded in Cape Town, also became an official performance video introducing the release.
That international approach was central to the record. The tour had reached 39 countries across six continents and drawn more than two million fans. Bassist Steve Harris, who produced the album with Tony Newton, wanted to “represent our fans from different parts of the world,” he explained in the band's release announcement. He listened through recordings from every show, choosing performances while working toward a consistent sound across the finished album. His task was to make recordings from separate nights hold together as one listening experience.
The material itself had begun with a similarly direct approach. The Book of Souls, Maiden's 16th studio album and first double studio album, arrived in 2015 with 11 songs running approximately 92 minutes. In the original album announcement, Harris described writing many of the songs in the studio, then rehearsing and recording them while the ideas were fresh. He felt that process had already given the recordings something of a live character. Taking those songs onstage was part of the plan from the outset.
Getting there required time. Maiden delayed the studio album's release and their touring plans to allow singer Bruce Dickinson to recover after cancer treatment. The tour that followed was his first after that recovery. By the time the live collection was assembled, it could draw on both years of the run, including 2017 performances of “Wrathchild” and “The Great Unknown.”
Six selections from The Book of Souls made the live album, and the longer compositions kept their space. “The Red and the Black,” recorded in Tokyo, ran 13 minutes and 17 seconds; the title track ran more than 10 minutes. Together, those two performances occupied over 24 minutes. The studio album's 18-minute closing piece, “Empire of the Clouds,” wasn't included. “If Eternity Should Fail” opened the live set just as it had opened the studio record, placing the newer material at the front of the program.
Maiden placed “Wrathchild” early in the sequence and followed “The Red and the Black” with “The Trooper.” Those choices accommodated sharply different song lengths: the live version of “Wrathchild” lasted about three minutes. “Wasted Years,” recorded in Rio de Janeiro, closed the album.
The film gave fans a first look at the full collection before the audio release. Maiden streamed it free on their official YouTube channel on November 11, 2017, presenting the premiere as a thank-you to their audience. The audio followed in standard and deluxe two-CD editions, a three-LP set and digital download, with the concert film offered as a digital purchase. The deluxe CD used a book format designed to match the original studio release.
