Iron Maiden's Reviews

Iron Maiden

4.5 stars - Life before Dickinson

In 1979, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal took England by storm. Hundreds of hard-rocking bands emerged overnight, and every one of them was excellent. Unfortunately, very few of these bands found success in their music, and an even smaller number of them found success outside their native United Kingdom. Iron Maiden is a rare example of one of the genre's bands that achieved worldwide success. Through the course of the mid and late seventies, Iron Maiden had a number of line-up changes. They had recorded a demo collection and several tracks for compilations. Finally, come 1980 and the band was ready to release it's first full-length LP. With vocalist Paul Di'Anno, guitarists Dave Murray and Dennis Strattion, drummer Clive Burr, and bassist Steve Harris, their debut was recorded. How does their 1980 self-titled debut, recorded before legendary metal vocalist Bruce Dickinson joined the band, measure up? Read on and find out.

The first thing I need to state about this album is that it is NOTHING like the material that the band recorded with their most famous vocalist, Bruce Dickinson. The Di'Anno era of the band differs from those days drastically, but that doesn't mean the musical quality from this era was any worse. One of the band's finest early songs, Prowler, kicks off the album. Fast-paced punk-metal rock never sounded better, and the rather comical lyrics only add to the experience. Remember Tomorrow comes next. It slows things way down in the verses, but the chorus is the kind of hard and heavy stuff you'd expect from Maiden. The instrumental interlude between the second and third verses is particuarly memorable. Next comes the classic mid-paced hard rocker Running Free. I think this song is overrated by a lot of Maiden fans, but I remain confident that it IS a good song. It was also released as a single. The best track of all, Phantom Of The Opera, comes next. This is a lengthy and heavy epic, which served as a premonition to what was to come for Iron Maiden in their future days with Bruce Dickinson at the helm. The guitar solo is particuarly excellent. Following that, we get the classic metal instrumental Transylvania. Although not my personal favorite instrumental that the band has ever recorded, it's solid nonetheless. It fades right into the ultra slow and melodic cut Strange World. This song is VERY different than what you're used to hearing from Maiden, but it's actually a very good song. Charlotte The Harlot, the next track, is the most punk-sounding thing on the album, and this serves the band well. The lyrics here are some of the band's most memorable of all. Closing out the album is the song Iron Maiden on the album Iron Maiden by the band Iron Maiden. That doesn't happen too often! This track is a bit repetitive as far as the lyrics go, but that doesn't keep it from being excellent. And this is the best version ever recorded, period (Dickinson never could do this one right.) In the end, the band's debut album is a damn fine punk-metal hybrid that is worth listening to.

THE TEXT IN THIS PARAGRAPH REFERS EXCLUSIVELY TO THE 2002 STANDARD REMASTERED SERIES OF THE BAND'S ALBUMS. As a die-hard Maiden fan, I AM SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED WITH THESE REISSUES. Sure, the sound quality is improved over the original CD issues and there is some cool enhanced CD footage (all the remasters before the X Factor have this), but this reissue is lacking the most important thing a remaster needs - BONUS TRACKS. We get one bonus cut (Sanctuary), but that just isn't enough. The total play time is about forty-five minutes, and you can fit eighty minutes on a CD. There were a plethora of rare tracks from this era that have never before been issued by the band (except for in the restrictively expensive box set. These rarities include demos, compilation tracks, B-Sides, interviews, BBC session tracks, and others.) Another problem is the alterations of the covers of some albums. The band's debut album has had two alterations - Eddie's eyes now glow, and the band's name has been removed from the top of the album cover. Likewise, the No Prayer For The Dying album cover completely removes the grave robber that Eddie was strangling! And don't get me started on the slipcases. Sure, they look cool, but it's a pain to take them off and put them back on every time you listen to the album. To put it simply, if you already own earlier issues of these albums on CD, it's really not necessary to get the new remasters.

Iron Maiden's debut album was the start of something great. They hadn't yet found the sound that would bring them worldwide success, but their sound was still nothing short of excellent. If you're new to Maiden, take my advice and start with The Number Of The Beast, and stick to buying the albums with Dickinson on vocals. Even though this is a great album, I recommend the Di'Anno and Bayley albums to true fans only, as they don't really capture the band in its prime. Put simply, this is a great album, it's just not a great album to start with.

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