The History Of Iron Maiden - Pt. 1: The Early Days (2DVD) Review

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(More customer reviews)I avoided buying this for a while. Anytime I see old footage and do NOT see 5.1 Digital Dolby, I suspect the worst. Still, with a holiday gift card in my hand and Iron Maiden love in my heart I made the leap.
Disc One: 3.5 stars
Right away I was amazed. I simply could NOT believe how good "Live at the Rainbow" sounded! I mean if this old show sounded like THIS I was in for a real treat. Not being a fan of the D'ianno era I was still interested from the aspect of history. Then the "Beast Over Hammersmith" started. I thought it sounded a bit over done but I dialed my sub woofer down a bit and was generally pleased with the results. I patiently sat through some duplicate songs... waiting for '83. I mean Live at Dortmund was a later show right? The sound was bound to be killer right? Well, it was terrible! Sour mono mixed with periods of the tape being eaten or stretched, you choose, but I was decidely diappointed, especially when I heard snippets from this very show on the interview portion with a very NICE pseudo "surround" (like the first two concerts!). I'm not sure what happened here, but it's quite obvious not enough care was put into this.
Disc Two: 4.5 stars
To say the interview left no stone unturned would be an understatement. I learned so much about how the band was formed and saw so many past members I came to the conclusion most of England at one time was a part of Maiden:) At any rate, my 4.5 stars are definately devoted to the interview which spans 90 minutes and 91 members. It's not without its faults though; they spend way too much time discussing what Steve Harris had for lunch and not enough about why key members left. Still, I love the effort. The rest here does little for me. Never fancied Maiden videos and the rest here is just filler.
Conclusion: If you are looking to rekindle your love for Maiden, look no further. If you too are afraid of the sound quality, rest assured there are better sounding bits out there but nothing captures the essence like hearing the guys that actually created it perform it at the time it was created. It's true, you can't go home again, and that sentiment could never be truer than with music. Cheers to Clive Burr, they should have spent more time with him, both now... and then.

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Studio: Sony MusicRelease Date: 02/01/2005Run time: 315 minutes

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Killers Review

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(More customer reviews)THE BAND: Steve Harris (bass), Paul Di'Anno (vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar), Clive Burr (drums).
THE DISC: 11 tracks clocking in at approximately 42 minutes. All songs written by bassist Steve Harris (and sharing credits with Murray and Di'Anno on one song each). The disc contains a 22-page booklet with a brief intro, lyrics, band pictures and thank you's. The enhanced CD features a nice multimedia section for your PC - including 2 rare videos with Di'Anno singing ("Killers" and "Wrathchild"), the band's catalogue of albums, band history and family tree, and a 1981 tour date listing. Recorded at Battery Studios (London) in 1981. Digitally remastered in 1998. Cover art by the one and only Derek Riggs.
COMMENTS: This album was/is special to me. I bought the vinyl record upon its release and wore it out immediately. I liked it so much I painted the album cover of "Killers" on the back of my jean jacket... not even thinking about what my high school prinicpal would say ("Don't wear it to school anymore"). Iron Maiden was rough and raw here, but they were catchy as Hell. The minute and a half intro of "The Ides Of March" leading into the killer track "Wrathchild" set the stage for a great album. The title cut is still one of my all-time favorites from the band. The 6-minute acoustic (almost friendly) "Prodigal Son" showed a side of the band that you rarely saw (even today). Paul Di'Anno was basically fired from the band due to his (party) accesses, erratic behavior, and strained vocal chords. I believe it was a risk the band was willing to take to record a follow-up to Killers. Little did they know what was in store with their next album - perhaps their best ever, "The Number Of The Beast". It's interesting to think of Maiden had they not found Bruce Dickinson... sorry, I won't go there. "Killers" is a classic from Iron Maiden, and a classic long-haired old school heavy metal release (all metal, not just from Britain). Not quite a 5-star review, but darn near close at 4.5-stars. Great disc.

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CD-Rom enhanced version of the original album that broke the band through in the U.S., re-packaged in a slip-sleeve.-1998

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Somewhere in Time Review

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(More customer reviews)Iron Maiden's golden age started with "Killers" and pretty much ended with "Somewhere in Time". All of the songs on "Somewhere" are ambitious, adding new elements to Maiden's sound. The guitar synth's found on "Somewhere" are present, but not as overpowering as on the follow-up cd "Seventh Son". Everything Maiden fans enjoy about the band are present on "Somewhere". Steve Harris' bass lines crackle, and Dickinson's urgent vocals really carry the album along. The guitar riffs are catchy, and hook you right away. The thing that always impressed me with Iron Maiden, was that, during the 80's most metal bands like Ratt, Posion, Motley Crue etc, were busy playing and singing about rock n' roll, girls and partying. Maiden often based their music on literature; "Murders in the Rue Morgue", poetry: "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", history; "Aces High", "The Trooper" and "Run to the Hills"; religion; "Heaven Can Wait", "Number of the Beast" and mythology "Icarus" and "Poweslave". The great epic metal tunes on Iron Maiden disks defied the conventions of the time, where most bands stuck to radio-friendly, 5 minutes or less rock anthems. Iron Maiden was, and is more than just a standard metal band, and if you are a music fan, you are doing yourself a great dis-service if you don't pick up the disks from the heyday. "Somewhere in Time" features 8 great track, each better than the one before it. Listen to "Alexander the Great" and ask yourself if any other band at the height of their popularity would have been able to put that song on a cd. The guitar riff on "Wasted Years" will be running through your head all day, and you will be humming the chorus of "Heaven Can Wait" for a long time. This is a great album, from a band that always brought a little more to the table than just catchy rock anthems.

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Digitally remastered reissue of their 1986 studio album for EMI. Eight tracks. An enhanced release, it includes the CD-ROM videos to 'Wasted Years' & 'Stranger In Strange Land'. Also includes the original cover art. 1998 Raw Power release.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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Powerslave Review

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(More customer reviews)Iron Maiden's "Powerslave" was to metal what Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was to pop. If you were a fan of heavy metal in the 80's then this album was the soundtrack to your Saturday night out with the guys. There is just so much on this album to rave about, be it the killer chorus of "2 Minutes to Midnight", the great guitar track of "Flash of the Blade, the cool "Egyptian" sound to the title cut, of the epic "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". There was something here for every metal fan. Iron Maiden has made a career out of defying the norm, and in a time when most bands were riding the metal-pop wave, writing songs about Girls..Girls..Girls, or Talking Dirty to Me, Maiden's subject matter was the RAF during WWII and the Blitz with "Aces High". "Powerslave" is about Egyptian mythology, and the album also features a song about fencing "Flash of the Blade". Not your typical song matter for an 80's metal band. But the highlight of the album for me is "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", based on an 18th Century poem, this 12 minute epic tells the tale of a doomed captain and his ship, and is musically one of the most impressive songs in Maiden's catalog. If you haven't heard this song, then buy this album immediately! It's worth the price of the cd alone. It doesn't matter if you think "Powerslave" is Maiden's best album, or if you like "Beast" or "Piece of Mind" or any one of their other albums better, you have to respect Iron Maiden for what they accomplished with "Powerslave".

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Piece of Mind Review

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(More customer reviews)Given how musical tastes change over the years, it's not uncommon for people to find that the music of their youth isn't quite so appealing anymore. Yet for me, even as I become absorbed by avant-garde, Rock-in-Opposition, 20th/21st century classical, modern jazz, and other wild n' crazy stuff, Iron Maiden remains very endearing. And it's not just nostalgia (distorting the past to fit the sensibilities of the present). Iron Maiden is just a great, great band, and _Piece of Mind_ remains my favorite album in their considerable catalogue (followed by _Seventh Son..._).
Although it will probably pain a lot of hardcore Maiden lovers to hear me say it, but I think Iron Maiden's music has always had a certain metal-pop quality to it. I do NOT mean that Iron Maiden should in any way be associated with pathetic pantywaists like Poison or Warrant (such bands justify the repeal of the First Amendment). But in addition to insatiable metal energy and carnivorous, immortal metal riffs & solos, Maiden has always placed an immense emphasis on vocals, hooks, melodies, and tight songs. Yeah, they're cheesy, but Maiden is comfortable with their intrinsic metal cheesiness, so it works for them rather than against them. (A worse crime than cheesiness is to be completely oblivious to your cheesiness -- for an empirical illustration of this theory, I refer you to the legions of horrible European power metal bands like Stratovarius and Helloween.)
_Piece of Mind_ is an amazing album with not a single weak track. Of course, some songs are still better than others, and those are veritably deserving metal classics. There's "Where Eagles Dare", with its choppy, spitfire riffing; "The Trooper" with its unforgettable, evocative metal gallop and lyrics; and "Flight of Icarus", with its classic chorus and anthemic reach. "Revelations" is an epic that surrounds lyrical moments of beautiful imagery with memorable metal riffing. There is also "Still Life", one of the most tragically underrated Iron Maiden songs, with a mysterious opening that kicks into one of the most infectious and catchy songs in their catalogue. Apparently a lot of people think "Sun and Steel" and "Quest for Fire" are crap or at best inconvenient filler, I really like those songs ("Sun and Steel" especially!). The final epic, "To Tame a Land", suggests the direction the band would take with _Seventh Son_, carefully building until its monumental, epic guitar harmony at the end -- it remains one of the highpoints of their formidable songwriting genius.
It's a classic, and it doesn't really need me saying so. But another positive review never hurt anyone.

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Digitally remastered reissue of their top 20 & platinum 1983album. An enhanced release, it contains the CD-ROM videos to'Flight Of Icarus' & 'The Trooper'. Also contains all nine of the original tracks and the original cover art. 1998 Raw Power release.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Screaming for Vengeance (Exp) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first Priest song I ever heard was "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" back in 1982 when it came out. Oh, man...what an introduction to Judas Priest!! At this stage, I was going on 15, and just beginning to open my mind and my ears to heavy metal. I had previously just assumed that Judas Priest and Black Sabbath were total noise, without even hearing anything by them; such was my prejudice.

The first time I heard "YGATC," I was quite surprised at how melodic it was, at well as being heavy. It sure didn't sound like noise to me! My mind slowly started opening, and eventually, I bought the album on vinyl. Now that I have SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE (REMASTERED) on CD, I want to share how I feel about each song on it:
"The Hellion" is a nice slow electric (and instumental) buildup to the fast, smokin' "Electric Eye." Rob Halford growls the song out menacingly, his voice going thru a voice synthesizer for an 'electric' feel. "Ridin' On The Wind" is a total blazing, speed-of-light experience which gets your heart beating FAST; it's the precursor to "Freewheel Burning." Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing trade off Stratocaster leads that are sharp enough to cut through marble. One of Priest's fastest songs ever! "Bloodstone" is THE perfect follow-up to "Ridin' On The Wind." It starts with a great slow, but intricate, electric guitar intro which melds into a catchy groove...and then the bass of Ian Hill and the drums of Dave Holland kick in. It's a great mid-tempo metal tune. "(Take These) Chains" is the one slow song on this album; it's a power ballad that existed even before the term first got into use (with Dokken's "Alone Again"). Written by the talented-yet-much-maligned songwriter Bob Halligan, Jr, it has been unfairly criticized by many Priest fans as being boring and trite. I say just the opposite: It is the perfect slow number, placed in just the right spot on the album, which provides a nice respite from the faster, heavier tracks before it and the ones to come after. "Pain and Pleasure" is a pumped-up mid-tempo song with some coy allusions to S&M. But then it's the title song, "Screaming For Vengeance" which is an ultra-blistering, ultra-screaming, ultra-muscular, ultra-speed-metal workout. It screams, shrieks, and skids right into "You've Got Another Another Thing Comin'" which is one of the greatest driving songs ever, and still one of Judas Priest's greatest tunes ever. The guitar solo is to die for. I've heard this song at least a thousand times in my life by now, and I never get sick of it. Next comes "Fever", which starts off soft (and is slower-paced in general) but it eventually turns into another great song to listen to while driving. "Devil's Child" is really cool, with a great Strat lead guitar solo and a catchy chorus ("I believe you're The Devil/I believe you're The Devil's child"). It provided a great end to this album when it was released back in '82.
But wait! Now there's more: We now get a previously unreleased song recorded in 1985 during the TURBO sessions, the seven-minute-plus epic love song "Prisoner of Your Eyes." Uncharacteristically for a Priest song, it begins with slow, swirling keyboards, and builds gradually into a rare Priest epic (that contains one hell of a beautiful extended guitar solo). Then we get a blistering live version of "Devil's Child" to finish things off.
Putting it simply, SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE is one of the 10 greatest heavy metal albums EVER made. I wish that I could give the Remastered version TEN stars! MOST RECOMMENDED

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Japanese digitally remastered limited pressing of the band's 1982 album with 2 added bonus tracks 'Prisoner Of Your Eyes' (unreleased) & 'Devil's Child' (live). Packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. CBS. 2005.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

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