 | |
List Price: $17.98 | | Label: Sony
Salesrank: 2816
Released: March 26, 2002 |
| Our Price: $8.68 |
| Used Price: $9.48 |
|
| Media: Audio CD |
|
Iron Maiden Track Listing:
1. Prowler
2. Sanctuary
3. Remember Tomorrow
4. Running Free
5. Phantom of the Opera
6. Transylvania
7. Strange World
8. Charlotte the Harlot
9. Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden Reviews:
First Impressions 
2008-06-24 - I was standing in the parking lot of my favorite night club in New Jersey circa 1980 when I heard this awesome music coming from "some dude's" car stereo. The speakers were blaring, "Walking through the city; lookin' oh so pretty; I've just got to find my way!"...and I said to the guy, "who the heck is that?" Of course the guy replied, "Iron Maiden." I offered to smoke "a cigarette" with the guy if he'd play the whole cassette for me and my friends before going into the bar. The guy obliged and the rest is History.
Almost 30 years later, I'm finally downloading Iron Maiden's first album. Sure, I've got the vinyl in storage; and, yup, I've got the CD somewhere, but darned if I can find it. So my recent cravings for Remember Tomorrow and Prowler are now satisfied, and the rest of this recording's stand-out tracks are now also on my Zune.
I don't know if I was just looking in the wrong place(s), or if this CD is only recently released for download, but regardless of that, I'm glad I've finally got Di'Anno singing these songs on my regular playlists the way they were originally recorded.
Maiden fans, if you haven't already ripped this CD to your media player...this download is your opportunity to reminisce in the beginning of something very special and important to the Metal genre.
Destined for Greatness 
2008-06-22 - Any self respecting Maiden fan must own this cd, even though Bruce Dickenson is not on board yet, this cd gives great glimpses of what is to come. There is a definite punk influence on some of these tracks and the production isn't at the highest level, but it is still Maiden. Complete your collection today and buy this.
Strong Debut By Maiden
2008-04-03 - Great intro album from the best new wave metal to come out of England in the early '80s. Some find the band to be truly great with Bruce Dickinson but Paul Dianno has his own vocal range as well which works well with songs such as 'Remember Tomorrow' and 'Strange World.' There's a reason why Dickinson never sang these songs in concert, not because they're bad, he simply doesn't have the voice for them. And, of course, this is the album with which the saga of Charlotte the Harlot begins and is to be followed up in Number of the Beast.
"Maiden's debut is a masterpiece"
2008-03-10 - Just because Iron Maiden were mostly succesfull with Bruce Dickinson as their signer and that the albums were huge hits and all,it doesn't neccesarily mean that the previous signer Paul Di'Anno didn't do great albums with Maiden.In 1979-1980 the New Wave Of Brittish Heavy Metal exploded and Maiden were amongst the best of them and one of the surviving ones.Actually the two albums he did with the band "Iron Maiden" and "Killers" in 1980 and 1981 respectively can be considered as very good albums and influential ones as well,this first album especially.This album is actually a "chef d'oeuvre"(yeah a big word or two never hurts anybody)of the heavy metal genre.Well actually this album is showing their Punk-Rock roots and Di'Anno did have a pretty good voice for the genre of music they played at the time and has a special voice that I have grown to appreciate and its too bad that the band didn't make any other albums with him,even if i consider the Bruce era to be my favourite and the best.The songs on this one are classics of metal and are still great today,like the praised "Phantom Of The Opera" and the excellent "Prowler" that have a very classic sound and a good appeal with most Maiden fans.
Iron Maiden have been around since 1975(Christmas day,heheh)and all I have to say is why?Why didn't they release an album sooner but anyway the songs on here are some of the ones they had been playing since the debut of their careers and became some of their early hits."Prowler" was in fact on the band's 3 demo songs on their first LP,"Soundhouse Tapes" issued in 1978,and Iron Maiden caught attention from their beggenings as they sold five thousand copies in weeks.The lineup on this first album is the lineup of Steve Harris on bass,Paul Di'Anno as vocalist,Dennis Stratton as guitarist,Dave Murray on guitar and drummer Clive Burr.What's impressive is that the album reached # 4 in the UK charts in its first week of release!This album may not be considered as their best but this was a very influential album back then and it was the seed that would help generate many bands and most notably the "Trash-Metal" genre.
The songs on this one are very Punk-Rock inspired as I said but with an element of metal in it that makes it a true Iron Maiden album.The songs are very good and my personnal favourite and it shouldn't be a surprise is the much praised "Phantom Of The Opera",its an amazing piece of metal with terrific guitar playing and great vocals by Di'Anno,this is the masterpiece od the Di'Anno era and its worth hearing as this is one of Maiden's best songs ever."Prowler" is a song from earlier days and has a nice wah-wah guitar intro and a catchy chorus that will get stuck in your head."Transylvania" is a solid instrumental song but not much more,its good tought."Running Free" is one of the famous songs of the album and with good reasons,as this is a great song with solid lyrics and a great guitar riff and a solid song overral,one of the best on the album."Remember tommorrow" is nearly an instrummental with less singing but it shows each musician's capacities and the guitar solos and the riffs are amazing!It has great harmonies going from a slow part to fast one and from fast to slow.Strange World is a ballad,yes a heavy band doing a ballad and there is nothing wrong with it if its as good as this,very good track.Charlotte The Harlotte And Iron Maiden are both very good songs and finish the album pretty well to say the least.And last,the unreleased song "Sanctuary"(I don't know if it really is an unreleased song)is excellent with a great rebelion feeling that can be felt while listening to it and its one of the best tracks on the album!
This album is very good and is actually a solid album but its also must I say,the most underrated.Its full of classics and any fans should get this as every fans from every band in the world should get the opportunity to hear the debut and the basic idea of the band,if not just to compare how good they've comed.If you don't like Maiden with Bruce you might like this more as it sounds like classic Punk Rock but a metal and more harmonic touch in it and with with very solid lyrics."Iron Maiden" is a great album well deserving of a place in any metal fans's musical library.Its a great album but not a great one to start with,at least in my opinion if you are starting then as your first move get an album from the Bruce era as with those you are sure of liking them.If you are an older fan and have listened to most of the Bruce stuff then this is recommended(you'll know what Maiden sounded then).
The Beginning Of A Legend
2008-02-28 - The debut album of Iron Maiden came out in 1980, right in the midst of a crest where heavy metal was transitioning from a form that had thrived on maybe a dozen (at most) really good bands, into a vastly expanded field of music. Around 1979 and the early 80s an army of new bands and albums poured forth, first almost entirely from the UK and by the mid-80s coming in force from America, Germany, Scandinavia, Canada, really all over the place. One of the reasons I mention all this is that the opening track on Iron Maiden, 'Prowler', and the opening track off Judas Priest's 1980 British Steel ('Breaking The Law') have often occurred to me as the best possible harbingers of the entire future of metal, from the opening notes forth.
Apart from ushering in an even more vibrant era for metal than the 70s had been, 'Prowler' certainly does a tremendous job of announcing Iron Maiden to the world. Instantly recognizable, heavy, and with stunningly paced guitar wizardry, the song was an excellent omen of things to come. Although the music on this disc is somewhat different than the trademark Maiden sound (its immediate follow-up, Killers, was much more in sync with the bulk of Maiden's repertory) it immediately establishes one of Iron Maiden's most important aspects: the ability to fuse slow-, mid-, fas-, and ultrafast-tempo parts seamlessly into the same song, as witnessed repeatedly on here. Some songs take it more one way or the other - 'Strange World', a quintessential 'soft metal' track (and aguably the greatest vocal performance by Paul Di'Anno, who sang on this and Killers before leaving and being replaced by Bruce Dickinson) is quite slow paced all through, and hauntingly beautiful, with mystical lyrics.
Title track 'Iron Maiden' finishes off the album, and this one probably needs no introduction to heavy metal fans: among the most classic of the band's material. The weakest track on the album is 'Charlotte The Harlot', which is kind of lacklustre but gave rise to an excellent track in '22 Acacia Avenue', its 'sequel' from The Number of the Beast. Another hitch is 'Running Free', which is great musically but hobbled by weak and ineffective lyrics. The song, although lyrically unchanged, did come off much better on Live After Death.
Aside from those two relatively 'lesser' songs, the album is pretty much impeccable. And without question, among the most noteworthy debut albums ever.
