IRON MAIDEN

Like most Maiden fans, I was first exposed to the band through their ''hits'' ''Run to the Hills'' and ''Number of the Beast''. But as for the first album in whole that I listened to, logically I started with...BRAVE NEW WORLD. Surprised? Me too, considering how well these songs are played.

I'm glad Iron Maiden can still rock out as many of the shorter songs like ''The Wicker Man'' and ''The Fallen Angel'' can attest to. There are a few longer tracks that veer in the prog direction; all I can say is that they're decent prog compositions at best, but they run too long for me and suffer from hokey concepts. ''The Nomad'' is the best of these outfits IMO. There are even a few songs here like the title track and ''Ghost of the Navigator'' that don't do anything for me at all.

Bottom line: this is very good hard rock with only a few hints of prog rock. All musicians play well here and Bruce Dickinson can still hit the high notes just fine, but in the scope of progressive rock, this is somewhat marginal.

Last words: I like ''Out of the Silent Planet'' and ''Blood Brothers'' here as well.

Iron Maiden - The Early Days (2004), subject (1976-1983)

Such an amazing band!

I'm in love with Iron Maiden now for 10 years, it al started when I was eleven years old. I saw the band live once, during the tour to promote this dvd. This was the best show I've ever seen and might see in my live.

On this super-complete dvd we've got lot's of interesting Iron Maiden material, covering the first four albums and some footage of the band before the first album.

The Early Days documentary. This 90 minutes of documentary that shows the prehistoric times of Iron Maiden. All former band members are discussed, the reason line-up changed, the circumstances they were in, who the material came to be, etc. This way we learn that there was an Iron Maiden that only had Steve Harris playing in it of all the current members. Interviews with the now unknown former members (1976-1979) are done in nice settings and it's nice to hear their stories. Steve Harris reflects on a lot of subjects and early member Dave Murray is also to be seen in some interviews. The old footage and photo's are nice for Iron Maiden fans. This documentary also shows a short making of of the first four albums and the line-up changes that occurred during that period. This dvd is a real threat for fans and it's fun to watch for people who are new to the band. The process of the creation of such an important band is interesting and fun to watch.

LIVE AT THE RAINBOW, Filmed at The Rainbow, London, December 1980 This is pure gold! This set shows Iron Maiden playing seven songs from their first two albums, though Killers wasn't record yet. This particular part of dvd is mega-essential because of the wild performance of lead singer Paul di'Anno. There isn't any better footage of the band in this phase of the band! Iron Maiden plays very motivated, the songs are great and the people enthusiastic. They were so good in their early days! As I said, essential for both fans and people who like the metal/hard rock genre.

BEAST OVER HAMMERSMITH, Filmed at Hammersmith Odeon, London, March 1982 One of the early shows Iron Maiden performed during the time Bruce Dickinson had joined the band and The Number of the Beast came to be. Iron Maiden plays unbelievably motivated and this can be seen as the one of the highlights of Iron Maiden's and vocalist Bruce Dickinson's career! Most tracks are from The Number of the Beast and the material is fresh! It's also nice the band included the important b-side Total Eclipse in their set. Essential metal footage.

LIVE AT DORTMUND, Filmed at Rock and Pop Festival, Dortmunde, Westenfalle, Germany, 1983 This concert was recorded during the Piece of Mind tour. Most songs originate from this album. Though the footage is almost as good as the Beast over Hammersmith from 1982, it's lacks some of it's bombastic enthusiastic power of Hammersmith. Still this is a very interesting show and fans will appreciate this very much!

EXTRA'S The first five clips of Iron Maiden and some top of the pops performances are nice, but they are less hard to find then the gigs on dvd one. Still a great bonus to complete the release.

LIVE AT THE RUSKIN, Home Video filmed at The Ruskin Arms, 1980 This is home video footage of the band in an early stage. This might only appeal to hard-core Iron Maiden fans for it's historical value.

Conclusion. This is the meaning of completeness! This is everything I could ever ask for, concerning the theme of this dvd. Five stars without doubt, rated as prog-related - not prog. Every fan should own this and others might be surprised on how energetic and complete this release is.

Some of you may always be a little surprise to see me review metal music, but hey, I was once a kid and I happened to like Maiden (I supposed this was in reaction to the iron bitch Thatcher), but I must say that they were the only group of the NWOBHMB I actually liked or cared for, not counting Priest and Sabs who came from previous generations. And even then, my interest for IM didn't last all that long either, because by their fourth album, I wasn't paying much attention. What happened??? Another singer came in to replace that crazed- out Paul DiAnno. Although I must recognize that Dickinson has one of the better voices in the steel business (along with Dio), he will never fill DiAnno's shoes, even if the group went on to superstardom with Dickinson at the helm (well Smith was the boss). So in the mid of the 00's, EMI thought about going back and illustrate the band's lengthy career, and this first instalment was released to my great curiosity, while knowing this would be the only one to get my attention.

The first disc is made from three concerts, of which the Rainbow concert has the most interest showing the band's original power before being Birch-ized, with PDA's forceful, near-punk vocal delivery. Obviously concentrating on the first two albums, a bit short for my liking, the band visits most of the debut album's best moments and a few highlights of the second. This is where the bands really let it loose and made the instrumental difference compared to the rest of the NWOBHMB. The second concert (Hammersmith in 82) is reconstructed, and if you're attentive enough it shows, by cuts and clothing. And despite having Dickinson's good voice sometimes even doing a DiAnno track, one can't help but get quickly tired of the constant decibel aggression thrown at you song after song. While the group is probably tighter than before, much less space is given to the instruments' space in the music. In this case, Steve Smith's bass work makes the difference compared to other bands of the time, but it's clear that most of the band's early innocence has evaporated in favour of dev1il and Eddie appearances. In that regard, the Dortmund concert (a monstrous metal festival) of 83 (the Piece Of Mind tour) is not really any different despite a muddier sound, which eases the ears a bit. The repetition of sung tracks sonically much alike, where only the tempo makes a difference is quickly tiring

The second disc is a run through the history of the band from bassist Smith's earliest group incarnation back in 75 until well into the 80's. Pretty standard stuff, but the bonus stuff like some Marquee appearance, then-interviews, some Top-Of-The-Top features, plus a hand-held camera of the Ruskin Arms gig that took place on the release day of their debut album, (bad pictures, approximate sound - nothing shocking, though), which might turn out the pleasant surprise of this package.

As a fan of the very first hour of IM (the DiAnno years), I personally came satisfied with the content, the band's history being happily stopped around the change of drummer (Burr replaced by McBrain). No doubt this 2 DVD set will please any IM fans,, but unlike the huge majority, I will stop at this one.

On Powerslave Maiden had served a nice taste of prog metal, on Somewhere In Time they took another step forward and tried to evolve and develop their sound into synth-metallic directions, similar to what Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne were doing around that time, be it with varying degrees of success. At the moments where Maiden comes up with adequate songs it works successfully, but there's just too much filler and big sing-along choruses to make up a good album.

On the opening Caught Somewhere In Time everything they do is superb though, only the chorus is a bit grating to my ears. It's a pattern that returns in much of the songs. Only Stranger In A Strange Land fully convinces me. Most songs are average at best, featuring unremarkable verses and bridges and choruses that vary between inadequate and commercial. Also Alexander The Great doesn't speak to me.

I remember this album didn't click with the fans back in 1985 but going by the ratings that seems not to be the case for the prog crowd. One thing is sure, from the next album onwards, Maiden re-turned to the Powerslave formula and gradually became a self-derivative and irrelevant band. Here, at least they tried. It can't convince me a bit really. 2.5 stars

The last great Maiden album or the start of the commercial descent. Pick your choice.

After the ill-received attempt to open up their sound on Somewhere In Time, Maiden gave it one more brave try before encountering their final collapse. Nevertheless, 7th Son is the result of a band applying a formula to recreate their earlier glories, rather then the sound of musicians trying to challenge themselves.

The resulting creative slack can be heard on most songs. Infinite Dreams is a nasty piece of commercial sing-along pop-metal, with bad transitions, uninspired playing and all hard-rock clichés clutched together. But it gets worse, nothing tops Can I Play With Madness in ultimate cheesiness. In fact only 3 tracks come near to the height of their best material: the opening Moonchild, the 7th Son epic and the album closer Only The Good Die Young. They all feature adequate Maiden style-exercises. Also The Clairvoyant has a number of good moments, typically in the verses and the instrumental parts. Overall, the trivial choruses make this whole album too ordinary and even indigestible for me.

For many this is a power-metal classic so please feel free to try your luck. For me this is where a superfluous progressive pretension can't hide the lack of interesting ideas, with mostly predictable and commercial music as a result. 2.5 stars

FOTD marks a good improvement over the No Prayer disaster. It's a more polished album, featuring lots of ballads, attempts at blues-rock and plenty of AOR next to their usual arena metal. So its bad reception shouldn't be a surprise really. Maiden had become a prisoner of a fanbase that wouldn't welcome any change at all and that wouldn't applaud again till Bruce rejoined Maiden in the 00's and completely gave up trying anything they hadn't done before.

Now that doesn't make FOTD into a good album, but it's decent enough and on a similar (low) level with 7th Son. It lacks epic qualities but on the other hand, the commercial tendencies that got in the way of enjoying 7th Son are at least done much more professionally now. The lesson learned being: if you're going to do AOR, at least do it competently. Especially the ballads are quite pleasant.

It's nothing that justifies rounding up the 2.5 stars though.

Powerslave was my introduction to Iron Maiden and it is a highly recommended album for both metal fans and prog heads. It is the crowning achievement of their evolution from punk-metal to ambitious prog metal epics, it has some of their best songs and I've never heard them play tighter or more passionately.

The opener is spot on, Aces High is an excellent 80's take on Rainbow's Kill The King, injecting with more aggressive playing and speed. 2 Minutes to Midnight is another Maiden anthem, slightly commercial but too catchy to resist. Losfer Words is the first track on the album that extends their usual epic hard rock formula. It's an instrumental with gorgeous bass work from Harris and a structure that goes a bit further then usual metal formats. It's no YYZ but sure enjoyable. Flash of The Blade has some pleasing instrumental sections but suffers from a cheesy bridge and chorus. Also The Duellists has never appealed much to me, but the remainder of the album more then makes up for this mid-album dip.

With Back In The Village, the album gets the momentum back from the first three tracks. A highly Blackmore influenced guitar riff kicks of this catchy speed metal gem. The title track Powerslave is my favourite Maiden song and I'm quite sure I'm not the only one. Their best galloping riff ever, vicious verses, an ominous Eastern music inspired bridge, great vocal harmonies in the chorus and an excellent guitar solo. Also the rhythm is a clear nod to Middle-Eastern dance rhythms and the main reason for the Egyptian flavour. The 13.30 minutes of Rime of the Ancient Mariner can't be missed neither. It's Maiden's most bold and proggy moment and they pull it off with great flair.

Slightly uneven but still superb, Powerslave isn't an album you are allowed to miss if you are interested in heavy prog, prog metal or power metal. If you think Iron Maiden isn't more then a daft commercial 80's metal band, then this album could make you change your mind. An obvious Iron Maiden favourite. 5 prog-related stars.

Piece of Mind continues some of the commercial metal tendencies of the preceding Number of The Beast but this time Maiden was blessed by a thundering blast of inspiration, energy and ambition.

The opening Where Eagles Dare is one of the best tracks they've ever written and displays a stunning musical growth and maturity. This is their first song that goes beyond competent hard-rock and explores the proggy aspects of earlier masters like Rainbow and Judas Priest. Everything Maiden does here had been done before them but they pull it off well enough. Also Revelations is a very powerful and accomplished piece. Plenty of references to Rush here, the quote from Anthem at minute 4 being the most obvious.

The following three tracks, Flight of The Icarus, Die With Your Boots On and The Trooper are catchy and commercial but have that typical Maiden style with those galloping rhythms. With Still Life, Maiden launches into 3 other songs that are less appealing, featuring their trademark riffing but rather predictable anthemic choruses that lack the inspiration of the previous batch of songs. The album ends in great style with the superb To Tame A Land.

Piece of mind is not entirely consistent but the 2 opening tracks and the album closer balance out the run of the mill material in the second half.

After their first two charming punk-metal albums, Iron Maiden replaced the rough bark of Paul Di'Anno by the operatic voice Bruce Dickinson. While I have no particular preference between both, I feel that most of the material here would have been better suited for Di'Anno. Especially the simple hard-rock of the short songs misses that little rough edge that made Maiden so unique on the previous album.

But this album also introduces a more epic writing style that might not have suited Di'Anno all that well. Dickinson truly delivers on more dramatic songs like Children of the Damned and Hallowed be Thy Name.

Most of the material is rather average. Some of it below average. On Invaders, Dickinson struggles to hit his high notes here, Halford would pulverize him on a song like this. The Prisoner is another weak song jumbling all known hard-rock clichés together. It is a far cry from their previous uncompromising albums. 22, Acacia Avenue and Number of the Beast are examples of songs that might have been more convincing with a bit more punk flavour. Run To The Hills stands a good chance for being the most annoying hard rock anthem in rock history. Only Paradise By The Dashboard Light is worse. There's also a song called Gangland that is entirely forgettable.

The sound hasn't changed a bit compared to the previous album. The addition of Dickinson's power vocals make it sound almost exactly like Rainbow's sound on Long Live Rock 'n' Roll. Well it's a Martin Birch product so that makes sense. Apart from Children of the Damned and Hallowed be Thy Name this album is way too commercial and mediocre for my taste. 2.5 stars.

Before rising to international fame, Maiden recorded two albums with vocalist Paul Di Anno. They weren't at their songwriting peak yet and their playing wasn't as tight and dashing as it would become, but still, Paul Di'Anno had so much attitude and soul that I prefer these two albums to much of their later successes.

Even though this music sounds rather dated now, the punch and energy can still be felt. So it's no surprise that tracks like Prowler, Running Free, Charlotte the Harlot and Iron Maiden took the mellowed-out hard-rock scene of the end of the 70's by storm. The straightforward power, no-nonsense attitude and raw dynamism are simply irresistible.

But it's not those tracks that would be defining for Maiden's future music. This band had more tricks up their sleeve then fast punk-rock anthems. Remember Tomorrow for example is an excellent take on the prog-metal of Judas Priest's Beyond The Realms of Death epic. Phantom of the Opera is the most progressive and most amazing track of the album, sounding like a Jethro Tull song from Benefit that is taken by storm; rapid, metalized and brutal. It also feature some Uriah Heep alike vocal harmonies and a fine balance between slow and reflective parts and fast galloping riffs. Also the instrumental Transylvania is fun. A personal favourite is the delightful ballad Strange World, again highly in debt to Judas Priest's balladry.

This is Maiden's rawest album, combining elements of old-school metal from Judas Priest and Rainbow with the rough energy and harsh sound of punk. Together with some hints at their future prog-metal, it's a combination that results in pure gold on this album.