Iron Maiden: Remastered

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
This opening sonic salvo from Steve Harris's East End stalwarts pretty much defined the late 1970's post-punk rebirth of rock traditionalism known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Featuring the strident cockney roar of the band's original lead vocalist Paul Di'Anno, Iron Maiden capitalised on the band's enormous grass-roots live following by storming immediately into the upper reaches of the album chart. A perfect balance of the irresistibly catchy ("Running Free"), the intricately epic ("Phantom Of The Opera") and the roguishly profane ("Charlotte The Harlot"), it's an assured debut, superficially marred by somewhat pedestrian production values. Newly enhanced with the addition of video clips and assorted other multimedia goodies, Iron Maiden--specifically the blazing, fretboard ferocity of its closing title track--is an utterly essential element of any self-respecting metal-head's record collection. Furious, whiplash headbanging is not so much recommended as completely unavoidable. --Ian Fortnam

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Description
Just as punk was mutating into new wave and the '70s were coming to a close, Iron Maiden came onto the British music scene as part of a movement known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Named for a mediaeval torture instrument, Iron Maiden was founded by bass player Steve Harris and released their self-titled debut in 1980. Roughly produced by Will Malone, the songs were influenced by the group's fascination with horror films ("Phantom Of The Opera") and the macabre ("Transylvania", "Prowler"). Driven by Harris' driving bass andPaul Di'Anno's raspy vocals, songs such as the moody "Remember Tomorrow" and the more aggressive "Charlotte The Harlot"also featured the melodic interplay of guitarists Dave Murray and Dennis Stratton. "Running Free" was the album's anthem and landed Maiden a slot on Top Of The Pops, where in their refusal to lip-synch, they became the first band to play live on the show since The Who's 1972 appearance.

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Customer reviews

review by: TRUE METAL date: 2008-07-14 rating:
An awesome debut, before they got famous.
This album is bloody awesome. This is the start of Iron Maiden the great and they only got better and better. Here we have the vocalist Paul Di'ianno who was before one of the greatest vocalist of all time Bruce Dickinson. Paul Dianno is a really good vocalist. My favourite songs are Sanctuary, Running Free, Remember Tommorow, Phantom Of The Opera(amazing), Strange World(which sounds so much like Rainbows Catch The Rainbow) & the classic title song Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden's first 2 albums are occansionaly overlooked because of iron maidens masterpiece The Number Of The Beast but they are damn good albums. This is a great for maiden fans, new maiden fans buy The Number Of The Beast. UP THE IRONS!!!!!

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review by: davethorn13 date: 2008-06-02 rating:
A good, if limited debut
I recall 'Iron Maiden' being one of a spate of releases by new heavy metal bands at the close of the 1970s. What most of them had in common was a lack of the finesse and class of the previous generation of hard rockers. In truth, they had a different agenda. Rather than being blues-oriented, they tended to opt for a leaner, faster sound, leading to a genuinely separate heavy metal genre.

Iron Maiden's inspiration isn't exactly signposted with any subtlety: stock characters from horror fiction. The music tends to be very rough around the edges, but this works effectively on the first two tracks. The beginning of 'Sanctuary' could almost come from the punk era, while the drum opening to 'Running Free' recalls any number of glam rock hits. Perhaps surprisingly, two of the best tracks are the slow ones, 'Remember Tomorrow' and 'Strange World', on which the band are at their most controlled. Their closing signature song is also good. Their weakness is exposed on the longest track, 'Phantom Of The Opera'. It starts well enough, but they don't have the skills to carry off a long track with tempo changes. Anyone weaned on the likes of Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple will yawn at some of the passages here, while the instrumental 'Transylvania' is also dull. A fair start to the band's recorded output, then, but definitely not their best.

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review by: jrcsalter date: 2008-02-11 rating:
Iron Maiden 1
This is a decent album to start with and, although it doesn't feature the iconic Bruce Dickinson on vocals, Paul Di'Anno's voice is still very good.
There are no stand out tracks that I would constantly listen to, but that doesn't mean they're all bad.
The CDROM content is okay and a great way of giving you your money's worth of space on the disc. It includes two very grainy videos; you are able to change the size from small to about half the size of your screen but no full screen option is available, which is no big loss since it's very low quality even on the smallest setting. Also included is a detailed biography, a family tree explaining where all the band members come from, a list of tour dates, album art for all the remastered CDs, many pictures and samples of music from other albums.
Packaging is a standard CD case and comes with a booklet containing lyrics for all songs and loads of pictures and album art.
All in all a decent buy to complete a collection, but not as good as some of their later stuff.
Highlights: `Running Free', `Phantom Of The Opera', `Charlotte The Harlot'.

Track Listings

1. Prowler 03:56 ***
2. Sanctuary 03:16 ***
3. Remember Tomorrow 05:28 ****
4. Running Free 03:17 ****
5. Phantom Of The Opera 07:07 ****
6. Transylvania 04:19 ****
7. Strange World 05:32 ****
8. Charlotte The Harlot 04:12 ****
9. Iron Maiden 03:36 ***

Total Time: 40:43 ***½

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review by: whiterat1977 date: 2007-09-09 rating:
Classic of the Genre
Being a massive Punk fan at the time of this release was almost unacceptable even though Punk had run its course and there were loads of musical genres happening by 1980, there was post Punk like Joy Division, new sounds like early U2, there was the Mod revival, 2 Tone, New Romantics and even a Rockabilly movement led by the the Stray Cats. It was a very exciting time in Music. Then a bunch of young Rockers named Iron maiden turn up looking like something from 10 years previous but with a kind of Punk edge. Anyone who says maiden had no Punk influence is probably right but they certainly absorbed the attitude and clothing to a degree, tight jeans, Paul DiAnno's short hair studded wrist bands etc and Steve Harris's foot on the moniter stance as pioneered by many punk acts. The music though is very diifferent and it really left an impression on me, and it was and still is the only Metal CD i own, Maiden made a big mistake losing DiAnno and no matter what anyone says Bruce Dickinson could never match the sheer passion that Paul DiAnno had. This is why so many journalists at the time labelled Maiden "Punky", as no other bands had a singer like Di'Anno. Let's not forget the superb duelling guitars of Murray and Stratton, there is certainly no Punk inflence here, more so, a steal from the likes of Thin Lizzy but certainly some very original ideas in Strange World and Maybe Tomorrow my two favourite tracks here, that could almost fit into The Skids/U2 mould. Iron Maiden never had the cool look and swagger of the Clash or the awesome guitar sound of the Sex Pistols, which is maybe why Steve Harris hated what he called the weak production, saying the guitars weren't heavy enough, but they certainly had the skill and musicianship completely lost on most modern so called rock bands. Iron Maiden is a trumph for it's total fingers up to everything else that was around and showed the band were cool enough to acknowledge the current music trends without sacrificing their roots and beliefs. Whatever your musical tastes, Iron Maiden's debut has something for everyone and this surely is their defining moment.


review by: mark30482 date: 2007-08-09 rating:
Good start, but better was to follow
Paul DiAnno's vocals are not great and it is questionable whether Maiden would have enjoyed such sustained success had he stayed on board, but many of the other elements which have captivated crowds over the decades are already in place - the harmonies of the twin lead guitars, the galloping drums, the Steve Harris basslines underpinning it all - not to mention some of the live favourites which still sound great today. Prowler, Remember Tomorrow, Running Free, Phantom of the Opera and Running Free, although better in the hands of Bruce Dickinson, are still clearly excellent tracks from this recording. The addition of Sanctuary to this release is just a bonus. If you're buying your first Maiden album, there are better out there, but you will definitely want to add this to your collection at some point.

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