Josh-da-man

NPFD is their worst album without Blaze Bayley. The 'good' songs on it like Tailgunner and Holy Smoke would be the weak tracks on one of their earlier albums. For whatever reason, they really, really weren't into it. Just sort of feels like "Oh, shit, we have to make another album already?" When was the last time they played something from this album live?

FOTD fares better; the title track has become a live staple and there are a handful of other songs that are good, but too much filler. Saw them a couple of years ago and on the 7SOA7S 25th anniversary tour (25 years? gulp!) and the only songs they played that were released after 7SOA7S were "Fear of the Dark" and "Afraid to Shoot Strangers."

Hokeyboy

So far I've seen them five times:

2/15/1985 Hollywood, FL - World Slavery Tour (Twisted Sister opening) -- 11th row, Dave Murray side
1/17/1987 Hollywood, FL - Somewhere On Tour (Yngwie Malmsteen opening) -- rafters
8/5/1988 Hollywood, FL - Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour (no opener) -- 8th row, dead center!
3/14/2008 East Rutherford, NJ - Somewhere Back in Time World Tour (Lauren Harris opening [schnorgles]) -- lower level, right side
4/2/2009 - Sunrise, FL - Somewhere Back in Time World Tour (Lauren Harris again) -- rafters

Nicko lives two towns over and owns a local BBQ joint with tons of Maiden memorabilia. I've met him a few times over the years and he couldn't be a nicer, more jovial bloke if he tried. And MAN does he work! He's stocking plates, filling up BBQ sauce dispensers, the works. When Steve Harris is in town (he has a mansion in the Bahamas and passes through often), he usually drops by. I've never had the pleasure of randomly being there on one of those occasions

Here's me being all subtle sneaking a pic while he was entertaining some investors at the table next to us!

BearFan

I was in Ft Lauderdale about 3 years ago and drove over there to eat. Cool place and good food. Too bad he was not there when I went in.

Phodg

I first met them way back after a gig on the Somewhere In Time tour in Manchester, England. They stayed in the theater and made sure that every single person who stayed back got everything signed that they wanted. Very nice guys - no rock star attitudes at all.

cdollaz

I have a buddy who met them in a hotel bar 2 or 3 years back after a European festival gig. He said that Dickenson was kind of a dick but that everyone else was cool.

emanon

Similar experience here post-show in the late 90s, first tour after Bruce rejoined the band. Bruce told a buddy of mine he didn't have time to sign a CD, and was a bit of a prick about it.

Supermallet

I really don't understand playing side two of NotB first. That means you'd hear "Hallowed Be Thy Name" in the middle, with "Invaders" following...that severely weakens the album, IMO.

stvn1974

I like Invaders as a opening track. Would be out of place anywhere else but I like the song. Love Bruce's vocals on it.

Josh-da-man

'cos "Number of the Beast" and "Run to the Hills" are just fucking awesome songs.

hdnmickey

What really swayed me when I considered flipping switching side 2 with side 1 was that opening voice over being the opener to the whole epic. Personally, if we are switching it up, I would also put Total Eclipse and the end of the new side 1 leaving "22" as the last song on the restructured album.

EctoCooler

So, like I said I enjoyed Powerslave and Piece of Mind, but I just finished listening to both The Number of the Beast and Killers and wow, they blew those the fuck outta the water as far as I'm concerned. Incredible stuff and incredible musicianship here, especially with regards to the drumming(i'm also a drummer). The latter sounded almost punkish to me at times, recalling very early Clash in one or two songs which I did not expect. Good shit. Will delve more later.

Supermallet

This is sheer insanity.

hdnmickey

Thanks for sharing

Giantrobo

Bruce has a rep for being a dick.

B5Erik

My personal favorite Maiden album is Piece of Mind. The first six tracks on that album are flawless. Amazing energy and dynamics, phenomenal musicianship and vocals, and just flat out great songwriting. The rest of the album is pretty damned good, too.

That's always the album I recommend first.

In order, here's what I would recommend...

Piece of Mind
Powerslave
Number of the Beast
Killers
Somewhere In Time
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
A Matter of Life and Death
Brave New World

Not necessarily the order of my favorites, but the order that I'd recommend them. It gives a really good cross-section of Maiden styles and all those albums are great, IMO...

Hokeyboy

You wouldn't include the debut album in there? Production issues aside, that's one hell of an album (and hallmark of the NWoBHM). For "Remember Tomorrow" and "Phantom of the Opera" alone...

B5Erik

I've never been a big fan of the debut album. It's OK, but I much prefer Killers.

slop101

Just wanted to say that Dickinson's solo album "Chemical Wedding", featuring Adrian Smith, is as good, if not better, than any post-7th Son Maiden album. Ignore it at your peril!

Why So Blu?

Don't know if it was mentioned before but they've released the entire catalog remastered in 96kHz/24-bit. A friend just sent me a screen cap of the album covers. Now he hopes that they are not compressed to shit like some Red Hot Chili Pepper ones he got. I just saw the waveforms on the RHCP tunes and it broke my heart. Here's hoping the IM stuff is pristine.



https://www.hdtracks.com/catalogsear...?q=IRON+MAIDEN

Flashback

Cool. Love when someone starting out likes Killers since many only really know about the Bruce years. Must go to the ST then and move on to 7th (or Somewhere but I suggest 7th). But that is where I drop out. Some good songs later on but, for me, just not anywhere close to the early run.

I think you should try Piece again as I think it ranks right up there. I know it took me a couple of spins for the 2nd side but side 1 caught me on the first listen. Of course Trooper as well on side 2.

Damn - do we say sides anymore?

astrochimp

I still do when I'm talking about older albums that I played the crap out of.

Jason

Ultimate Classic Rock did a slideshow (uggh) ranking IM albums from worst to best. Can't really argue with it too much. Scroll down through the article to find it.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce...otogallery-1=1

Supermallet

Bad news, the new IM remasters are also compressed to shit. They literally cut the dynamic range in half. It's infuriating because last year they re-released the classic albums on vinyl, cut from the original tapes, without any digital altering at all. They could have used those as the basis for the new remasters, but no. Avoid them like the plague! Either pick up the new vinyl or go track down the 1995 Castle CDs. The 1998 CDs also sound like crap so avoid those as well.

hdnmickey

The 1998 releases of the first two albums sound quite good. Short of those two the best CD option is the original Capitol releases. They don't have the B-Side bonus tracks, but most of those can be found on the Best of the B-Sides set.

Supermallet

Really, any CD version before 1998 is going to be an improvement over the 1998 versions, and even the new remasters are arguably better than the 1998 versions, but they're still completely crappy IMO.