For a newbie? One that best encapsulates their sound or what their fans like about them?

For me personally, the best is The Number of the Beast.

And next would be Powerslave.

Seconded. That's where I'd start.

The Number of the Beast is the quintessential Iron Maiden album, but I would argue that their best is Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. But as a newbie, you must start with Number of the Beast.

Seventh Son is really good too. That was actually my first exposure to Maiden, back when I was 11 or 12. I discovered everything else from there.

Buy Iron Maiden (self title debut) and The Number of the Best.

Two different singers and it's great to hear the band's progression from one album to the next. If they can't convince you to forge ahead with the rest of their discography, then you can give up on them.

I usually shy away from recommending live albums, but Live After Death is exceptional. It perfectly captures the band at their prime. For their studio work go with the Number of the Beast album.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FHM8Sfi36ts" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Excellent advice here.

The thing about Maiden is that they had an excellent run of albums during the 1980s, from their self-titled debut album to "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son." Not a dud in the bunch. Even the live album, "Live After Death," is an essential live album, if not THE essential live heavy metal album. There's a lot to recommend there -- they got a new singer after their first two albums and didn't miss a beat, each record has its own identity while still having the essential Iron Maiden sound, managed to pull of a concept album, and wrote tons of great songs.

But if I had to pick one, I'd say probably go along with everyone else and recommend "Number of the Beast" as being sort of the ultimate Iron Maiden album.

Why stop at one? I say check out Powerslave and Somewhere in Time after Number of the Beast

Piece of Mind, Number of the Beast, and Powerslave are my faves.

And Piece Of Mind and Seventh Son.

Definitely Number of the Beast (although I've always thought that "Invaders" was a kind of weak opening track, after that it's mostly gold though) and then Powerslave (which on the other hand has a fantastic opening one-two punch with "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight")

I'll echo this as well. Number was the first album I bought with my own money and it is still great 30 years later.

Live After Death is a great starter.

For a newbie, I'd say start with the Live After Death album. It's a live greatest hits of the band in their absolute prime (the Powerslave tour of 1984-85). Great album.

Then listen to, in order:

Killers
The Number of the Beast
Powerslave
Piece of Mind
Iron Maiden
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Somewhere In Time

All except the latter are stone classics. The latter is very good but a sizable step down.

Everything after 1990 you can pick and choose at your leisure. None of it is essential, but there are some really good tracks here and there.

This.

Now I'm a punk/new wave/alternative guy and not much of a metal fan, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. That being said, I've always had a soft spot for Iron Maiden---great riffs, great guitar sound and really melodic, well-crafted songs. I've seen them live a couple times with a friend who's more into metal, and I have to say I was very impressed.

I'll put in a plug for their 2000 album Brave New World---excellent songwriting and hooks all the way through:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z3L3TWwdxpo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Brave New World is one of the better "come back" albums of all time. Far better than the two albums with Blaze that preceded it. Also better than the last two Dickinson albums before he left to focus on his solo albums. The biggest problem long time fans have with the album, and all those that after, is they left Gers in the band. But the mates are tight now, and there was no shutting him out once Smith wanted back in the band.

Hate to say it as such a big Maiden fan, but everything since Seventh Son could be covered very well in a 2 disc best of collection. That includes the few good songs on those Blaze albums, but their live versions done on the tours with Bruce back in the band.

For those that followed Dickinson when he left, what is you favorite of the solo albums. For me, only Balls to Picasso sticks out as better than all the others.

Thanks for the suggestions. I listened to Powerslave first then Piece of Mind. I preferred the latter, it seemed tighter and sounded better to me, but I liked both. Will delve deeper later.

I would say that A Matter of Life and Death is, for me, up there with their classic albums. The only thing holding it back is the muddy production sound.

I would recommend starting with Number of the Beast, simply because it's one of best albums of all time and if you like loud guitars at all, you should have it. Piece of Mind is my personal favorite, and is pretty much the blueprint for the rest of their career.

I'm not crazy about the first two for a couple of reasons. First, I'm not a fan of Paul Dianno, and the musicianship/writing was still a little rough compared to what came later. The live versions of material from these albums (Live After Death) is far superior. I honestly think that if Paul Dianno had stayed in Iron Maiden they would have not achieved 10% of they success they have with Bruce.

One of my favorite Maiden releases is the live CD they released as part of the Eddie Archive box set - Beast over Hammersmith. Most of the set is made up songs from the first two albums, but with Dickinson on vocals. Very clear proof that the move was a good one.