Iron Maiden & Killers

Yeah, I would say the best songs on Iron Maiden are, in no particular order, Prowler, Sanctuary, Remember Tomorrow, Running Free, Phantom of the Opera, Transylvania, Strange World, Charlotte the Harlot and Iron Maiden.

That looks very much like a particular order to me... :smartarse:
 
I'll be honest, those are two of my favorite Maiden albums. They are completely different from everything that came later but I have a propensity for all that early 80's NWOBHM sounding music. They are raw and pure rock.
 
i have always loved both of these albums, its just part of their history and i respect the band for what were able to do in the studio in those times with their budgets. I prefer Killers to the debut, but only because of a few songs i am really fond of.........Killers, Prodigal Son, Wrathchild, Purgatory and Murders in the Rue Morgue............on the debut i love......Phantom of the Opera, Iron Maiden and Remember Tomorrow........while i prefer Bruce to Paul, Paul fits these songs well as Bruce doesnt have the "punk" touch to his voice..........but i listen to them in regular rotation, like i said, its just part of being a Maiden fan to me.
 
production was better yes, but some of the songwriting, i feel, was better as well
 
I agree that Killers is better than debut. However was difficult to appreciate at first because when I bought back in 1983, no lyrics printed on inner sleeve and at times had hard time understanding Paul. Bought a songbook with first four laps to get the lyrics. Then I was hooked! I can understand why M etallica & the hosts of That Metal Show love Killers so much.

Anyone ever hear why Maiden did not start printing lyrics until Bruce joined?
 
Anyone ever hear why Maiden did not start printing lyrics until Bruce joined?
Good question. Some of the lyrics aren't good to say the least, but some are decent. Nothing to be be ashamed of. And early Maiden DID care about lyrics, as Harris asked DiAnno to change his first version of the Killers' lyrics. Considering the band's maniacal attention to details, this omission is rather strange.
 
Could it have been a legal issue? Printing lyrics requires publication rights. I always thought Rod kept those affairs tidy, but maybe they had a slow start with the publishing.

Printing fancy inner sleeves also costs more. I never owned the first two albums on vinyl, only cassette and CD. What were those inner sleeves like? Were they glossy and expensive and just lacked lyrics, or were they cheaper?
 
I honestly don't remember lyrics with vinyl. When tapes became more widespread, lyrics began to appear.
 
Maiden first albums were released with very simple inner sleeves : no photos. Things only changed with Number, that had lyrics printed, photos and that great Eddie' head at the center of the disc itself.
I clearly remember that the first time I read the lyrics of Iron Maiden, Running Free and Phantom was when Live After Death was released.
 
I didn't think the sleeves got interesting until Piece of Mind.
My sleeves for Killers, Beast and the debut (all bought around 1982) are plain paper or translucent plastic.
My Beast has the great Eddie head as the album's centre label on one side as well, with a version of Eddie under the lamppost on the other side, along with the track listing
Killers has third version of Eddie under the lamppost on both sides of the inner label.
 
I bought my Number copy in 1982, and it has the lyrics and those negative strips-like photographs of the guys, all in black leather jackets. I remember I loved it, because it was the first detailed, individual photographs I had seen of them. Maybe the north American version was simpler (?)
 
I bought my Number copy in 1982, and it has the lyrics and those negative strips-like photographs of the guys, all in black leather jackets. I remember I loved it, because it was the first detailed, individual photographs I had seen of them. Maybe the north American version was simpler (?)
That's what I'm guessing. Or maybe my copy was a second pressing?
 
Printing fancy inner sleeves also costs more. I never owned the first two albums on vinyl, only cassette and CD. What were those inner sleeves like? Were they glossy and expensive and just lacked lyrics, or were they cheaper?

I think that's it. I have a number of early Maiden releases on vinyl, and they all have simple, white inner sleeves.
 
Both kickass albums. They probably sound really different because a vast majority of the songs on the two albums were were written in 77-79 (some even before that), and Number of the Beast was written/recorded in early 82.
 
They used to play those first 2 albums fast as hell live. My favorite bootleg (other than SIT bootleg from Yugoslavia) is 1981 in Italy with Bruce. They murdered Purgatory, Transylvania and Iron maiden in high speed fashion and I LOVED it! More energy and power
 
I don't dislike any album from Iron Maiden. Since I started with Powerslave it took me longer to get into Paul, and I've been on and off with Blaze, but really digging TXF and VXI now, especially after hearing Best of the B Sides, lots of great Blaze on there. Especially like Justice of the Peace and Doctor, Doctor. I absolutely love Paul on the first two records though, he sounds like ish now a days but perfectly fits IM and Killers. Prowler especially is perfect with Paul, Charlotte the Harlot is one of my most favorite IM tunes, and I highly dislike Bruce's version of it. The remastered version sounds pretty good today, they did a good job cleaning it up.
 
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