Best version of each Maiden album?

I regret selling my copy years ago after buying the 1998 remastered version and my strict policy of not owning albums twice.
The artwork is also so much better on the original one. The remastered one is much too dark.
 
Mosh said:
If there’s any Maiden album to own on original CD, Somewhere in Time is it (closely followed by Seventh Son). I can live with the new CD masters for the other 80s albums.
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Good to know. I'm probably going to collect them all anyway now that I've started.
 
I think the original Somewhere In Time-cd is the best there is and also I really like the Japanese-lp. The lp is cool as it has all sorts of stuff there with it like interview on 7", poster, sticker etc. It's nice to have few different pressings of the albums on cd and lp.
 
The best sounding versions of the titles up to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son are the vinyl original pressings, which contain the uncompressed analog sound as it was recorded and released. To fully understand this, and the reason why vinyl can indeed sound better than digital, you need a GOOD system. Mine is a Rega P3 with Hana SL cartridge + Hegel V10 phono preamp + Hegel H120 + Harbeth M.30.2 XD speakers + Shawline X cables.

On to the pressings (Discogs references linked to titles). Forgive me if I get a tad poetic:

- Iron Maiden - Japan 1980: Sounds wonderfully raw while adding silkiness and precise low end to the "impetuous" production.

- Killers - Europe 1981: I believe is the same master for UK, France, etc. Sounds elegant, dynamic, with plenty to offer in the highest and lowest frequencies. Paul's vocals cut like a knife.

- The Number Of The Beast - Europe 1982: Ultrafast, Clive Burr's drum are dynamite, Bruce flies, bass and guitar are so well balanced, sharp and tight, with a lightness that no band or producer has been able to replicate. It is such a powerful yet elegant mastering work.

- Piece of Mind - Europe 1983: The drums sound is out of this world. More immersive, airy and atmospheric than any CD or remastered reissue. Dead silent background. Great pressing quality.

- Powerslave - Europe (Sterling press) 1984: This one shares the USA master mixed by George Marino in New York. Drums sound a fraction tamer than the UK pressing, but Dickinson's vocals and guitars sound fuller.

- Somewhere In Time - USA Capitol (Sterling SRC master) 1986: Also pressed by Marino at Sterling. So much better than any other pressing I've heard this far. Shits on any CD and burns it to ashes.

- Seventh Son of A Seventh Son - USA (Sterling master Allied press) 1988: This Sterling master by Marino, supposedly shared by UK, Euro and USA pressings, sounds more sophisticated than any CD version.

- No Prayer For The Dying - Spain 1990: Sounds great to my ears, but I haven't heard it in any other pressing or format.

I haven't been able to get my hands on an original Fear Of The Dark pressing (yet), but it would surprise me if it doesn't sound better than the remastered reissue from 2017 that I own. That's the case with the pressings listed above. All of them annihilate the 2014 vinyl reissues in terms of power, nuance, and air. I'm not kidding. If you love Maiden and listen to it on vinyl, forget about the remasters and go after those. Some are not too expensive. All of them are definitely worth the chasing and spending effort.

I think the currently available vinyl versions of X Factor onwards sound pretty good but I haven't done any A to B's between CD, digital and vinyl.
 
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Mosh said:
I have the castle versions and they sound exactly the same to me as the original CD pressings. Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, I think it’s mostly a myth that the black triangles are better than any other original cd master.

Best versions of maiden albums are pretty straight forward imo. Original CDs for the first 8 albums, 2015 remasters (CD and vinyl are the same afaik) for everything after. Fear of the Dark is the only Birch era album that I felt was significantly improved during the remaster campaigns. Also, I’m not sure if the digipak version of Book of Souls has a different master, but I found the vinyl master to have slightly less compression and that (afaik) hasn’t been reproduced on a digital format.
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I'm gonna bring this topic back from the dead to chime in when it comes to Black Triangle cds. They are held in high regard because they have the original digital mixes (which you already have if you own a first edition CD made in Europe anyway) but also by higher quality manufacturing standards, pretty much all across the board. Plus the "Black Triangle" trademark cd print (that is, the black triangle painted into the cd itself) has become something of a collectible, pretty much like the Castles themselves.

Again, if you own UK discs or the Castle ones, you do have pretty much the same mix, but sometimes japanese engineers touched things up a little bit, which may result on a more "cold" and digital sound. However, in the case of Piece of Mind, the Black Triangle release has pre-emphasis. Long story short, pre-emphasis was a process done to CDs where they raised the treble in order to preserve the sound as it was on tape with the tech they had at the time. This means that cymbals and guitars can be especially obnoxious to your ears. Old school audio systems had a button to apply de emphasis on the go, and some have them built in already so they detect it and apply it without you doing anything, but ripping them without doing anything to them or listening to them on a cheap boombox might let you down. You can de emphasize a cd with free software tools quite easily though.

I guess the extra collectible value also comes from the way the japanese localized their releases. They translated pretty much all of the releases up until Powerslave giving them titles that made sense for japanese people, and sometimes songs too. TNOTB became "Mark of Magic" and, amusingly enough, Piece of Mind became "Brain Salad Surgery", so if you look for it in japanese stores you might also find the ELP album.

Edit: And also, the backwards message Nicko did as the intro to Still Life is its own separate track in the japanese version, known as Phatoor.
 
wizardry said:
I guess the extra collectible value also comes from the way the japanese localized their releases. They translated pretty much all of the releases up until Powerslave giving them titles that made sense for japanese people, and sometimes songs too. TNOTB became "Mark of Magic" and, amusingly enough, Piece of Mind became "Brain Salad Surgery", so if you look for it in japanese stores you might also find the ELP album.

Edit: And also, the backwards message Nicko did as the intro to Still Life is its own separate track in the japanese version, known as Phatoor.
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You made me check the early Maiden albums on the Japanese Wikipedia, that's some funny stuff:
  • Iron Maiden (album and song) is Steel Maiden
  • The Ides Of March is March 15
  • Prodigal Son is Devil's Magic
  • Children Of The Damned is Vampire Legend
  • Run To The Hills is like Proud Fight
  • Gangland is like Streets of Darkness
  • Hallowed Be Thy Name is Judgement Day
  • Piece Of Mind is more like Brain Reformation, but maybe there were different editions
  • Revelations is Devil's Temptation
  • Die With Your Boots On is Wicked Prophet
  • The Trooper is literally like Tomorrowless Battle
  • Still Life is Devil's Message ~ Invitation to Nightmares (I guess the first part is Nicko's speech, again probably a different edition)
  • Sun And Steel is Steel Killer
  • To Tame A Land is Planet Conquest
  • Aces High is The Loneliness of Ace(s)
  • 2 Minutes To Midnight is like Nightmare's Ultimate Weapon (2 Minutes Before Extinction)
  • Powerslave is Powerslave ~The King of the Underworld, The Mystery of Osiris~
  • Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is Voyage of Darkness
 
Marbled in Stone said:
You made me check the early Maiden albums on the Japanese Wikipedia, that's some funny stuff:
  • Iron Maiden (album and song) is Steel Maiden
  • The Ides Of March is March 15
  • Prodigal Son is Devil's Magic
  • Children Of The Damned is Vampire Legend
  • Run To The Hills is like Proud Fight
  • Gangland is like Streets of Darkness
  • Hallowed Be Thy Name is Judgement Day
  • Piece Of Mind is more like Brain Reformation, but maybe there were different editions
  • Revelations is Devil's Temptation
  • Die With Your Boots On is Wicked Prophet
  • The Trooper is literally like Tomorrowless Battle
  • Still Life is Devil's Message ~ Invitation to Nightmares (I guess the first part is Nicko's speech, again probably a different edition)
  • Sun And Steel is Steel Killer
  • To Tame A Land is Planet Conquest
  • Aces High is The Loneliness of Ace(s)
  • 2 Minutes To Midnight is like Nightmare's Ultimate Weapon (2 Minutes Before Extinction)
  • Powerslave is Powerslave ~The King of the Underworld, The Mystery of Osiris~
  • Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is Voyage of Darkness
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Yes, "Devil's Message" was the intro they knew as "Phatoor". That was its own separate track in the Black Triangle edition and other pre '98 releases.

Peace of Mind's title is literally translated as "brain reformation", yes, but it's in the sense of "indoctrination" or "brainwashing".
These localizations were often made when the record companies felt that the material was too obscure for an average japanese person to fully grasp. So in the end they turned Maiden into an '80s fantasy band in the vein of Blind Guardian. They did the same with bands like Priest or Scorpions.
 
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