Maiden England double vinyl question, help needed

[Dick Brucinson]

Anybody of you who owns the Maiden England double vinyl album? I'm asking because I'm not really sure what to think about it. It's a picture disc, and if my memory serves me well, picture discs often suffer from poor sound quality (that at least was a fact in the 1990s). Could somebody confirm that? Not too sure if I should get this one or not. I have 2/3 of all the Maiden albums on vinyl now, and Maiden England is next on my list, but I might skip it. Any feedback on that release? Thank you.

 

[Diesel 11]

I got it for my partner and haven’t personally played it, but I will say that it looks fucking sick.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

@Diesel 11
You mean looking sick in a positive way?

 

[Diesel 11]

@Diesel 11
You mean looking sick in a positive way?

Yeah. Not a big fan of the album cover but pretty much everything else about the layout is great. If you want a cool looking vinyl, this one is dope. But obviously where I haven’t played it, someone else has to chime in and talk about the audio lol.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

Yeah. Not a big fan of the album cover but pretty much everything else about the layout is great. If you want a cool looking vinyl, this one is dope. But obviously where I haven’t played it, someone else has to chime in and talk about the audio lol.

Thanks for the review man. So I think I'm gonna get it. Just ordered me the new Clairvoyant shirt from the Maiden official store, looks nice, and so Maiden England early March.

 

[Mosh]

Well it’s a picture disc so it’s going to be noisy no matter what. I think sometimes the complaints about picture disc noise are a bit overstated but it is noticeable for sure.

 

[Diplomat]

Never buy picture discs. I bought complete remastered Maiden discography back in 2013 and it sounds crap. I sold everything and bought black vinyl versions from 2014 and 2017.

 

[chaosapiant]

Never buy picture discs. I bought complete remastered Maiden discography back in 2013 and it sounds crap. I sold everything and bought black vinyl versions from 2014 and 2017.

The picture disc is currently the only (official) vinyl format to get the Maiden England 88 show. Otherwise I'd agree.

@Dick Brucinson I have the Maiden England '88 Pic Disc vinyl and have listened to it a couple times. Mine has a few pops on the first song but otherwise plays and sounds great. In general picture discs will sound inferior to black or even colored vinyl, but unless the manufacturing is very poor, the difference is rarely audible.

Edit: Also, there IS a 2CD version of said show if you want it in your collection but don't want to get a Pic Disc. You can get the Pic Disc to collect and the CD copy to listen to. Alternatively, if you have the setup for it, rip the Pic Disc to your computer in lossless audio format and then just keep the beautiful picture disc set on your shelf as a collector's item.

 

[Perun]

I'm actually wondering - I always felt the current CD version of Maiden England '88 is amazing. It probably has the best sound of all live albums. Is there anything vinyl could even improve on it?

 

[chaosapiant]

I'm actually wondering - I always felt the current CD version of Maiden England '88 is amazing. It probably has the best sound of all live albums. Is there anything vinyl could even improve on it?

I think it just depends on your setup. The Pic Disc definitely won't improve on the CD, but a 180 gram black vinyl on a good setup could potentially be on par if not better. But again, it'll depend on your audio setup. If you have a decent turntable/phono preamp/speakers and a shit CD player (which is the boat I'm currently in) then your vinyls will likely sound much better than CDs. Eventually I'll get a good DAC and just use my CD player as a transport.

Anywho, ultimately, I don't believe a vinyl can improve on a CD in general unless the mastering is different and/or superior. My understanding is the Book of Souls vinyl is mastered differently than the CD and thus sounds better.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

Edit: Also, there IS a 2CD version of said show if you want it in your collection but don't want to get a Pic Disc. You can get the Pic Disc to collect and the CD copy to listen to. Alternatively, if you have the setup for it, rip the Pic Disc to your computer in lossless audio format and then just keep the beautiful picture disc set on your shelf as a collector's item.

Yeah, this exactly. I bought everything ever released by Maiden and Bruce solo on CD last year and ripped that all to my PC to listen, and then started even to collect the same on vinyl about when Senjutsu came out. I'm growing my collection out constantly. Vinyls yet missing:

The Final Frontier, Brave New World, Rock In Rio (finally rereleased these days), Flight 666, En Vivo and Live Chapter. And Maiden England of course.

Plus I have the orignals on vinyl that I bought in the 1980s each in their original edition, but they were stored under horrible conditions and look like crap after 40 ears of time, so the reissues marked a good point to get it all new.
And after hesitating a while, I ordered my TNOTB/BOH triple vinyl yesterday. I remembered the words you stated in the other thread by asking who it may be adressed to if not us hardcore fans to collect. And I guess you're totally right about that. Anway, my inital feeling of a rip off in this particular case faded in the end.

 

[chaosapiant]

Yeah, this exactly. I bought everything ever released by Maiden and Bruce solo on CD last year and ripped that all to my PC to listen, and then started even to collect the same on vinyl about when Senjutsu came out. I'm growing my collection out constantly. Vinyls yet missing:

The Final Frontier, Brave New World, Rock In Rio (finally rereleased these days), Flight 666, En Vivo and Live Chapter. And Maiden England of course.

Plus I have the orignals on vinyl that I bought in the 1980s each in their original edition, but they were stored under horrible conditions and look like crap after 40 ears of time, so the reissues marked a good point to get it all new.
And after hesitating a while, I ordered my TNOTB/BOH triple vinyl yesterday. I remembered the words you stated in the other thread by asking who it may be adressed to if not us hardcore fans to collect. And I guess you're totally right about that. Anway, my inital feeling of a rip off in this particular case faded in the end.

I started in 2015 with the remastered vinyls, but have gone down pretty much the same path. I have all of Iron Maiden's studio and remastered live albums on vinyl, as well as all singles, and the complete set of 1998 remasters on CD (which are ripped to my computer) and additional odds and ends like Best of the Beast 2CD Book, Greek copy of Final Frontier, Japanese X Factor 2 disc set, etc. My Maiden collection currently has (per my Discogs account) 125 items, including CDs, Vinyls, DVDs/Blurays and Box sets.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

I started in 2015 with the remastered vinyls, but have gone down pretty much the same path. I have all of Iron Maiden's studio and remastered live albums on vinyl, as well as all singles, and the complete set of 1998 remasters on CD (which are ripped to my computer) and additional odds and ends like Best of the Beast 2CD Book, Greek copy of Final Frontier, Japanese X Factor 2 disc set, etc. My Maiden collection currently has (per my Discogs account) 125 items, including CDs, Vinyls, DVDs/Blurays and Box sets.

That sounds pretty solid. Very cool. As to the vinyl singles: They haven't been rereleased recently and are out of print, right?

 

[chaosapiant]

That sounds pretty solid. Very cool. As to the vinyl singles: They haven't been rereleased recently and are out of print, right?

When Maiden released the 80s albums in 2015 on vinyl, they also did vinyl pressings of all the 80s singles. The 90s and 2000s stuff was not repressed I believe, so I used Discogs to hunt down original pressings in excellent condition.

Edit: I went digging through Iron Maiden's website and found this page which outlines the vinyl re-releases, including the singles: https://www.ironmaiden.com/news/article/classic-80s-vinyl-reissues-on-the-way

 

[Mosh]

There isn't a huge market for 7" singles so you can find a lot of the ones that weren't reissued at pretty reasonable prices. I haven't checked, but I wouldn't be surprised if the out of print reissues go for higher value than the original pressings.

I'm actually wondering - I always felt the current CD version of Maiden England '88 is amazing. It probably has the best sound of all live albums. Is there anything vinyl could even improve on it?

Less compression maybe. But that gets you to the myth of vinyl being a superior sound format. If they don't mess up the digital/CD version, vinyl won't be necessary.

 

[chaosapiant]

Tr

There isn't a huge market for 7" singles so you can find a lot of the ones that weren't reissued at pretty reasonable prices. I haven't checked, but I wouldn't be surprised if the out of print reissues go for higher value than the original pressings.


Less compression maybe. But that gets you to the myth of vinyl being a superior sound format. If they don't mess up the digital/CD version, vinyl won't be necessary.

True, but chances are the reissues are gonna be easier to find in better condition.