Most accessible Maiden albums?

Hello everyone, and please go easy on a Maiden newbie  :ninja:

And I can go on a bit, so for the substance of the question please go to the final few paragraphs.

Anyway, here's an interesting statistic to kick off with - I first heard Iron Maiden 30 years ago, but until a few of weeks ago the only Maiden song I could name was RttH (I think!). Yes, I'm pretty ancient by forum standards (if a recent thread on members' ages is anything to go by) although not quite as old as the Iron Maiden members!

By way of explanation, as a teenager I was heavily into punk - (ignoring my early teens' worship of glam rockers like Sweet and, er, Gary Glitter et al) and you'll understand that most people who were into either punk or metal would be quite tribalistic about it (although I believe punk had some influence on the very early Maiden stuff, although clearly it would be wrong to overstate this!). Of course, the punk era conicided with the NWoBHM scene (Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon et al) and I well recall Maiden bursting onto the scene, and one of my mates was a bit fan, and obviously we had lots of (generally good natured) arguments about the relative merits of punk and metal.

Anyway, as punk fizzled out - or bands like the Clash effectively changed genres and eventually disbanded - I moved onto prog rock (Rush and Marillion) and in actual fact a wide range of pop and rock.

About 15 years ago I was listening to some glam-metalish stuff (Guns n Roses, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, that kind of thing) but for a few years after that my interest in music fizzled out a bit, probably due to work and personal circumstances etc rather than developing a dislike.

But few years ago someone gave me a burnt CD of his rock faves, kind of thing, which piqued my interest a bit, and I started listening to a bit of Floyd and Zep, which I'd always shunned previously, and this was probably a legacy of my punk days - Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall was huge at around the same time as punk.

In the last year or so I've been buying quite a few CDs, including the best of the Metallica stuff and AC/DC (one advantage of coming to these things years later is that you can more easily avoid the bad stuff), and clearly Maiden were an obvious option to have a listen to - one of the tracks on my pal's rock CD was RttH (hence this being the only Maiden song I knew until recently), and I liked what I heard (obviously!).

However, the whole Eddie/666 sort of image had always put me off Maiden - another recent thread on here - although obviously I was aware of the band's influence and legacy. But I was browsing through Amazon recently and came across a little Maiden video, had a listen and loved the sound. So I went on a bit of a buying spree and bought most of the Maiden studio albums (except Killers, NPftD, the two Blaze albums (based on a bit of research) and the newest one - I only pay a fiver maximum these days  :P).

Objectively a bit irrational, perhaps, but now I've got ten Maiden albums, which is clearly quite a lot to digest, and it will probably take me a couple of years at least.

However, I picked out three albums to listen to initially - IM, FotD and BNW - effectively one from each major era but ignoring the real classics on the basis that even if I didn't rate those three then things could only get better.

Anyway, after quite a few listens I like IM - and I'm sure I'll progress to liking it significantly more - but my favourite of the three at present is defo FotD, which, er, rocks!

Which clearly bucks the trend a bit, and to be honest, based on the research I'd done FotD was bought by accident. But for what it's worth although I would agree with the oft-expressed opinion that although some of the songs on the album are a bit naff, they're all to a greater or lesser extent saved by great guitar solo/instrumental moments. For example, my favourite moment (thus far) on the three albums is the instrumental section on The Fugitive (2.46 - 3. 58 esp from 3.39) which ironically another poster specifically picked out as one of his least favourite sections.

Anyway, here's the slightly worrying bit. Despite generally being well regarded BNW is doing very little for me and to be honest the whole thing sounds sort of, you know, bland - the only track that I really look forward to presently is The Nomad.

So to cut to the chase (eventually!) do you think BNW is just difficult to get into - and I'll 'get' it eventually - or perhaps the bulk of the Maiden stuff just isn't for me?

Should I cut my losses and sell the albums I haven't listened to? (Joke.)

Or is BNW just overrated because of the hpye surrounding the reunion?

What are the most accessible Maiden albums?

As I said, please go easy on me  :notworthy:
 
Good post, and no worries.  I WILL say that if you are looking for accessible Maiden songs, you should go for a greatist hits collection like "Somewhere Back in Time."  The great thing about Maiden is that the "quick and easy" songs are not the norm.  If you are looking for a solid studio album that is more accessible than Brave New World, I would also suggest Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, or even Powerslave, though each album has it's fair share of twists and turns.
 
I really like BNW, the first time I bought the album, I got into straight away. IMO, it's a really great album.
 
Brave New World is my favourite album. But if you only find The Nomad interesting, you might want to try a later work with similar songs, like A Matter of Life and Death, or a Golden Age album - Somewhere in Time might be your thing.
 
You definitely like the offerings that seem to be more disliked by most; I agree with LC though, another in that vein that might peek your interest based on what you said is Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
 
I never found Brave New World hard to get into, but my appreciation for it has grown quite a lot recently.  Of the reunion era albums, I would actually call it the most accessible, though I was almost immediately hooked by AMOLAD personally.  If you've only listened to the three albums you mentioned, I'd suggest next to try Live After Death (so many of the songs come alive in a live environment, even on a live album), Somewhere in Time, and maybe The Number of the Beast (it has a bit of the early days sound still). 

Also, do yourself a favour and don't ignore the Blaze era; if you try different albums with all three of Maiden's vocalists right at the beginning, you won't get fixated into the Bruce Bruce Bruce-mentality that too many people suffer from.  The X Factor chronologically follows Fear of the Dark, and has some of the same elements too, so I'd suggest that.
 
Most acessible I'd say The Number Of The Beast and Somewhere In Time. Leave the 2000's albums for last, specially AMOLAD.
 
I think Maiden is at it's best as a live band, perhaps step throgh the live albums

Maiden Japan, Live After Death, Donnington(or Live one Dead One), Rock in Rio, Death on the Road.  That is a good sampling minus anything from Blaze himself and the last two albums.
 
Deano said:
You definitely like the offerings that seem to be more disliked by most

Indeed. You need someone with horrible taste to help you...

You need to ask Forostar.

( :P at both Foro and OP )


Seriously:
If you don't like BNW, it's unlikely you'll like much Maiden. BNW is fairly typical in terms of Maiden's sound.

But if you're into prog, then Powerslave - Somewhere In Time - Seventh Son is what you want to check out. Or buy the new album, which is probably the proggiest.
 
Agree with all the above based on what you say your tastes are.
But to respond to your initial question — most accessible — I'd have to say Piece of Mind.
It's not as proggy as what came after, or as raw as what came before.
But its definitely Maiden.
 
Yes. If you're really looking for the quintessential Maiden, then Piece Of Mind is it.

You could go one album either way (Number of the Beast or Powerslave) and you'd get the next two editions of quintessential Maiden.
 
Start with number of the beast. Songs are very accessable (sp?) and it has its fair share of ther classics.

I started off with sevent son and i didn't really 'get' it for about 6 months

BNW would also be a good choice and maybe DOD.

Took me ages to get into AMOLAD, SIT and SSOASS
 
LooseCannon said:
Yep, with songs like Isle of Avalon by Geddy Harris and Adrian Lifeson.
  :lol:

Thanks for the various replies, plenty of food for thought there.

Perhaps I should have phrased the question differently, but please note that I'm not necessarily looking for an easy way into Maiden.

What I'm slightly 'worried' about is that having listened to Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark and Brave New World in roughly equal measure, the first two have made an impact with me, but the latter hasn't really made much of an impression, thus I was interested to hear others' thoughts on whether particular albums were easier to 'get', or not.

I'm certainly not the type who'll listen to an album half-a-dozen times and then either declare it a pile of pants or the best album ever, sort of thing.

But I'm well past that stage with Brave New World, and to be honest listening to it is still a bit of a chore.

But I find all new stuff a bit of a chore initiallly, and clearly some stuff makes a greater impact at an earlier stage than other stuff, but that doesn't necessarily mean a lot in the longer term.

So I'll persevere with Brave New World in the meantime, and use the comments in the thread to choose my next listens, but as a complete Maiden newbie I won't be doing anything more than scratching the surface for a few months at least.
 
If you don't like BNW all that much...stop listening to it.

With Maiden, I have found, that it is more than possible to dislike something for years, only to have it click one day and then you just go, "fuck yeah!" That may never happen with some songs or albums, but with the breadth of Maiden's catalog, there is going to be some other stuff out there for you.
 
True. I initially found The X Factor "difficult" and flat out HATED Virtual XI... I now enjoy both after giving them a rest at their respective purchased times. They are the only two maiden albums that have taken me months (or years) to appreciate. All others the initial "wall" was easy to get over (weeks).

It really comes down to tastes as I LOVE BNW, did from day one. Yet DOD still feels like a chore and I skip the occasional track. AMOLAD eventually clicked and I really enjoy it.

From the "classic era" I find myself going back to Somewhere in Time more than the other 80's material.
 
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