Building my Iron Maiden's vinyl collection

Hey guys, Merry Christmas!!!!!

 

I have the 80`s records, Iron Maiden self titled up to Seventh Son.I`ve changed gear and rooms a few times so I need to do an updated vinyl comparison soon.I own the 2014 reissues,first Japanese,also a mix of US and UK.I have several 7 and 12 "singles as well as The First Ten Years EPs from 1990.I don`t remember any pressing sounding particularly bad,other than # Of The beast reissue being very flat.
Merry Christmas!

 

They sound fantastic. They play at 33 1/3 and not 45. EMI were still pressing superb quality vinyl at their own plant in 1990.

 

Just ordered A Matter Of Life And Death vinyl awesome LP

 

Awesome news as I already ordered one set, Tooper and Flight of Icarus. I might also get the one wth Maiden Japan. Interesting that they play at 33, I actually seem to prefer that. 12 inch singles have unleashed a whole new level of pain on my bank account!

 

I've that Dutch pressing you write about and I also have UK, JPN and CAN first pressings as well and to these ears they all sound better than the Dutch pressing. This pressing doesn't sound bad in any way but the other ones sound a bit better with more drive and punch.

 

Yeah, I'll most likely pick one of those up eventually. The Japanese ones I do own are incredible (Iron Maiden, Killers, Number of The Beast, Powerslave) and I have noticed they are cut at slightly lower volume but because the vinyl is so quiet cranking it is no problem. I am not sure I can strongly agree with the punch statement though as I think with the great sounding ones it's really splitting hairs. To me, the Japanese ones sound a bit more clinical or detailed if you will while some of the others (such as my Canadian Powerslave) sound a bit more raw and thunderous. The drums seem to really shine at times on the Japan pressings. I would just say that Piece of Mind being such a well mastered and great sounding album (best in my opinion) you really can't go wrong. My U.S pressing and Dutch pressing both sound fantastic.

 

I believe this depends on what kind of sound system you play these albums on.

 

Absolutely true, for me it's the M97xe and headphones 95% of the time. Still, I am I'm agreement the if I had to pick it would be the Japanese ones. I have a DMM UK Somewhere in Time coming so hopefully that easily beats the US club version.

 

I built my early years collection from discogs and went for the Russian Gala label. Uses UK original metals. Pressing is good to great, depending on the album. I have the debut, Powerslave, Piece of Mind, Somewhere in Time, and Killers from that series. Bear in mind, they come in the absolute flimsiest, cheapest sleeve you can imagine. Artwork is fine, but it's what's on the discs that matters. None were more than $20, but they did take about 6-8 weeks to get here from Russia. I have an EMI UK Number of the Beast and it's just ok, but from what I understand there really isn't a "knock you out" pressing of Number on vinyl. I'm sure some are better than others, but if an early UK isn't one of those, I'm not sure what would be.

 

Received AMOLAD and it is a great listen

 

Well, I received a NM UK DMM Somewhere In Time and a UK VG+ Seventh Son and not overly blown away by them. The Somewhere in Time sounds very good but as was previously mentioned most of these pressings sound great. I will have to A/B the US club copy that I have. The Seventh Son also did not overly impress compared to my Holland pressing. It didn't sound bad, I just feel that one was not the best vinyl mastering compared to their older albums. One thing I did notice, my Holland copy has the most vibrant blue incredible cover and the UK version is completely whitewashed. The Holland cover easily wins against all other copies I have seen, great job on that! I also own the reissues of these two which were actually pretty good and done better than the older album reissues.

 

I bought Fear of the Dark on Gala a little while ago via Discogs and snapped up all Maiden's previous studio albums on that label while I was at it, because they were so competitively priced. I haven't had a chance properly to compare and contrast them with other pressings I have, but I'd be very interested in your assessment of the ones you own. Cheers!

 

Pressing quality is good, not great. Packaging is very Spartan but the sound is rich, full, and heaps of fun to listen to. So long as they are $25 and under shipped? To me they are a no-brainer.

 

If you get the Japanese NOTB you also get "Total Eclipse" in the running order, which is a major positive.

I never bothered to hunt out overseas presses of PoM as my original U.S. sounds SO good already. (At least until I put on the 45 RPM single of "The Trooper." You can knock down walls with that one!)

 

I don't own any of their OG pressings but I can attest that the U.S. BMG 2014 release was totally flat, lifeless, and distant sounding. I sold it off and purchased the UK EMI 2014 version. Night and Day difference.

 

I thought so, too! While No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark were more than US$25, all the others ranged between US$14 and 15 euros. Postage wasn't cheap but it never is from America or Eurasia, as I live in Australia. I figured from your initial comment that the Gala pressings were demonstrably better for some Maiden albums than others, but if I understand you correctly than you are saying they are consistently good rather than stellar. If anyone is interested, I will share my thoughts as I slowly get through comparing them to my other pressings - although I should warn you my collection isn't extensive and I can only give you my subjective impressions, not having had any professional training, or possessing any technical knowledge or expensive equipment.
With regard to The Number of the Beast, I have a mint first European pressing that I bought last year for the obscene price of 8.50 GBP. It sounds clear and powerful and has almost no surface noise. Easily my best second-hand vinyl purchase (for any band) so far, followed closely by a first European pressing of 'Seventh Son', a second Japanese pressing of 'Piece of Mind', a first (and only) South African pressing of Judas Priest's 'Painkiller', and a 2001 European pressing of Metallica's '... And Justice For All'.

 

Curious what your thoughts are on these if you've gotten to them yet. Mainly for SiT and SSOASS. I guess they should be the exact same Sterling DMM plates as the UK? I think the US Seventh Sons had both DMM and Non-DMM pressings but the UK were all DMM? Not sure about Somewhere in Time.

 

Hi Jeff, this evening I compared my 1st Russian pressing of Somewhere in Time (Gala 038-74 6341 1) to my 1st Australian pressing (EMI - EMC 240597). The Australian LP was one of the first I bought (having only got into the vinyl caper in January 2017) and I was amazed how much more lively it sounds than my old Dutch CD (EMI – CDP 7463412). But tonight I was surprised again to discover on close listening that the Russian pressing trumps the Australian one. The difference is not pronounced, though. The Russian LP has the same punch (especially for the bass drum) but barely any audible surface noise. The Australian LP is not noisy by any means, but just sounds so compared to the Russian. I am not sure if this is to do with different production methods or the difference in age (1993 vs 1986). I hope this information is of interest. Cheers!