Listening to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son over lunch. They are renovating our bathroom this week, and I felt it was time for some payback for the noise
It's the same source as the black vinyl reissue, with chewed tape sound on side B as far as I remember. No fireworks here. My go to copy is original pressing.
Last year I bought The Complete Albums Collection 1990-2015 box set. However, I never got around to picking up the other albums to complete the set... until now. In the next few days I plan on buying all of the rest of the 2017 reissues to complete the set. I will also likely go ahead and pick up all the 1980-1988 reissues as well (though I don't have the box for this set, and unfortunately I probably never will because it seems they are now charging $250+ for a piece of cardboard ). I am a huge Iron Maiden fan, but I grew up in the cassette/CD era, and am new to vinyl. This is my first real foray into the vinyl medium. I had a couple concerns, and have been trying to go through the past posts in this thread, and online searches, etc. but it is a little daunting going through it all. I was hoping you guys might be able to help me avoid some pitfalls. While looking through Amazon's listings, I have noticed that some of the records have different labels listed (Parlophone, Sanctuary Records, and Rhino; maybe others?). I am assuming that these are identifying the different areas of release, such as EU release (Parlophone), US release (Sanctuary), and I am not sure what Rhino is. I am now wondering if there is a big difference between the pressings? And if so, is there any consensus on which are the best pressings? One issue in particular that I noticed was that it seems there is a poor mastering quality issue with the US pressing of The Number of the Beast. But it seems the UK pressing of this album is good though? Are there any other known issues with particular albums? Are the UK releases generally preferable over the US releases (or even other areas)?
For 80’s reissues, EU’s have generally better pressing quality, also Killers and Number are found to sound much better on EU Parlophones than on US Sanctuary. EU Somewhere In Time has a tape defect in one spot, barely noticeable is you ask me, which US hasn’t. So for reissues I went all EU. Both Piece Of Mind reissues have channels not quite balanced, but it’s not too bad. Powerslave and later albums are gradually decreasing in volume towards the end of each side to avoid IGD. Originals can be pricey, but you can look for Russian Gala 1993 pressings which use UK stampers and sound just like the originals. But the covers quality didn’t go far from a Soviet newspaper I’m afraid
I would like the originals. But I am having a hard enough time finding all the 1980-1988 UK reissues, let alone the originals. (The US reissues aren't too much of a problem). The UK reissues are all available off the Iron Maiden website via some UK record store. But it is $220 + $50 shipping for the 8 1980-1988 reissues. The US reissues (but with a UK reissue of NotB) total $187 + free shipping from amazon. So there is nearly a $100 cost difference once shipping is factored in. With respect to the 1990-2015 reissues, I haven't seen anyone mention any problems with them (it is always with certain 1980-1988 reissues). Is it safe to get the US pressings of those, or do I need to look for the Parlaphone as well?
I have both US and UK NOTB, and the difference is not as great as some have said. In fact, with minor EQ tweaks they sound about the same.
Is this even available in the US? I don't think you can even buy the BMG anymore - discogs, amazon, ebay don't have it. As to the tape defect on Parlophone, is this something that you can only hear if you're looking for it?
It’s noticeable, but it lasts only a fraction of a second and is much less annoying than surface noise sometimes found on new records. Not a deal breaker at all.
Iron Maiden – Running Free Label: Parlophone – 2564625243, Parlophone – 5032 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Reissue Country: UK & Europe Released: Oct 2014 Discogs Link: Iron Maiden - Running Free
Iron Maiden – Twilight Zone / Wrathchild Label: Parlophone – 2564625173 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Reissue Country: UK & Europe Released: Oct 2014 Discogs Link: Iron Maiden - Twilight Zone / Wrathchild
Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden Label: Parlophone – 2564625244, Parlophone – EMC 3330 Format: Reissue Country: Europe Released: 13 Oct 2014 Discogs Link: Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden – Flight 666 - The Original Soundtrack Label: Parlophone – 0190295851941 Format: 2 × Vinyl, Reissue, Remastered, 180 gram Country: Europe Released: 28 Jul 2017 Lacquer Cut By Chris Bellman Discogs Link: Iron Maiden - Flight 666 - The Original Soundtrack
Iron Maiden – Powerslave Label: Parlophone – 2564624869 Format: Reissue, Remastered, 180 Gram Country: Europe Released: 27 Oct 2014 Discogs Link: Iron Maiden - Powerslave
To be honest TNOTB isn't their best sounding album, I've a few different pressings of this album and they sound quite the same to these ears.
