Does the Pastmasters II cd of the debut have the full version of ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ complete with coda at the end?
I'm now listening to the russian CD Maximum version of "Number of the Beast". It is same as 1995 Castle release i believe, dynamic range is just same and sounds very good. Also got 3 other russian Iron Maiden CDs and they sound very nice. Not 1998 re-masters, not at all. Look dynamic range database. Also packaging is better than expected with artwork from the old LPs scanned (US, Italy, German, Holland pressings =). Live After Death includes the Fourth side of original album. (UK live). It seems they put effort to doing them in the 2000.
So i have been listening all these Russian Iron Maiden CD's. And I'm suprised these are not from the 1998 re-masters at all. Iron Maiden/Killers Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden / Killers (2000, CD) Album details - Dynamic Range Database Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind / Singles Collection 1 Iron Maiden – Piece Of Mind / Single Collection 1 (2000, CD) Album details - Dynamic Range Database Iron Maiden - Powerslave / Singles Collection 2 Iron Maiden – Powerslave / Single Collection 2 (2000, CD) Album details - Dynamic Range Database Iron Maiden - Live After Death/Number of the Beast 2CD (complete concert with 4 side/UK tracks) Iron Maiden – Live After Death / The Number Of The Beast (2000, CD) Album details - Dynamic Range Database As you can see the dynamic range is very good. I strongly believe source is from the original EMI/Fame or even 1995 pressings. These album's sound same as the original EMI UK/German pressings, or even better (I'm not sure yet. Did somebody said Capitol US pressings/1995 pressings sounds better than some of originals?) Also look better than those awful re-master packages with childish design and digitally raped covers IMO. Cover art is scanned from different 80s albums, and fold out poster like. It is clear that someone who design and made these 20 years ago wanted a good sound/package, not the easy and quick way = remastered crap. Iron Maiden/Killers have the wrong photo though (Bruce and band)... I'm positive suprised about these CDs.
Interesting, not a fan of the main album artwork divided in two like that but the DR no’s are great and clearly a lot of care went into them. I was gonna say it’s the 1995’s with the bonus tracks added but there is no live ‘Still Life’ that came with the 95’s. Did they make the rest of the catalogue like this?
Also, there is a 2020 remaster of ‘Live After Death’ apparently, has anyone heard it? I don’t think the full album became available on digital until 1998, and I know that remaster series is pretty poorly regarded. The original disc from the 80’s would be nice if it wasn’t truncated.
Iron Maiden – Live After Death (1995, CD) It doesn’t have the Hammersmith songs that are on the lp (and ‘98 remaster) but does include three b-sides that are exclusive to that ‘95 version, a mix of Long Beach and Hammersmith songs iirc. Edit: also of course on the emi version from ‘95.
I was wondering if the Black Triangle (CP32) TO and non-TO pressings of "Iron Maiden", "Killers", "The Number Of The Beast", "Piece Of Mind" and "Live After Death" are identical sonically ?
A couple of days ago I started a new thread with this message, but having spotted this thread it's probably better here. I have a Made In Holland EMI pressing of Live After Death, CDP 7 416186 2. The matrix reads CDP 746186 2 5-2-3- NL Swindon On this CD the segue between between the final two tracks (Run To The Hills and Running Free) is very jarring. Literally as if the latter were tagged on to the end from a different gig with a different crowd. To try and explain, immediately as the final chord of Run To The Hills ends the crowd noise cuts in loud at full cheer from nowhere and the next song begins, unlike the remasters where the transition flows naturally. So I put the two tracks into Audacity. The WAVs seem to suggest there may be a mastering flaw. The first image is of the end of Run To the Hills and the start of Running Free, where the weird crowd noise thing happens. I left the tracks unjoined. Notice that big stray single peak in the left channel at the end of Run To The Hills? The next image is the fade of Running Free, shortly after which the big stray peak reappears. This time in the both channels. So I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but it looks to me like this pressing is suffering a mastering issue. If anyone else has the Made In Holland pressing I'd be interested to hear if it has the same glitches. Or how the West German CD from the same period compares. Does that also have the same issues?
Been following this thread for years and thought I’d join in. Has anyone bought those bootleg Maiden Japan CDs from eBay that have full concert to check their quality? I’d love to have a physical CD with case for that album, but a bootleg could be complete crap. Ideally if you can compare to the First Ten Years cuts or the Killers Castle 2CD version that’d be great, but those are lacking the majority of the concert. As far as other discs, I have the wrong version for the first two albums (though I enjoy both thoroughly) and was unaware that Capitol was good for S/T but not Killers. Phantom sounds epic on my EMI Fame, and I love my Capitol Killers and will have to hunt down an EMI to compare. For Piece of Mind, I find the Capitol to sound shrill and thin, so I prefer even the 98 remaster which is brickwalled but not shrill. LAD, I find the 98 remaster to be worse on the first CD, but the second CD is incredibly crisp, Die with Your Boots On sounds better than I’ve ever heard it on PoM. Will probably look for CP32 PoM. Cheers.
For Killers, I always liked the US Capitol until I got the UK EMI based on the suggestion of members here. It’s quite a big difference because it’s completely different mastering. I prefer the UK EMI for the album plus the first 10 years CD single for twilight zone. I never had the UKEMI for the first album. I like my US Capitol of it but always wanted to compare. For piece of mind, my UK Nimbus was harsh and shrill. I found the CP 32 to be smoother. I prefer the clarity of the UKEMI which is not shrill like the Nimbus. It’s all the same mastering, which isn’t great, but the CP 32 and UK EMI I found to be much more listenable. That album would be great with a proper remaster but that doesn’t look like it will ever happen. sorry for the lack of capitalization, my fingers have been killing me and Siri either isn’t that great or I’m not doing it right when I try to get it to capitalize. As it is I had to fix a bunch of stuff.
Hey, thanks for the reply. I just scored on the Castle 2CD of S/T and Killers, I know that S/T is based off the Capitol, but unsure for Killers. The graphs posted early in this thread indicated Killers is Capitol, but others have commented it’s pulled from EMI. You mentioned in a earlier post there is a dropout in Drifter on your Capitol, would you happen to know when in the song so I could look for it on my Castle when I receive it? I never noticed myself, funny as I have noticed a strange audio clip/dropout on every version of Die With Your Boots on I’ve heard at around 25 seconds. As an aside, does anyone know if there are appreciated differences between versions of Fear of the Dark? The album is undiscussed in this area, so I have no idea what to look for. Every pressing seems to have variance other than regular EMI and Pastmasters.
That’s very interesting. I’m not sure of the exact time of the drop out in drifter. I deleted my rip of it so I’ll have to pull out my CD of it when I have a chance, but if you listen with headphones you will hear it as it is a noticeable drop out. Even more so than the die with your boots on drop out from what I remember. Another, and very distinct, difference between the US and UK masterings is that Clive’s hi-hat hit starts off the title track before Steve’s bass kicks in on the UK version. On the US version there is no hi-hat and it starts with Steve. I’m very curious why they did that. I was so used to the US version and love that bass intro that it really threw me off when I got the UK but now I’m used to it. However, I still miss not hearing twilight zone where it usually was on the US version.
I wonder if you guys helped me out on this one. My favourite Maiden album is the first one and my preferred digital version is the first edition cd with the tape hiss. Based on all the knowledge compiled in this thread, is there a better version out there? Maybe the CP32-5106? Thanks in advance.
What do you have already? Capitol or Castle 2CD seems to be the best one but I’ve never heard anyone directly mention the CP32’s quality. Definitely with Capitol you get Sanctuary which you don’t on the 1 or 2 CD EMI, which seems to be the worst pre-98 version. Capitol and Castle for the first album are identical.
Also, the 98’ remaster uses the U.K. source, hence the hi-hat intro to Killers. However, it also includes The Twilight Zone, even though the track is out of the original running order of the US version.
Like a hybrid version, I never noticed that. I have the '98 but the '98's were too loud and I hardly listened to them and was so glad I didn't sell my originals. I see that Twilight Zone was not produced by Martin Birch so it seems that it really wasn't meant for the album. I wonder about the first album in that respect, with its inclusion of 2 tracks I believe that were recorded before the album if I recall, Running Free and Sanctuary. I always listened to the US version so I never thought about it.
I find the 98’s from the S/T to Piece Of Mind inclusive aren’t bad at all. I enjoy them due to the boosted low end. However, the ones from Powerslave onward are complete rubbish and practically unlistenable imo. Both Sanctuary and Twilight Zone were bonus tracks which ended up on the Canadian and US releases. Interestingly, Sanctuary is also in the wrong spot on the 98’ in terms of track order. I find it a bit annoying, as it seems someone wasn’t paying attention. Running Free was the first single released prior to the album coming out. The artwork was meant to introduce Eddie to the fans - it shows someone running down an alleyway with Eddie behind them sideways with his face obscured by the street lamp shadow. Then we get to see the full on version of his beastly boat with the official album release….
Piece of Mind 98 is a nice disc, I find it much more enjoyable than any older pressing I’ve heard (haven’t heard CP32) and luckily contains no tracking errors. Number of the Beast is fine too, I can go either way on it. I do notice the intro to The Prisoner is a bit quieter but it’s not a dealbreaker. I haven’t gotten my hands on the first two, I’ll have to check them out. I know they changed the tracking on Transylvania/Strange World which is questionable. Sanctuary change is weird but I can get over that. Somewhere in Time and SSOASS are harsh remastered. Very rare that my ears hurt after only a single song but those two can do it.
I agree completely. Another reason why the 98’ POM sounds great in comparison is that the orginal mix / mastering was bereft of any low end. Very similar in fact to the original mastering of Shout At The Devil by Motley Crüe, as it suffers a similar fate.
The version of Running Free on the first album is from the album sessions. There was a prior version recorded before Stratton and Burr joined (the b-side Burning Ambition comes from these pre-Burr sessions too) but that early Running Free was eschewed in favour of the new one. The version of Sanctuary on the US edition of the album is definitely post-first album. That's all to the best of my recollection. Corrections and additions welcome.
I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I've stumbled upon this thread... I was looking for Maiden on CD to upgrade the rips I made years ago (and, like an imbecile, then sold the discs) and, because of this thread, just dropped $200 on Discogs... I'd like to thank everyone who posted this amazingly helpful and detailed information.
