Iron Maiden "Iron Maiden (1995 Reissue, 2CDS, UK, EMI United Kingdom, 7243 8 35868 2 0)"

Iron Maiden is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 11 April 1980 by EMI Records in the UK and Harvest and Capitol Records in the US. The North American version included the song "Sanctuary", released in the UK as a non-album single. In 1998, along with the rest of the band's pre-1995 releases, Iron Maiden was remastered with "Sanctuary" added in all territories. However, 2014 vinyl reissues, 2015 digital releases and 2018 CD reissues use the original track listing across the globe. It is the band's only album to feature guitarist Dennis Stratton.

Although Iron Maiden have since criticised the quality of the album's production, the release was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number four on the UK Albums Chart and helping the band achieve prominence in mainland Europe.

This is the band's only album produced by Wil Malone (credited as Will Malone), whom Iron Maiden have since claimed lacked interest in the project and effectively left them to produce most of the album themselves, which, according to bassist Steve Harris, was completed in just 13 days. Recording took place at Kingsway Studios, west London in January 1980, with the band taking time out from the 1980 Metal for Muthas Tour to complete the final mixes at Morgan Studios, northwest London in February. Before the sessions with Malone, the band made two attempts in December 1979 with two different producers while still a four-piece. Guy Edwards, the first, was dismissed as the band were unhappy with the "muddy" quality in his production, while Andy Scott was also dismissed after insisting Harris play his bass with a pick rather than his fingers. After these efforts, the band decided not to dismiss Malone as Harris described that they could "bypass him and [go] to the engineer". The group criticised the quality of the production, although many fans still preferred the raw quality of the sound recording. Although AllMusic stated that this style was "clearly drawing from elements of punk rock", Harris stated that the band despised everything about punk.

This was also the only studio album with guitarist Dennis Stratton, who, having been brought in as a last-minute placement, was dismissed due to "musical differences" after the band's European tour in support of Kiss. Suspicions were first raised during Iron Maiden's recording, when Stratton added Wishbone Ash-esque harmony guitars and backing vocals reminiscent of Queen to "Phantom of the Opera", of which Harris and manager Rod Smallwood immediately disapproved and had removed. Although Stratton stated that he was not "trying to push the band in a new direction", Harris commented that it "really pointed up the difference between Den and us", after which he began to notice that "Dennis was so much more into playing stuff like "Strange World" than he was "Iron Maiden" or "Prowler", because it was more slow, melodic ... when he was soloing on one of the heavier songs, it wasn't with quite the same passion". The album cover, marking the debut of Eddie after his face was obscured in the "Running Free" single, has in the background Endymion Road at Finsbury Park, near where artist Derek Riggs lived.

The 1998 remastered album differs from the original with the addition of the song "Sanctuary", which had then been released only as a single in the UK in May 1980, although it did also appear in the later US version of Iron Maiden, which was issued in August 1980. The track originally appeared on the Metal for Muthas compilation, but was re-recorded during the Iron Maiden sessions. The re-release also features a different cover; a digital recreation by Riggs, with a portion of the original artwork instead being used on the disc itself.

The band undertook the Iron Maiden Tour in support of the album, during which they played their first concerts in mainland Europe, where they were surprised to discover how successful Iron Maiden had been outside the UK. Steve Harris commented, "The prestige of doing so well in the UK had turned into a sort of word-of-mouth thing, and we'd turn up in places like Leiden, in Holland, places we'd never even heard of, and they'd have these massive banners waiting for us with 'Iron Maiden Go Over The Top' written on them and all this. It was unreal."

"Running Free" was released as a single on 8 February 1980, reaching No. 34 in the UK Singles Chart. The band also performed the song on the UK TV show Top of the Pops, refusing the usual tradition for artists to mime and thus becoming the first group to perform live on the show since The Who in 1972. Vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who wrote the song's lyrics, describes it as "a very autobiographical song, though of course I've never spent the night in an LA jail. It's about being 16 and, like it says, just running wild and running free. It comes from my days as a skinhead." According to Classic Rock and Metal Hammer contributor Dave Ling, writing in the Metal for Muthas CD re-issue liner notes, "Sanctuary" was originally penned by guitarist Rob Angelo (Bob Sawyer), a member of Iron Maiden in 1977, who was paid £300 for the song's rights. The "Sanctuary" single was released on 7 June 1980 and charted at No. 29, with the censored cover of Eddie, the band's mascot, standing over Margaret Thatcher's body earning the band publicity in the British press. Managers Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor's management company would be named after the song.

Although "Strange World" is credited solely to Harris, Paul Mario Day, the band's original vocalist from 1975 to 1976, asserted that he also contributed to the song.

"Charlotte the Harlot", their only song to have been credited to Dave Murray alone, is the first of four Iron Maiden tracks about the fictional prostitute "Charlotte", although Murray states it was "based on a true story". The 7-minute "Phantom of the Opera" is one of Harris's favourites and is still performed live relatively frequently. With many mood and time-changes, Harris marks it as "the first song I'd written that was a bit more proggy". "Transylvania" is an instrumental piece composed by Harris, which was later covered by Iced Earth on the album Horror Show.

Of all the album's songs, "Phantom of the Opera", "Running Free", "Sanctuary" and "Iron Maiden" are the most frequently played in the band's concert tours, with the last being played at every show since the band's inception and signalling the arrival of Eddie onstage. All of the album's songs, excluding "Strange World", have been re-recorded with Bruce Dickinson on vocals, either on live albums, studio B-Sides or both. "Strange World" and "Transylvania" were the only songs not played on the "Eddie Rips Up the World Tour", 2005.

Four songs from the album ("Phantom of the Opera", "Remember Tomorrow", "Strange World" and "Transylvania") were covered for the 1998 tribute album A Call to Irons (A Tribute To Iron Maiden), recorded by New Eden, Opeth, Evoken and Absu respectively. Four songs ("Prowler", "Remember Tomorrow", "Running Free" and "Iron Maiden") were covered for the 2008 tribute album Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden released by Kerrang! magazine, and an acoustic reinterpretation of "Prowler" was included in 2012's Across The Seventh Sea by the acoustic Iron Maiden tribute project Maiden uniteD. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich affirmed that "Remember Tomorrow" was "basically the blueprint for songs like Fade To Black and Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and some of the more epic ballady type of songs that Metallica had done later".

On its release, the album received immediate critical acclaim. Geoff Barton, in Sounds, hailed it as "Heavy metal for the '80s, its blinding speed and rampant ferocity making most plastic heavy rock tracks from the '60s and '70s sound sloth-like and funeral-dirgey by comparison". Iron Maiden spent an initial fifteen weeks on the UK chart, and a further two when it was reissued on EMI's budget subsidiary Fame in 1985.

The album has continued to receive praise from reviewers. AllMusic proclaims that it "would still rank as a landmark even if the Dickinson years had never happened" and says there was "no better place to hear how both punk and prog rock informed the new wave of British heavy metal". Sputnikmusic describes it as "one of the top debut albums in the world of heavy metal", containing "the raw, aggressive power [that] defines the early years of the band".

Iron Maiden is one of the band's two albums listed in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (The Number of the Beast is the other). In 2017, it was ranked 13th on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Steve Harris, except where noted.

1. "Prowler" 3:56
2. "Remember Tomorrow"   (Harris/Paul Di'Anno)  5:30
3. "Running Free" (Harris/Di'Anno)  3:22
4. "Phantom of the Opera" 7:02
5. "Transylvania" (instrumental) 4:09
6. "Strange World" 5:43
7. "Charlotte the Harlot" (Dave Murray) 4:14
8. "Iron Maiden" 3:43

Total length: 37:39

1995 reissue bonus disc

1. "Sanctuary" (Iron Maiden) 3:14
2. "Burning Ambition" 2:42
3. "Drifter" (live) 6:04
4. "I've Got the Fire" (Montrose cover; live) (Ronnie Montrose) 3:14

Total length: 15:14

Picture CDs - limited edition

For the album the cover art of the "Running Free" Single was used,

the bonus-CD displays the cover art of the "Sanctuary" Single.

Disc 2:

Tracks 1, 3 and 4 taken from "Sanctuary" (single)

Track 2 taken from "Running free" (single)

Recording information:

Recorded in December 1979 at Kingsway Studios, London.

Mixed at Morgan Studios, London.

Wil Malone – producer

Martin Levan – engineer

Derek Riggs – sleeve illustration

Terry Walker – photography

Yuka Fujii – photography

Iron Maiden "Iron Maiden (1987 Reissue, Japan, EMI, CP32-5106)"

Iron Maiden is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 11 April 1980 by EMI Records in the UK and Harvest and Capitol Records in the US. The North American version included the song "Sanctuary", released in the UK as a non-album single. In 1998, along with the rest of the band's pre-1995 releases, Iron Maiden was remastered with "Sanctuary" added in all territories. However, 2014 vinyl reissues, 2015 digital releases and 2018 CD reissues use the original track listing across the globe. It is the band's only album to feature guitarist Dennis Stratton.

Although Iron Maiden have since criticised the quality of the album's production, the release was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number four on the UK Albums Chart and helping the band achieve prominence in mainland Europe.

This is the band's only album produced by Wil Malone (credited as Will Malone), whom Iron Maiden have since claimed lacked interest in the project and effectively left them to produce most of the album themselves, which, according to bassist Steve Harris, was completed in just 13 days. Recording took place at Kingsway Studios, west London in January 1980, with the band taking time out from the 1980 Metal for Muthas Tour to complete the final mixes at Morgan Studios, northwest London in February. Before the sessions with Malone, the band made two attempts in December 1979 with two different producers while still a four-piece. Guy Edwards, the first, was dismissed as the band were unhappy with the "muddy" quality in his production, while Andy Scott was also dismissed after insisting Harris play his bass with a pick rather than his fingers. After these efforts, the band decided not to dismiss Malone as Harris described that they could "bypass him and [go] to the engineer". The group criticised the quality of the production, although many fans still preferred the raw quality of the sound recording. Although AllMusic stated that this style was "clearly drawing from elements of punk rock", Harris stated that the band despised everything about punk.

This was also the only studio album with guitarist Dennis Stratton, who, having been brought in as a last-minute placement, was dismissed due to "musical differences" after the band's European tour in support of Kiss. Suspicions were first raised during Iron Maiden's recording, when Stratton added Wishbone Ash-esque harmony guitars and backing vocals reminiscent of Queen to "Phantom of the Opera", of which Harris and manager Rod Smallwood immediately disapproved and had removed. Although Stratton stated that he was not "trying to push the band in a new direction", Harris commented that it "really pointed up the difference between Den and us", after which he began to notice that "Dennis was so much more into playing stuff like "Strange World" than he was "Iron Maiden" or "Prowler", because it was more slow, melodic ... when he was soloing on one of the heavier songs, it wasn't with quite the same passion". The album cover, marking the debut of Eddie after his face was obscured in the "Running Free" single, has in the background Endymion Road at Finsbury Park, near where artist Derek Riggs lived.

The 1998 remastered album differs from the original with the addition of the song "Sanctuary", which had then been released only as a single in the UK in May 1980, although it did also appear in the later US version of Iron Maiden, which was issued in August 1980. The track originally appeared on the Metal for Muthas compilation, but was re-recorded during the Iron Maiden sessions. The re-release also features a different cover; a digital recreation by Riggs, with a portion of the original artwork instead being used on the disc itself.

The band undertook the Iron Maiden Tour in support of the album, during which they played their first concerts in mainland Europe, where they were surprised to discover how successful Iron Maiden had been outside the UK. Steve Harris commented, "The prestige of doing so well in the UK had turned into a sort of word-of-mouth thing, and we'd turn up in places like Leiden, in Holland, places we'd never even heard of, and they'd have these massive banners waiting for us with 'Iron Maiden Go Over The Top' written on them and all this. It was unreal."

"Running Free" was released as a single on 8 February 1980, reaching No. 34 in the UK Singles Chart. The band also performed the song on the UK TV show Top of the Pops, refusing the usual tradition for artists to mime and thus becoming the first group to perform live on the show since The Who in 1972. Vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who wrote the song's lyrics, describes it as "a very autobiographical song, though of course I've never spent the night in an LA jail. It's about being 16 and, like it says, just running wild and running free. It comes from my days as a skinhead." According to Classic Rock and Metal Hammer contributor Dave Ling, writing in the Metal for Muthas CD re-issue liner notes, "Sanctuary" was originally penned by guitarist Rob Angelo (Bob Sawyer), a member of Iron Maiden in 1977, who was paid £300 for the song's rights. The "Sanctuary" single was released on 7 June 1980 and charted at No. 29, with the censored cover of Eddie, the band's mascot, standing over Margaret Thatcher's body earning the band publicity in the British press. Managers Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor's management company would be named after the song.

Although "Strange World" is credited solely to Harris, Paul Mario Day, the band's original vocalist from 1975 to 1976, asserted that he also contributed to the song.

"Charlotte the Harlot", their only song to have been credited to Dave Murray alone, is the first of four Iron Maiden tracks about the fictional prostitute "Charlotte", although Murray states it was "based on a true story". The 7-minute "Phantom of the Opera" is one of Harris's favourites and is still performed live relatively frequently. With many mood and time-changes, Harris marks it as "the first song I'd written that was a bit more proggy". "Transylvania" is an instrumental piece composed by Harris, which was later covered by Iced Earth on the album Horror Show.

Of all the album's songs, "Phantom of the Opera", "Running Free", "Sanctuary" and "Iron Maiden" are the most frequently played in the band's concert tours, with the last being played at every show since the band's inception and signalling the arrival of Eddie onstage. All of the album's songs, excluding "Strange World", have been re-recorded with Bruce Dickinson on vocals, either on live albums, studio B-Sides or both. "Strange World" and "Transylvania" were the only songs not played on the "Eddie Rips Up the World Tour", 2005.

Four songs from the album ("Phantom of the Opera", "Remember Tomorrow", "Strange World" and "Transylvania") were covered for the 1998 tribute album A Call to Irons (A Tribute To Iron Maiden), recorded by New Eden, Opeth, Evoken and Absu respectively. Four songs ("Prowler", "Remember Tomorrow", "Running Free" and "Iron Maiden") were covered for the 2008 tribute album Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden released by Kerrang! magazine, and an acoustic reinterpretation of "Prowler" was included in 2012's Across The Seventh Sea by the acoustic Iron Maiden tribute project Maiden uniteD. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich affirmed that "Remember Tomorrow" was "basically the blueprint for songs like Fade To Black and Welcome Home (Sanitarium), and some of the more epic ballady type of songs that Metallica had done later".

On its release, the album received immediate critical acclaim. Geoff Barton, in Sounds, hailed it as "Heavy metal for the '80s, its blinding speed and rampant ferocity making most plastic heavy rock tracks from the '60s and '70s sound sloth-like and funeral-dirgey by comparison". Iron Maiden spent an initial fifteen weeks on the UK chart, and a further two when it was reissued on EMI's budget subsidiary Fame in 1985.

The album has continued to receive praise from reviewers. AllMusic proclaims that it "would still rank as a landmark even if the Dickinson years had never happened" and says there was "no better place to hear how both punk and prog rock informed the new wave of British heavy metal". Sputnikmusic describes it as "one of the top debut albums in the world of heavy metal", containing "the raw, aggressive power [that] defines the early years of the band".

Iron Maiden is one of the band's two albums listed in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (The Number of the Beast is the other). In 2017, it was ranked 13th on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".

Track listing

All tracks are written by Steve Harris, except where noted.

1. "Prowler" 3:56
2. "Remember Tomorrow"   (Harris/Paul Di'Anno)  5:30
3. "Running Free" (Harris/Di'Anno)  3:22
4. "Phantom of the Opera" 7:02
5. "Transylvania" (instrumental) 4:09
6. "Strange World" 5:43
7. "Charlotte the Harlot" (Dave Murray) 4:14
8. "Iron Maiden" 3:43

Total length: 37:39

Recording information:

Recorded in December 1979 at Kingsway Studios, London.

Mixed at Morgan Studios, London.

Wil Malone – producer

Martin Levan – engineer

Derek Riggs – sleeve illustration

Terry Walker – photography

Yuka Fujii – photography

Steve Harris "British Lion"

Stephen Percy Harris (born 12 March 1956) is an English musician, bassist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, primary songwriter and founder of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He has been the band's only constant member since their inception in 1975 and one of only two to have appeared on all of their albums, the other being guitarist Dave Murray.

Harris has a recognisable and popular style of bass playing, particularly the "gallop" which can be found on several Iron Maiden recordings, such as the singles "Run to the Hills" and "The Trooper". In addition to his role as the band's bass player, writer and backing vocalist, he has undertaken many other roles for the group, such as producing and co-producing their albums, directing and editing their live videos and performing studio keyboards and synthesizers. He has been cited as one of the greatest heavy metal bassists.

On 24 September 2012, Harris released his debut solo album, British Lion.

British Lion is the debut solo album from Steve Harris, best known as the bassist and primary songwriter for the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The album was announced on 18 July 2012 and released on 24 September.

Following the initial announcement of the album's release in July 2012, Classic Rock revealed that the project originated with a band, named British Lion, which Harris had been mentoring in the early 1990s. Harris confirmed this during an interview with Classic Rock the following month, explaining that he became involved after "Graham Leslie [guitar] came to me with a cassette of songs... and I thought they were really good, so I said I’d try to help his band do something. I ended up managing them and producing them and writing with them." After the original band split up, he "kept in touch with Richie [Taylor, vocals] and Graham, and then Richie was working with another guitarist called David Hawkins, who's a really talented guy, and so we started writing songs together." After several years of work, due to Harris being occupied with Iron Maiden, the album ultimately consists of "six songs written with Richie and David, there's one with just me and Richie, and the others are me, Richie, Graham and a couple of other guys that were around at the time." In an interview published by Kerrang! in September, Harris said that he considers British Lion "more of a side-project" than a solo record.

Stylistically, Harris argues that the record is "more mainstream rock than metal, very British sounding, very 70s-influenced and quite commercial… but good commercial. There's all kinds of stuff going on, with nods to the Who and UFO and some classic British rock bands, but it's not the progressive rock album some might be expecting." During his appearance on That Metal Show in September 2012, Harris revealed that he tried a number of bass-playing techniques which he would not do with Iron Maiden, such as letting his strings "go dead".

Harris stated that he intends to tour the release at some stage, remarking that, although "there are no shows arranged yet", "I know we’ll be playing clubs, which is great because I’ve not played clubs for years", and that he intends to release a follow up album in the future. A European club tour, taking place in February and March, was eventually announced on 10 January 2013.

A music video for the song "This Is My God" was released on 2 October 2012, followed by a video for "Us Against the World" on 28 November.

Track listing

1. "This Is My God" Steve Harris/David Hawkins, Richard Taylor 4:57
2. "Lost Worlds" Harris, Hawkins, Taylor 4:58
3. "Karma Killer" Harris, Hawkins, Taylor 5:29
4. "Us Against the World" Harris, Hawkins, Taylor 4:12
5. "The Chosen Ones" Harris, Taylor 6:27
6. "A World Without Heaven" Fitzgibbon/Harris/Leslie/Liederman/Roberts/Taylor 7:02
7. "Judas" Harris, Hawkins, Taylor 4:58
8. "Eyes of the Young" Harris, Leslie, Roberts, Taylor 5:25
9. "These Are the Hands" Harris, Hawkins, Taylor 4:28
10. "The Lesson" Harris, Hawkins, Taylor 4:15

Total length: 52:11

The album is titled after a band that Steve Harris mentored in the early '90s. Two of its members play on the album.

Videos were made for ''This Is My God'' and "Us Against the World".

Recording information:

Drums & vocals tracks 2, 4, 9 recorded at Monkey Puzzle UK.

Drums & vocals tracks 1, 2, 7 recorded at Purple UK.

Back tracks except 5, 6, 8 & vocals track 10 recorded at BL Studio UK.

Rest at BL Studio UK & Algarve Studio Portugal.

Back tracks 5, 6, 8 recorded at Barnyard UK. Rest at Algarve Studio Portugal.

All tracks mixed at The Cave, Malibu, CA. USA.