Best Iron Maiden CD?

[darkandrew]

I've found that as I've got older my curiosity in Iron Maiden has grown and I'm quite keen to give some of their stuff a proper listen. Any recommendations as to which CD would be the best introduction?

[Twinfan]

Live After Death - it's their finest hour!

[marauder]

Live After Death - it's their finest hour!

+1

And get the dvd too

[dvorak]

They have done much great stuff. Live after death is great as previously said.

Maiden England is a great live album as well. I dig the Seventh son of a seventh son era.

If you want a different flavor their first album is great as well. So difficult to choose just one thing.

[Philly Q]

Of the studio albums, The Number of the Beast has to be a good starting point.

Personally I really like Brave New World but that's probably a minority view.

[Kiichi]

Yeah, another for Live after Death here. And I also echo Philly in terms of Number of the Beast for studio albums. Dickinson debuts there and my does he ever.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Hard to pick one album
I feel that I'd want to listen to Iron Maiden and Killers to get the early DiAnno vibe, then listen to , Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave and Somewhere in Time , then shoot straight to Brave New World

[dave_mc]

one of the best ofs

[Kiichi]

It is a hard thing cause the Iron Maiden history is so complex. I stick with Live After Death first cause it is somewhat of an early best of plus the insane live quaility of Maiden. Then, as mentioned the Dickinson debut in Number for the beast. Yet I agree that you have to listen to the first two albums after those two. They do have a different singer, who is brilliant too (though Dickinson is just one of the greatest ever), but the early vibe and quality is all there. Running Free is simply brilliant, both in the original studio version and in the Live After Death version.

The thing to realise is that Maiden is not unlike Black Sabbath in terms of vocals. They may change, yes, and we all love Ozzy and Bruce, but DiAnno and Ronnie are never to be frowned upon either.

Oh and let me just throw in Van Canto doing a live version of their cover of Fear of the Dark. Live at Wacken (I was there) with 5 singers, 1 drummer, plus choir and guests (guitar player from Rage, the former Nightwish singer Tarja, singer from Grave Digger, etc) for this performance. Yeah, A capella metal. Bäm. Usually they also do A Capella guitar solos. They also are nothing but a bunch of phantastic blokes.

[Toe-Knee]

Any that don't have Bruce Dickinson on.

[juansolo]

I'm actually with Toe-Knee. I liked the Di'Anno stuff, lost interest when Dickinson came along.

Still I saw them live with Dickinson and they were awesome. So if I had to choose one of his albums it'd be Live After Death.

Oddly it's not a Dickinson hate thing either as I have most of Dickinson's solo albums.

[gwEm]

It would be too easy to say Live After Death.. but it is good for sure.

I find myself liking Iron Maiden more and more, not that I disliked them to begin with but I was certainly a late starter. I preferred Motorhead, Judas Priest, Sabbath and so on at the beginning.

I don't think they've written an album that didn't have a track or two of filler on it though, theres no perfect Maiden album.

* Iron Maiden - has a rough and ready feeling going on and fun well written songs. Certainly one of my favourites.
* Killers - there are a few good tracks, but in my opinion alot of filler too
* Number of The Beast - would be a good starting point, its mostly all excellent. it might eb the peak of the NWOBHM
* Piece of Mind - this is a good album for sure, it has kind of a power metal feeling. The first half until Still Life is all very good
* Powerslave - Like it alot, theres some staples here. But again, some lame tracks (Back in The Village etc). Its a must listen for Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Aces High, the title track etc
* Somewhere in Time - I didn't like this record for years, but I'm warming to it more and more. I tend to cherry pick my way through it.
* Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - all top quality stuff. Probably not right as an introduction to the band, but its really fine to listen to it end to end

Then I would say, except for the odd track (Holy Smoke, Fear of the Dark) its all pretty dire until

* Brave New World - a welcome return to form, really like this album
* Dance of Death - The second Maiden studio album I listened to. I really got into it and think its one of their best

A Matter of Life and Death/The Final Frontier are all very progressive. Its a different sound they've gone for. I find it a bit overblown/boring, but can imagine some prefer this sound. Again theres a few killer tracks in this period. I like El Dorado for example. Its a million times better than their 1990s stuff for sure..

[littleredguitars2]

after a friends constant prodding years ago, i finally gave iron maiden a real chance with Live After Death. great live album. all the earlier hits are there and the production of the cd is great. but if we're talking studio albums, my favorite will always be somewhere in time. it may not have that classic iron maiden vibe overall but the guitars are SOO GOOD