Day 0513 - The Number of the Beast

Iron Maiden "The Number of the Beast" (1982)

As I said with the last Iron Maiden album on this list; I quite liked the band with singer Paul Di'Anno.  He offset their virtuosic music with his more limited, and at times punky vocals.  Here Dickinson earns his nickname 'the air raid siren' (originally given by a disgruntled fan who preferred Di'Anno), wailing operatically through much of the album. 

I'm sure that the band were happy to have a singer whose control of his instrument equalled their own, and this album has gone on to be one of the most successful in their canon, and I do enjoy it well enough, but it's just not my favourite.  "Run to the hills" though... pretty damned solid track!

Day 0469 - Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden "Iron Maiden" (1980)

I remember seeing the 'classic albums' show for Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" album, and they'd talked about the issues they'd had with their former singer Paul Di'Anno and what a step up Bruce Dickinson was.  From that, I'd assumed that the first guy must be absolute rubbish... but no.

Sure, on one or two songs he sounds like a bit more of a punk yowler than a metal howler, but he still manages some decent tremolo in places and some minor wails. I actually really like this album; it's almost as if having a slightly more limited singer over top of the virtuosic and showy music kind of reins it in and stops it getting too grandiose and up it's own arse!

The album does feature an instrumental track and several songs that take their sweet time getting to the vocals, which is maybe just how Maiden roll, or it could be a sign that they were already unhappy with Paul? Either way, as I say, this album works just fine for me. The bass work is incredible, which I guess is not surprising as the bassist started the damned band!