My All Time Fave Albums Pt. 6

A band like Iron Maiden is just so good, and so legendary it's hard to pick one album.  My Blog is more about the albums that mean the most to me, rather than maybe a bands most identifiable works.  My fave Maiden disc is 1983's Piece Of Mind.

I had really discovered Maiden the year before when I had seen Run To The Hills and The Number Of The Beast on The New Music (remember?). I purchased a copy of Killers (still a fave) around that time and that became my intro to the mighty Maiden.  A friend of mine had The Number Of The Beast, and I loved the vocals, just a little more metal, and less punk.

When I did get my copy of Piece Of Mind, it became an album I couldn't stop listening to.  It was heavy, and melodic.  The guitar solos were fantastic. Oh yeah, and the imagery...still just a brilliant cover.  Much the same as many of the albums from my formative years, I have a ton of memories of locking myself in my room and REALLY listening to them.  When you're a kid, you couldn't really afford alot of music, so when you did get something new, you listened to it to death, and really absorbed it.

At this point in my life (junior high), Maiden became my fave band (along with KISS, Rush and Judas Priest).  Hell, they're still my fave bands LOL

Side 1 of  Piece Of Mind  has always been where it's at for me.  Kicking off with Where Eagles Dare, and leading into my all time track Revelations, it's a perfect example of how Maiden had really created something special.  The melodic Flight Of Icarus and heavy Die With You Boots On complete the first side in classic Maiden fashion.  Just Brilliant.  Side 2 opens with what would become a signature tune for them, The Trooper.  Still Life from Side 2 is a bit of a deep track, and another one of my faves from Maiden.  Quest For Fire, Sun and Steel and the epic To Tame A Land close out the album.  Not a bad track to be found.

Maiden had been through our neck of the woods on the previous tour, and showed up again in September of 1983 on the World Piece Tour.  I unfortunately missed this, and actually didn't get to see Maiden live until 1987.  Hey, when you live 2 hours from a major city ,and you're 13 years old, it's kinda tough.  I also remember Def Lep started to break with Pyromania around the same time, and a few friends liked that better.  That was (is) a great record, but it's no Piece Of Mind.

Iron Maiden has so many great albums to pick from over their career, but this was the one that really hit home for me.  At this point I've seen them live 4 times, and they always prove that they are one of the greatest bands in rock history.  The fact they still sell out arenas in North America, and stadiums all throughout the rest of the world proves that.  And for a kid who liquid embroidered their logo on my gym shirt in 1983, that is cool with me. Up The Irons!