Piece of Mind (2015

Not as highly acclaimed as many other of Maiden's 'first 7' but, as other reviewers here have agreed, Piece of Mind is probably their finest hour. A lot have a soft spot for Powerslave and others champion THE classic Number of the Beast, but I believe that it is here where Maiden truly gelled.Opener, Where Eagles Dare, is a classic gallop through war history, very cleanly composed and mindfully executed. At first it sounds very dirgey but it is powerchord heavy (another reason why this album sounds so much more metal)and takes you on a journey that is as organic as the closer on their previous Number of the Beast.Revelations is one of the highlights. Beautiful lyrics and masterstrokes of writing come together to form a cohesion of dark and light that surpasses even Hallowed be thy name.Flight of Icarus is Maiden bread and butter, the sort of track they can just DO. It's mythical, riffy with a chorus that makes you want to fly and rocks like a .... well it rocks.Die With Your Boots On is another in the same vein as Where Eagles... and is contagiously listenable.Well. The Trooper. If you haven't heard it I won't spoil it.Still Life is a personal favourite of mine. Perfect without being a classic - although it kind of really is!Quest for Fire and Sun & Steel are the 2 'mmmm' tracks. Neither are as boring as Gangland and both are actually reasonable songs with great choruses. On any post Seventh Son albums they would be considered more highly.To Tame A Land - Dune in music form. Quite proggy in places but this is Maiden cementing what they began with Phantom of the Opera and perfected with Hallowed... It's not perfect but the windswept intro is a sublime mixture of western meets sci-fi that erupts into one of the most hair-raising riffs ever! It just doesn't really know where to go after that. Still, it's awesome.Best Maiden album, in my humble.

great product and great delivery... thanks to all

I am guilty of an appalling oversight here - Piece of Mind is now safely embedded into my top 5 ever Iron maiden albums - I recently decided to fill in the few gaps in my Maiden voyage (been a fan since around 1989 when I was 10 and have a taste for it again since BOSOULS is so great) and this along with Powerslave were my two shames - I may have briefly come across them whilst lapping up the wonderful Beast, Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time.....etc..........but these I missed and oh how I feel the shame right now.......especially with this album.Revelations is such a suitable name because that track alone is a revelation - at its heart it contains everything i love about this band, the operatic metal, the spine tingling arrangements, the acoustic sections which counterpoint the strumming layered guitars.......WOw!Do not make the mistake of ignoring this album........Speaking objectively (since Ive only been listening to these two albums for the last week) Piece of Mind is the masterpiece of the two - Powerslave is good - but has to sit on the edge of my top five because I think the others contain more iconic moments and overall contain more focussed musical genius.....so without further ado here is my re-corrected (after 30 years of being fan) MAIDEN TOP ALBUMS EVER that you should check out if you are a newbie.....1 The Number of The Beast (THE ALBUM)2 The Book Of Souls (almost THE ALBUM - but BEAST has the history)3 Piece Of Mind (a REVELATION - contains my new fave tracks ever)4 Seventh Son of the Seventh Son (one of the strongest full of classics)5 Somewhere in Time (full of catchy choruses - some of the best lyrics of all the albums)6 Fear Of The Dark (The last of the iconic records from their first peak years - now is their new peak era of course.....)7 Powerslave (love R of the A Mariner but for me I cant see how it tops the above musically as an album- not the biggest Aces high fan either- though it is quality)

This has got to be the best album Maiden released at the time; okay, there are no songs to rival `Run To The Hills' or `Hallowed Be Thy Name' from the previous work, but this has the highest concentration of decent songs yet.There is really only one dud `Quest For Fire', which is still okay, but every time I hear it I think of Spinal Tap's `Stonehenge' since both songs deal with a pre-historic subject. I just can't fault the rest of the album at all.As with the others in this remastered series, the disc comes with CD ROM content. Two very grainy videos of `Flight Of Icarus' and `The Trooper', tour dates, information on the album, pictures, art work, family tree, and samples from other albums in the series. All of this is a nice addition to the album, but the stuff that is not specific to the work has already been included on the others so is a waste of time seeing it.The disc comes, as usual, in a standard CD case with a booklet containing lyrics and pictures.All in all, a fantastic buy.Highlights: `Flight Of Icarus', `Die With Your Boots On', `The Trooper'.Track Listings1. Where Eagles Dare 06:10 ****2. Revelations 06:48 ****3. Flight Of Icarus 03:51 *****4. Die With Your Boots On 05:28 *****5. The Trooper 04:11 *****6. Still Life 04:53 ****7. Quest For Fire 03:41 ***8. Sun And Steel 03:26 ****9. To Tame A Land 07:25 ****Total Time: 45:53