Niedziela 30 Lis 2008, 22:02

Iron Maiden / The Number of the Beast / The Number of the Beast (5) / Mar 1982

sablespecter's Album of the Year for 1982 (RDF: 87.5%)

Well, this is where it all started for me! That's in terms of concerts and my Maiden obsession. When I saw them open for Scorpions at my first concert it was a bit frightening and thrilling at the same time. I won't claim to have a photographic memory of it nor can I remember everything they played since I didn't even know who they were at that point, but I do remember being especially enthralled when they played today's selection. With that forboding intro and that line, "six-six-six! The one for you and me!" I couldn't wait to get ahold of this. And I've never looked back. I still have every copy of this album that I have purchased over the years, even including the totally worn-out, squeally cassette that never left my car for so many years.

The only track that I never got into all that much is the album opener, Invaders. They've only played that track live once ever, I believe, so it's not a broad fan favorite either.

Over all the years of buying CDs, I have only ever purchased two CD singles. Both of them by Maiden and one of them being the 2005 special edition of the single for today's track (the other to be revealed some other time!)

I highly recommend the NotB edition of the Classics Albums series for a very good look at the making of the album. Then follow it up with your own viewing of Damien: Omen II and see if you get a similar dream of your own!

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Rounding out the Top Five of 1982 (in order of descending RDF):

Judas Priest: Screaming for Vengeance (80% RDF): And with this began the constant question than ran in all the metal rags in the mid-80s that asked some sort of variation of, "Who rules metal? Maiden or Priest?" As if it was some sort of competition to "win." However, these two classics - which are probably the two albums that brought the two bands their most "mainstream" attention - are two different inflection points. For Maiden, their 1982 album was the one that started their upward trajectory to massive worldwide success, while for Priest it was downhill afterward. So while the two bands were somewhat contemporaries, Priest had achieved most of their best work before this point, while for Maiden it was just beginning. So if you think it was a competition to be won, it would depend on how you define the winner, I guess. If it was having a huge body of classic metal work, it would have been Priest. But as the 80s went on, it would have been Maiden if you define it in terms of massive worldwide fandom.

Asia: Asia (78% RDF): I see looking at the SotD archives that I have never chosen a song from this. I just don't listen to it as much as I did in past years, but still enjoy a full seven of nine tracks. This was the first album that I bought with my own money, during the spring of sixth grade, but it doesn't sound dated to me. Off the top of my head I wouldn't have thought it would make it into the Top 5 of 1982, but when I went back and reviewed the collection during the process of writing these up, that's indeed how it turned out. It has aged well!

Scorpions: Blackout (78% RDF): THIS was who and why I went to that concert in the late summer of 1982. The album had already gone gold by that point and was in heavy rotation in my own collection during that summer of 1982. Favorite song is not the title track of most-often-played "No One Like You" but the lesser played "You Give Me All I Need." One of my favorites in their entire catalog and a song I never skip.

Dire Straits: Love Over Gold (80% RDF): This one manages to sneak past some others on the strength of only four songs, but that's out of five and they actually account for 86% of the album length. It's kind of a short album but opens with my favorite Dire Straits track, and "Private Investigations" is an outstanding smoky, film-noir-on-vinyl!

Honorable Mentions (in not-entirely-correct alphabetical order by band/artist name):
Accept: Restless and Wild
Billy Squier: Emotions in Motion
Eddie Money: No Control
Fleetwood Mac: Mirage
John Cougar: American Fool
Krokus: One Vice at a Time
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Motörhead: Iron Fist
Night Ranger: Dawn Patrol
Robert Plant: Pictures at Eleven
Rush: Signals
Sammy Hagar: Three Lock Box
The Steve Miller Band: Abracadabra
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Long After Dark
Tygers of Pan Tang: Crazy Nights
Uriah Heep: Abominog
Whitesnake: Saints & Sinners

Is your favorite album from 1982 on this list? Are there any others you would add?

\m/ (ò_ó) \m/