IRON MAIDEN - Soundhouse Tapes And Rare Early Tracks 1978-1981 - SPA Top Gear Remastered Edition - LISTEN - VERY RARE

Sensational! A CD limited to 500 copies containing rare or hard-to-find, single or compilation recordings by the band made in 1978-1981 with the first vocalist. I am from the old school, which values Paul Di'Anno more than (otherwise excellent) Bruce Dickinson, and the first two albums will never be beaten by the later titles... Above all, the greatest value lies in the tracks from the legendary EP 'The Soundhouse Tapes' - released privately in 1979 by the band on its own label Rock Hard in a run of 5000 copies and today in perfect condition worth up to 2000 euros. The only official CD version (a replica of the vinyl in a ginger cardboard sleeve - as on the cover of this CD) appeared in 2002 in a run of 666 copies and was available only to those lucky people who sent in coupons from the purchase of all the CD reissues together with an additional sum... 6.66 dollars. I have seen the CD with three tracks sold on eBay for 500-600 dollars, so it is probably worth risking buying this CD! In addition, plenty of superb, live and studio recordings from singles, EPs and compilations that have been hard to find on CD for years have been included, among them the entire maxi 'Maiden Japan' (in its five-track version), the very rare demo version of 'Running Free' (known from the German EMI single of 1980) and 'Strange World', from the same session as TST. The booklet includes, among other things, a copy of the back of the EP (with the original cut-out at the top) and reproductions of the full sleeves of the early singles! The sound is sensational - even slightly better than on the old editions! An absolute must! (JL)