Classic Albums - Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast

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Iron Maiden's 1982 breakthrough, The Number of the Beast--its first with leather-lunged vocalist Bruce Dickinson--remains a heavy-metal watershed, and this Classic Albums program reunites the major players (including producer Martin Birch) for the undoubted pleasure of longtime Maiden fans. The interviews with band members and rock journalists in the 50-minute program touch on Maiden's early career, then delve into the creation of songs that have become hard-rock classics: the title song came about from a nightmare that bassist-songwriter Steve Harris couldn't shake, "The Prisoner" was inspired by the Patrick McGoohan television series, and the hit "Run to the Hills" made the sort of political statement (about white men's savage treatment of native peoples) that then-Capitol Records exec Don Zimmermann notes most American fans couldn't have cared less about while head-banging. --Kevin Filipski

Description

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST was Iron Maiden's greatest achievement, and, accordingly it brought them their greatest popularity and notoriety. Revered by metal fans for their focus on music and reviled by critics for their supposed "satanist" leanings, this record represents the seminal British metal band at their peak. Featuring a track-by-track examination of the record's original playlist led by album producer Martin Birch, as well as interviews with rock journalists that put accusations made against the band in perspective, this episode of the CLASSIC ALBUMS series offers an inside look at one of the best and most notorious metal albums of the 1980s.

Customer Reviews:

Good DVD.......2005-09-22

Good DVD, but mostly for die hard Maiden fans. Could be a VH1 Behind the Music type (without the drama) doc you see on cable, but since it isn't if you want to see it, buy this vid. I've watched it once and feel smarter for it...but haven't watched it over and over. TNOTB is one of my favs so I had to get it.

ATTENTION: MUSICIANS/ENGINEERS.......2005-01-06

About 90% of these reviews are misleading! I was looking for an insight to a classic album especially when I saw Martin Birch (a God!) was involved. But Birch only soloed a couple of tracks in one or two songs and did nothing else! It started off cool with Martin and Bruce talking about how Bruce had to do take after take of the opening to number of the beast but the insight stops there. The interviews are nice(thank-you for the subtitles!-friggin brits!) but it's really a video on Iron Maiden and how this album achieved such great success for the band. If you wanna see a producer AND the band explain an album, buy Judas Priest's classic dvd on British Steel-thanks to Tom Allom. Get the "History of Iron Maiden-Part 1" instead of this dvd!!

Misleading.......2004-01-08

This DVD is a documentary on the making of the album. It was highly disappointing to be teased with a few seconds of the music videos followed by endless boring commentary. There is very little concert footage from the 82 show, nearly all is from the most recent concert. If you are a die hard fan from the early 80's and are wanting to watch awesome concert footage, this is not the DVD for you!!!!!!! If you want to see the videos from this album, this is not the DVD you want!!!!!! If you enjoy endless commentary, I guess you'll love this DVD!!!!!! We are very, very disappointed with the sneaky way the description reads, it implies what we hoped to get but uses language that they can claim is accurate in a subtle way. What scumbags!!!!

A Great Insight into a Great Album.......2003-07-10

Being a huge Iron Maiden fan, I decided that since I didn't have enough money to purchase the ROCK IN RIO DVD, I would go ahead and buy the cheaper Maiden DVD which was a 50-minute documentary on the making of their all-time classic third album THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST. It was part of a music series called "Classic Albums" and I thought it would be cool to see how this heavy metal milestone came into place back in the early '80s. This is a very insightful DVD, filled with great interviews, never-before-seen concert footage, some cool bonus material, and a rich, detailed history to boot. I look at NUMBER OF THE BEAST now in a new light than ever before.

The program traces Maiden's beginnings in the late '70s up to their breakout success with BEAST in 1982. We see early concert footage in the clubs with original lead singer Paul Di'anno, decked out in leather-clad gear; how Maiden became one of the "leaders" of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (and how they detested it); Paul's exit from the band and Bruce's arrival after leaving his own band Samson; incredible commentary on the writing and recording process of the album; and the lasting impact the album has had.

As much as I loved the insight and detail, what really impressed me about the interviews was the humor. For example, during the segment for "The Prisoner," it cuts to the set of the "village" where the original Prisoner TV show was filmed, and there you see Bruce decked out in the same outfit Patrick McGoohan wore on the show. Other funny bits occur when the band and their manager Rod Smallwood discuss the backlash NUMBER OF THE BEAST received in America. Bruce says that one guy went so far as to carry a huge 25-foot cross (the same cross Jesus carried, you see) as a means of protest in front of the venue. Smallwood then talks about how people started burning copies of the album, and then decided to smash them instead with hammers because "the fumes of the Devil's music" would poison the atmosphere. Hilarious stuff.

The bonus materials are also very good. We see extra, equally detailed interviews that were cut out of the final program; two shots of Adrian Smith playing the riffs for "Children of the Damned" and "The Number of the Beast"; a poignant message from Clive Burr thanking the fans for their support with his struggle with MS; and the performance of "Hallowed Be Thy Name" from the Rock in Rio concert (that was the best).

Overall, this is a well-made, interesting, and humorous short little portrait into the world of Iron Maiden. This is a dedication to one of heavy metal's finest.

Very Cool Documentary.......2003-07-03

Amazing collection of interviews with the band members who recorded the "Beast" album. Including Clive Burr, who has been in the shadows for the last couple of decades.

Funny moments, very interesting insights on how the songs came up, and a lot of cool curiosities about the band and the Beast tour.

Description

The Number Of The Beast is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time, including classic metal anthems as "Run To The Hills", "Hallowed Be Thy Name", "The Prisoner", "Children Of The Damned" and of course, the demonic title track!

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