The Iron Maiden Discography

Iron Maiden - The Soundhouse Tapes
Rock Hard Records
Released November 9. 1979

Track List:
1. Iron Maiden
2. Invasion
3. Prowler

On December 31, 1978 an unknown British metal band, Iron Maiden, pulled together enough money to record a demo. The had saved up 200 pounds for the recording session and booked time on New year's Eve because the studio (Spaceward Studios) cost less that night. They didn't even have an extra 50 pounds to purchase the master tapes! In fact, the original master tapes had been recorded over and re-used at the studio.

Pail Di'Anno, Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Dennis Wilcox on drums hit the studio and banged out the tracks in one night. They had played the songs live and knew them well, so it was just a matter of getting them on tape. The plan was to use the demo to help them get gigs. After the demo was mixed and ready to go, Steve and Paul headed to Neal Kay's Soundhouse and handed him the demo hoping he would like it and play it. Neal, a London DJ who is famous for his role in the rise of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, loved it and started playing it at his Soundhouse club. This started Iron Maiden's rise to the top.

EMI caught wind of Iron Maiden's rising popularity in the underground metal scene and decided to sign the band to a record deal. While the band was working on the deal, they decided to release the demo on their own label, Rock Hard Records, and do a limited pressing for the fans. The track Strange World was also recorded, but left off the EP because the band wasn't happy with how it turned out.

The EP is now only available on ebay for high prices. Beware if you want to buy a copy for your collection, as many of the "Soundhouse Tapes" on ebay are fakes. The EP was only pressed on black vinyl, so any colored vinyl pressing are fake.

"Prowler" and "Iron Maiden" sounds like the tracks we all know and love, but the production is a bit rougher than the debut album. Invasion is a track that isn't on any Iron Maiden studio album, but would be released as the B-side to the "Women In Uniform" single and eventually included on the "Best of the B-sides" album. The version on "Soundhouse Tapes" is played slower and and is about 30 seconds longer.

If you've never heard "The Soundhouse Tapes" it is available for all via the magic of YouTube:



I don't have a copy of it, but this has been on my want list for years. Unfortunately, it's a bit out of my price range. The EP is a very cool and highly sought after by Maiden fans worldwide.

Has anyone here actually seen a real copy of this?

I have never seen a real copy of it, simply because not that many were pressed.

Some of the tracks appear on the Iron Maiden comp 'Best of the Beast' and one time, they reprinted on CD as a give away for fans if they bought the reissues on CD, I never got the CD version which was also very limited and as jokerman points out very bootlegged

Dark Horseman wrote:

Has anyone here actually seen a real copy of this?

Yes, yes I have. I know someone that has 3 copies...... and I couldn't manage to get one out of his hands!!! LOL!!!!!

Dark Horseman wrote:

Has anyone here actually seen a real copy of this?

I have seen one....and I could of put it in my pocket. Could never do that to friend. Then, maybe to a non-friend. Now. the thought of rippin somebody off is out of the question.

It worked out for my advantage. That friend had a brother who works for Maiden and that came with some kewl perks back then (1982 to 1986) I miss my friend, but not cause of that.

It's very cool to hear the title track and "Prowler" in their earliest incarnations. I've never heard the soundhouse tapes, so this is really cool. I also hadn't ever heard the song "Invasion". I'm going to go back and listen to that tune a few more times. Thanks for including this type of rare stuff. By the way, "Prowler" is my all time favorite song while Di'Anno was in the band, and it might be my favorite Maiden song of all time. I absolutely love the riff!

Quote :

Dark Horseman wrote:

Has anyone here actually seen a real copy of this?

Yes, yes I have. I know someone that has 3 copies...... and I couldn't manage to get one out of his hands!!! LOL!!!!!

Why keep all three. I'd be selling two for a little moola.

Dark Horseman wrote:

Quote :

Dark Horseman wrote:

Has anyone here actually seen a real copy of this?

Yes, yes I have. I know someone that has 3 copies...... and I couldn't manage to get one out of his hands!!! LOL!!!!!

Why keep all three. I'd be selling two for a little moola.

They guy had 5 at one time...... he sold two to pay for some original Maiden artwork - he's a collector

A pretty standard demo outside of the fact that it is owed to the greatest heavy metal band of all time. Very cool to hear the raw, unrefined approach for a band that would later be known as brilliantly proficient. Only 5000 vinyl copies were printed, and an additional 666 CD copies. The best part of this demo is that it is one of two recordings (the other being the track "Burning Ambition") to feature drummer Doug Sampson.

There's a great story behind the recording as well. The band recorded it on New Year's Eve of 78 to ensure booking time. Recorded it all in one session, went back to get the master tapes, but the studio wanted more money which the band didn't have. It took them another week to pay the studio for the tapes, but when they went back again the masters were wiped!

Also, there's some speculation that Paul Cairns, a late Iron Maiden guitarist, also played on the demo but disagreements with Steve Harris led to him not being credited. Zero evidence exists to support that theory, but a little bit of mystery can be a good thing.

Andy wrote:

A pretty standard demo outside of the fact that it is owed to the greatest heavy metal band of all time. Very cool to hear the raw, unrefined approach for a band that would later be known as brilliantly proficient. Only 5000 vinyl copies were printed, and an additional 666 CD copies. The best part of this demo is that it is one of two recordings (the other being the track "Burning Ambition") to feature drummer Doug Sampson.

There's a great story behind the recording as well. The band recorded it on New Year's Eve of 78 to ensure booking time. Recorded it all in one session, went back to get the master tapes, but the studio wanted more money which the band didn't have. It took them another week to pay the studio for the tapes, but when they went back again the masters were wiped!

Also, there's some speculation that Paul Cairns, a late Iron Maiden guitarist, also played on the demo but disagreements with Steve Harris led to him not being credited. Zero evidence exists to support that theory, but a little bit of mystery can be a good thing.

The CD's are boots and not official. They are just vinyl rips of the EP. The band never officially released it on CD

thejokeriv wrote:

Andy wrote:

A pretty standard demo outside of the fact that it is owed to the greatest heavy metal band of all time. Very cool to hear the raw, unrefined approach for a band that would later be known as brilliantly proficient. Only 5000 vinyl copies were printed, and an additional 666 CD copies. The best part of this demo is that it is one of two recordings (the other being the track "Burning Ambition") to feature drummer Doug Sampson.

There's a great story behind the recording as well. The band recorded it on New Year's Eve of 78 to ensure booking time. Recorded it all in one session, went back to get the master tapes, but the studio wanted more money which the band didn't have. It took them another week to pay the studio for the tapes, but when they went back again the masters were wiped!

Also, there's some speculation that Paul Cairns, a late Iron Maiden guitarist, also played on the demo but disagreements with Steve Harris led to him not being credited. Zero evidence exists to support that theory, but a little bit of mystery can be a good thing.

The CD's are boots and not official. They are just vinyl rips of the EP. The band never officially released it on CD

Released here under Sanctuary Records. Limited printed, hard copies of the album exist and that makes them collector's items. There were 666 copies of this CD released, sold for $6.66 each through mail-order. They're nearly identical in value, whereas my pirated copy, a couple of lossy mp3's is worth nothing.

http://www.discogs.com/Iron-Maiden-THE-SOUNDHOUSE-TAPES/release/3246661

Andy wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Andy wrote:

A pretty standard demo outside of the fact that it is owed to the greatest heavy metal band of all time. Very cool to hear the raw, unrefined approach for a band that would later be known as brilliantly proficient. Only 5000 vinyl copies were printed, and an additional 666 CD copies. The best part of this demo is that it is one of two recordings (the other being the track "Burning Ambition") to feature drummer Doug Sampson.

There's a great story behind the recording as well. The band recorded it on New Year's Eve of 78 to ensure booking time. Recorded it all in one session, went back to get the master tapes, but the studio wanted more money which the band didn't have. It took them another week to pay the studio for the tapes, but when they went back again the masters were wiped!

Also, there's some speculation that Paul Cairns, a late Iron Maiden guitarist, also played on the demo but disagreements with Steve Harris led to him not being credited. Zero evidence exists to support that theory, but a little bit of mystery can be a good thing.

The CD's are boots and not official. They are just vinyl rips of the EP. The band never officially released it on CD

Released here under Sanctuary Records. Limited printed, hard copies of the album exist and that makes them collector's items. There were 666 copies of this CD released, sold for $6.66 each through mail-order. They're nearly identical in value, whereas my pirated copy, a couple of lossy mp3's is worth nothing.

http://www.discogs.com/Iron-Maiden-THE-SOUNDHOUSE-TAPES/release/3246661

That's not correct - those are bootlegs and were never released by Sanctuary.

In case anyone is wondering ?

My friend had the 7 inch EP and a dubbed copy on cassette. That is what I could of put in the pocket and not the vinyl.

Quote :

That's not correct - those are bootlegs and were never released by Sanctuary.

You sure 'bout that? I seem to remember the last time Sanctuary polished up & reissued the Maiden catalog some years back, they had some kinda special mail-order thingy goin' where if you bought all of the new reissues and sent in proof of purchase stickers from each one, they'd send you a CD of the "Soundhouse Tapes" for free. I never jumped on it tho.

Anyway... I downloaded MP3s of this EP years ago just out of curiosity cuz I know in my heart I will never own a copy of the real deal, couldn't tell ya the last time I listened to 'em tho.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

That's not correct - those are bootlegs and were never released by Sanctuary.

You sure 'bout that? I seem to remember the last time Sanctuary polished up & reissued the Maiden catalog some years back, they had some kinda special mail-order thingy goin' where if you bought all of the new reissues and sent in proof of purchase stickers from each one, they'd send you a CD of the "Soundhouse Tapes" for free. I never jumped on it tho.

Anyway... I downloaded MP3s of this EP years ago just out of curiosity cuz I know in my heart I will never own a copy of the real deal, couldn't tell ya the last time I listened to 'em tho.

Yep, some of the collectors I know joke about the "official" CD

Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden
Released April 14, 1980 (UK)
& April 17, 1980 (US)

Track List:

UK release:
1. Prowler
2. Remember Tomorrow
3. Running Free
4. Phantom Of The Opera
5. Transylvania
6. Strange World
7. Charlotte the Harlot
8. Iron Maiden

US Release:
1. Prowler
2. Remember Tomorrow
3. Running Free
4. Phantom Of The Opera
5. Transylvania
6. Strange World
7. Sanctuary
8. Charlotte the Harlot
9. Iron Maiden

Remastered Release:
1. Prowler
2. Sanctuary
3. Remember Tomorrow
4. Running Free
5. Phantom Of The Opera
6. Transylvania
7. Strange World
8. Charlotte the Harlot
9. Iron Maiden


In the late 70’s, Heavy Metal, as a genre had, begun to fade into obscurity. The early Metal bands (referred to as such by the press and fans) such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin (look at any magazine from the 70’s, they were called Heavy Metal), Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent were in decline in sales and popularity. Judas Priest and Scorpions had yet to break though. Punk Rock was on the rise. Disco had taken over and was had thought to not have just killed Heavy Metal, but decimated the entire Hard Rock scene in the process. New Wave music was on the rise. As history has shown us, most new music “fads” don’t last. Heavy Metal was thought to be a fad……….

But the thought that Heavy Metal was just a fad was about to be proved wrong. In England a new movement of all things loud was just getting started. A journalist dubbed it the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” and it included up and coming bands such as Def Leppard, Saxon, Raven, Diamond Head and Samson. 70’s Metal band Judas Priest jumped on the bandwagon to be part of the new movement. Motorhead were lumped in as well. A band from England called Iron Maiden released their first album, the self titled “Iron Maiden” and began to grow a rabid fan base that still exists to this day.

Iron Maiden signed a three album contract with label EMI (Harvest in the US) and hit the studio with producer Will Malone. After unsuccessfully trying to recruit Urchin guitarist and long time Dave Murray friend Adrian Smith to the band, they settled on Dennis Stratton on guitar and replaced drummer Doug Sampson with former Samson drummer Clive Burr (this would not be the last time Steve Harris recruited a member/former member of Samson to join Iron Maiden.)

The album needed art work. Iron Maiden had a mascot that they call Ed – because in the stage prop he was just a ‘Ed (British slang for Head) who became Eddie (AKA Ed T. Head.) When looking through art work, they came across a painting by a young Derek Riggs that perfect fit the mascot and the music. People would buy the album just based on the cover art alone.

The song themselves were very strong and represented the best of what Iron Maiden had been playing live. The production is a bit less than to be desired. The album sounds good, but not great. To this day, Steve Harris is still not happy with how the sound turned out.

Now, 32 years later, everyone knows these tracks and some still get played to this day. Iron Maiden, being the band’s theme songs, has been played at every show (with an appearance of Eddie of course!) Running Free is still in the set and has been the closer for the past two tours. Phantom of the Opera has made a return to set on the current tour and was last played on the 4th leg of the Somewhere Back in Time tour and previously played on the Early Days tour (which also included Prowler and Remember Tomorrow.)

The track Sanctuary was not released on the UK version of the album. It had instead appeared on the “Metal For Muthas” compilation album. It was included on the US release as the 3rd track on side two. It is now included on the remastered release (the only available version outside of ebay), but as the second song on the album. It was also released as the second Iron Maiden single (Running Free being the first)

Overall, the album still is an amazing release and goes down as one of the best debut albums ever. The songs still hold up well today. There are not many metal fans who don’t already have this one in their collection.

So much can be said about this album. It helped set a template for so many bands to come and though i'm a Bruce guy this is a great listen.

I was one of those dudes that bought this album due to the cover art. Man was it great growing up at that time. I "used" to always say how ironic it was that the original "Eddie" looked punk and that scene died sometime soon afterwards for the most part. This still gets lots of play. The only "thing" that can be said on the downside is the guitar interplayisn't as good as what happens next. Dave and Dennis wasn't that great of a tandem (IMHDO)

This was the third Iron Maiden album I got as a teenager. I bought "The Number Of The Beast" when it came out and followed that up with "Maiden Japan" and then got the debut and after that "Killers".

I probably appreciate this record even more now than I did at the time, 32 years later and it's still an incredibly good album and never gets old as far as I'm concerned.

The album is basically one long highlight. Favorite tracks include Running Free, Transylvania (awesome Maiden instrumental), Phantom Of The Opera, Sanctuary and the title track.

I think the production is fine on this album, the stripped down nature of the recording helps to reinforce the power inherent in the songs and the individual performances. As much as I love the later lineup, I gotta say that the rhythm tandem of Steve Harris & Clive Burr was magic.

I played this for a friend recently that had never heard the album and he said it sounded "timeless", I agree.

Love the debut album, a raw in your face, metal album and one of the best debuts of any rock band

Over the past year or so I've really grown to appreciate this album a lot more. There are so many classics here: "Prowler", "Phantom of the Opera", "Charlotte The Harlot", and of course, "Iron Maiden" are my favourites.

Iron Maiden were already local heroes by the time of the release of their self titled debut album. And thanks to Sounds, relentless gigging and the release of their legendary 'The Soundhouse Tapes' demo, they were quickly gaining popularity in the, at the time, underground metal movement. But when EMI signed the then 5 year old band, their popularity escalated all over the world, and they were hailed as leader in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement. Metal was finally on the rise again!

The now classic first album from England's finest, is indeed a good one. From the live-classics, such as "Iron Maiden", "Running Free" and "Sanctuary", to the almost progressive "Remember Tomorrow" and "Phantom Of The Opera", this debut effort sets the standards high for NWOBHM's #1 act. The combination of pure, twin guitar-laced heavy metal, the nod back to the genre's prog-giants and Paul Di'Anno's punk attitude all makes for an approach that would prove to be the future of metal as we knew it. It's easy to hear why this album became the kick start of an entire movement, even 30 years later! Iron Maiden always sounded tight, they had songwriting skills that surpassed all their contemporaries, and they had the look! With their cover art mascot, Eddie, they were sure to be favorites amongst rebellious teenage boys. They were the perfect band, and 'Iron Maiden' is a milestone in every definition of the word!

Killer tracks: Prowler, Sanctuary, Remember Tomorrow, Running Free, Phantom Of The Opera, Iron Maiden

The first Maiden record is the beginning and end of heavy metal. Nothing better came before it and nothing better will come after it.

The energy on that record is so raw and intense, there's just nothing like it. It is everything that metal was, is, and would become. The production is terrible, but it's a rare instance (for me) where the music is so strong that it just booms past it. My all-time favorite album. A classic of music, the metal genre, and NWOBHM.

Great debut, with Phantom of the Opera being the album highlight.

What to me is interesting about Iron Maiden's debut is that unlike say Saxon, Judas Priest, Rush and Deep Purple, from album one they had their sound and image established.