Good morning Rock Souls,

My name is Joe Rock, born Giorgio Ferina. For a few years now, I have been telling stories and curiosities about the world of rock. I have worked for some local FM radio stations in Turin and its province, including TOradio and Antenna1, and I have collaborated with many web radios, some of which I am still working with. To name a few: www.rbl.media, Sounditalia, Universal web radio, Radiofoxione, Jolly Roger Radio, and Radiolinea4. Many of my podcasts can be listened to on Spotify and  on Spreaker.

Iron Maiden clashed with many record labels, some of which even suggested they cut their hair and change their musical style to secure a contract. Needless to say, Steve Harris and his bandmates always refused to accept such compromises. They invested a lot of time and many of their savings until EMI Records finally offered them a recording contract. Perhaps the only punk element that remained was the haircut of their mascot Eddie, on the fantastic cover created by Derek Riggs.

The album opens with “Prowler,” followed by the beautiful “Remember Tomorrow,” a song that vocalist Paul Di’Anno dedicated to his father. I won’t list all the tracks here, as they are etched in the rock Olympus. However, there is one notable track: the instrumental “Transylvania.” Initially, it was supposed to have lyrics, but Steve Harris, in agreement with the rest of the band, decided that the track was already powerful in its instrumental form. Thus, “Transylvania” is still played today in its raw and unadulterated form, just as Papa Harris created it.

As I mentioned earlier, the band was not greatly supported by EMI Records during the album’s recording. In my opinion, the sound quality is not exceptional, possibly because a certain Will Malone was at the mixer console, and it seemed to me that he simply pressed the “Rec” button.

This is nothing compared to the band’s second work, which saw the arrival of Martin Birch, but we will talk about that in the next article…

Rock on! 🤘