Maybe I am just a bit old-fashioned but I really love a good EP, it’s just the right length for me, usually pressed on 12″ vinyl so you get some (im)proper artwork and they are usually decent value for money.
Iron Maiden Maiden Japan may be my favourite rock EP of all. Five tracks long*, great punning title, great samurai Eddie art that I used to have on a sew-on patch on my jeans 32 years ago, it rocks like a spiky bastard and as Di’anno’s last stand, it marked a pivot point in the band’s history.
Not bad for a release the band never wanted to happen which was forced through by the Japanese arm of Toshiba-EMI.
Cards on the table time, Paul Di’anno is by far my favourite Maiden singer** I just love the guttersnipe grit and power he brought to the band. Steve Harris would rather saw his own head off with a butter knife than admit it but there is a definite punky energy here and Di’anno appears to have been the conduit for it.
Maiden Japan kicks down the front doors with ‘Running Free’ which sounds distinctly underpowered at first, there’s even a touch of ‘Tiger Feet’ in the intro but soon picks up once Di’Anno starts to growl along with the guitars. You can hear Adrian Smith and Dave Murray locking into the groove and each others’ playing. I like the version of ‘Remember Tomorrow’ here, more than the one on Iron Maiden, although I would struggle to clap along with it as Di’Anno asks the audience to.
That’s all okay but it is the other side of Maiden Japan that gives me my oats. I may have mentioned that I quite like ‘Wrathchild’ and this version has a particularly venomous attack, the guitars razor sharp, clocking in at a very punk metal 2:52 this is just perfect. The band clearly relish playing the title track of their new LP out, ‘Killers’ is brilliantly heavy, the band charging forwards at breakneck speed the guitars laying waste to all in their path. Iron Maiden actually sounded very dangerous back in ’81.
Last track up is ‘Innocent Exile’ which is a really interesting choice, nobody’s favourite Maiden track^ I am so pleased they put it on here rather than one of the tunes we still hear played out today. I like the way it veers from section to section, messily like an armoured prog rock rhino on a serious methamphetamine jag and I love the churning bass. It highlights two things for me, Di’anno’s limitations as a vocalist and that Steve Harris has long been yearning to unleash intricate prog tracks on an unsuspecting audience long before Benjamin Breeg reared his head.
I have really enjoyed playing Maiden Japan again, there’s a certain naïve adrenalin to it that I’m just a sucker for and it is a really great little artefact.
Plus the band get big kudos from me for being pretty much the one and only bunch of rockers to admitting to tidying it up a bit, ‘a couple of overdubs … but who gives a **** anyway’. Quite right too fellas, we don’t.
I love the story that Derek Riggs had to hastily redo the artwork for Maiden Japan because the original showed Eddie holding Di’anno’s severed head at a time when the band were looking to replace him. My metal uncle had a copy of the Venezeulan version of Maiden Japan that had the original artwork on it, because = obsessive genes run in the family.
Plus let’s hear it for the polythene shaped inner sleeves that you used to find on North American and Aussie import LPs, there was something very satisfying about the shape, although if you weren’t careful they’d crease up like all hell.
1097 Down.
PS: can I copyright the post title Midden Japan for when I review Senjutsu in the year 2045, if I don’t like it very much?
PPS: Because I love you:
*I invested in the Canadian version to get the extra track, ‘Wrathchild’ for Crom’s sake! That’s no extra, that’s my favourite maiden track!!
**although I totally understand why they binned him off, I suspect he’d have been a hard man to share space with and they would probably only have lasted another 4 months as a band with him at the mic.
^no it isn’t HMO, you’re just being contrary!
When there’s a feature of something I really like, I’m always curious as to how much my enjoyment was enhanced by that feature.
I’ve argued Stanley Tucci’s presence tends to enhance movies featuring him by 20%, I imagine a solid pun in the album title gives my enjoyment a similar % boost!
Very cool. And I am happy to see Maiden CanCon in your collection. Does your uncle still have that original?
No, sadly he had a burglary many years ago and they took all his records and his sound system. Poor guy, had stuff you simply would not believe – especially Maiden, he had everything – Soundhouse Tapes, signed stuff, signed Ozzy stuff, all sorts, Bastards!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
Canadian version!? That’s what I have!
Canada, the poor man’s Venezuela in this instance!
I would’ve liked to have seen the cover with Di’anno’s severed head in Eddie’s hand.
You need to go Venezeulan for that, possibly Brazil too – they shipped some there before it could be recalled.
booking my ticket now!!
No contrarianness-ism here! I’m quite happy to go along with the general consensus that ‘Weekend Warriors’ is the greatest Maiden tune.
Weekend warriors? pah, tourist! Women In Uniform is where they peaked, where popular music peaked tbh. It’s why I only listen to classical now.
So now you have two things in your house that are Canadian that being this EP and a bottle of Maple Syrup!
Ironically my copy of Maid In Japan (bought in Liverpool) is also Canadian, there’s a tiny maple leaf logo on the back.
There ya go.
Made in Japan, damnit, not Maid In Japan – although that’s a good title too.
Sounds good to me either way.
Di’Anno Maiden is indeed the best Maiden. I saw him live with his band Killers (they were great) and they played Maiden Japan in sequence
Did he still have much of a voice left? I still can’t believe he did a deal where he forfeited all his Maiden royalties for a lump sum back in ’82.
That deal must have stung so bad. It was the 90’s so he was still in pretty great form
Have you not reviewed the Deep Purple double and deployed (the frankly, brilliant) ‘Midden Japan’?
Not yet Bruce, it goes on a bit but I do like it. Feel free to steal it with my blessing though.
A kind offer that, if taken, would fool absolutely no-one. Everyone knows you are the unrivalled potentate of the pun.
I had your application to become a Canadian citizen in hand and almost approved when I read you bought a Canadian copy.
However you never mentioned the Nimbus 9 Toronto mixing.
I also assumed you were on strong hallucinogens when you said anyone other than Bruce your fave Maiden singer and commended those god forsaken wrinkled up old sleeves.
Maybe apply next year eh
LOL
Damnit. Yup, Di’anno over Bruce – despite the fact I recognise he’s by far their best singer, he’s not my favourite. I didn’t like him much after I read his autobiography, I would struggle to explain why; probably just jealousy!
Canada just removed the tariffs on bringing Lego and vinyl records into the country too
Sorry about that