Picked up "Iron Maiden: The Early Years" this weekend. Great, great stuff, especially if you're a fan of old Maiden. 2 disc DVD of old Maiden videos. Retails for about 15-17 bucks at your local big box electronics store.

Disc 1 contains their 1981 "Live at the Rainbow" concert video, plus a World Piece show from Dortmund (83) and their Beast on the Road show at Hammersmith Odeon (82). There's even handheld footage of a complete Ruskin Arms show from 1980 (one of the few live recordings of "Charlotte the Harlot"). Each concert shows the band with a different spin.

But the really good stuff is on disc 2-- all their early videos, along with some Top of the Pops performances, which include "Running Free" and "Women in Uniform" (in both, the band insisted on playing them live, as they were apparently the first band in about 10 years to do so on Top of the Pops).

There's a 90 minute documentary of the band's history, from 1975 to 1983, with interviews from early members. Guys like Dave Sullivan, Doug Sampson and even the original Maiden roadie. We Dumb Yanks haven't really been treated to the early pre-1980 Maiden. For instance, I never knew that they had an early vocalist who did a sword swallowing/blood spitting act. A bloody mouth was even seen as a symbol on some early Maiden concert fliers. But the constant lineup changes and explanations can be mind-numbing after awhile. The explanation is usually; "I had seen 'dem playin' and I got th' call 'dat dey' we're looking for some-un...so I went in and got da' gig". Steve Harris also mentions that he was never happy with the final production of the debut album (which would explain the drastic difference of the guitar sounds between "Iron Maiden" and "Killers")

Bruce Dickinson's induction into the band is entertaining. Management didn't care for the white, billowy, bedsheet-lloking shirts that he wore while in Samson. One of the first things they told him was "go get yourself a fuckin' leather jacket!". Bruce also narrates an entertaining segment about his famous "foot on the monitor" posturing. Harris would often bounce around the stage and bump into him, so Bruce would arrange for the monitors to be up front, so he could establish his own space and prevent collisions.

The real gem is a 20 minute documentary from the British TV show "20th Century Box". Has the cheesy intro and everything. In it, Steve Harris and Paul Di'Anno give an interview in a comic shop... they're standing in front of a giant rack full of Avengers and Captain America comics! (ES Mark Out Moment) Awesome.

There's also an interview with a "professional" air guitarist. He makes his own custom cardboard guitars. I can't do this justice...

This set came out in late 2004, and I can't find any news about possible follow-up sets. The next set would obviously feature their famous "Live After Death" set in (SCREAM FOR ME) Long Beach. Possibly all the way up to "Seventh Son of Seventh Son". If ensuing releases are anything like this first, they'll be a must have. I'd even sit through a collection of 1990's Maiden and Blaze Bayley, if it had this type of production.