Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast 12" LP VINYL

- Iron Maiden’s "Beast" (1982): the radio hit that hijacked my ride home

Album Front cover Photo of Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast 12" LP VINYL https://vinyl-records.nl/

French 12" LP front cover of Iron Maiden’s "The Number of the Beast" (March 1982). Eddie grins like trouble and the sleeve screams early-80s menace—exactly the kind of cover that made parents nervous and record buyers curious. Same iconic artwork vibe as the UK release, but this French pressing has its own collector pull: familiar, yet just different enough to feel like you hunted it down.

Iron Maiden – "The Number of the Beast" (French 12" LP): drop the needle and the room gets taller. March 1982, third studio album, and Bruce Dickinson arrives like a siren with teeth; it’s also Clive Burr’s last studio ride with the band. This wasn’t “a landmark” in brochure-speak—it was their first No. 1 on the UK albums chart, and it shoved them properly onto the world stage. The singles did the damage: "Run to the Hills" hit the UK Top 10 (peak No. 7) and the title track followed (peak No. 18). The US backlash over lyrics and artwork was loud, but mostly just free advertising—metal has always loved a good moral panic.

The Number of the Beast - Album Description:

The first time "The Number of the Beast" really grabbed me wasn’t in some sacred “history of metal” moment—it was on an ordinary drive home, every day, with Betonuur blaring on Dutch radio. One afternoon it hit harder than usual. I should’ve gone home. Instead I took the next turn and aimed straight at the record shop, because that’s what this album does when it’s working: it hijacks your routine. March 1982, third studio album, and Bruce Dickinson steps in like he’s kicking the door off the hinges. It’s also the last studio album with Clive Burr—who’d been in the band since 1979, not some “new guy” debuting here.

The stats are real, but I prefer them as background noise: the album hit No. 1 on the UK albums chart, and in the US it went gold in 1983 before eventually turning platinum in 1986. The “controversy” angle—lyrics, artwork, America clutching pearls—was loud, but it never felt like the point. The point was that Eddie on the sleeve looked like trouble, and the grooves sounded like it.

As for this French 12" LP: it’s the same beast, just stamped through the French manufacturing pipeline—Pathé Marconi EMI pressings, Offset France printing, that satisfying “made-for-shelves” feel collectors obsess over when they’re pretending they’re not obsessing. I’ve heard cleaner, and I’ve heard dirtier, but I’ve rarely heard an album that makes a sensible person miss their own driveway on purpose.

References

Music Genre:

NWOBHM - New Wave Of British Heavy Metal 

Album Production Information:

The album: "IRON MAIDEN - The Number of the Beast (FRANCE)" was produced by:Martin "Farmer" Birch, Zomba Music Producers

Record Label & Catalognr:

EMI 2C 070-07608

Media Format:

12" LP Vinyl Stereo Gramophone Record
Total Album (Cover+Record) weight: 230 gram  

Year & Country:

1982 Made in France
Personnel/Band Members and Musicians on: IRON MAIDEN - The Number of the Beast (FRANCE)
    IRON MAIDEN Band: members/musicians
  • Bruce Dickinson
  • Bruce Dickinson – Singer

    Samson forged the roar; Iron Maiden turned it into a global alarm system.

    Bruce Dickinson, Bruce Dickinson is the rare frontman who can sound like a human air-raid siren and still tell a story. Before the arenas, I track him in Samson (1979–1981) , where the voice sharpened into steel. He joined Iron Maiden in 1981 and powered their classic run through 1993, then returned in 1999 and has stayed ever since. Between the big chapters he kept moving: a solo career from 1990 onward, plus the short, sharp Skunkworks detour in 1996. On stage he’s theatrical without slipping into pantomime—commanding, precise, and oddly disciplined for heavy metal. Timeline: Samson ’79–’81; Maiden ’81–’93 and ’99–now; solo from ’90; Skunkworks ’96. And yeah, never boring.

  • Dave Murray
  • Dave Murray – Guitar

    Maiden’s calm killer: smooth leads, twin-guitar harmony for days, and that melodic bite that makes the “gallop” feel cinematic instead of chaotic.

    Dave Murray (born 23 December 1956, Edmonton, Middlesex, England) is one of the defining lead guitar voices of heavy metal, and in my book he’s the melodic “second spine” of Iron Maiden. His timeline with the band starts early: joining in 1976, getting briefly pushed out in 1977, then returning in 1978 and staying locked in ever since—making him one of the longest-serving members in the whole Maiden saga. During that 1977 gap he spent around six months with Urchin (Adrian Smith’s band), which is a fun little historical glitch in the matrix if you like your Maiden lore messy and human. Beyond the main band, his most notable “outside the mothership” credit is the all-star charity metal project Hear ’n Aid (1985), because apparently even guitar lifers sometimes leave the bunker to do side quests. Dave Murray Wiki

  • Adrian Smith
  • Adrian Smith – Guitarist, Songwriter

    The melodic blade behind Maiden’s heaviest hooks.

    Adrian Smith, Adrian Smith, he writes riffs the way old street poets throw punches: clean, sharp, and memorable. Before the Maiden machine, I hear him in Urchin (1973–1980), already mixing melody with bite. He joined Iron Maiden in November 1980, helped define their twin-guitar gold through 1990, then stepped away as the band’s direction shifted. In the wilderness years he tried A.S.A.P (1989–1990) and led Psycho Motel (1993–1999), plus a stint in Bruce Dickinson’s solo band (1997–1999). Since his return to Iron Maiden in 1999 he’s stayed a key songwriter, while still stretching out with projects like Smith/Kotzen (2020–present). He’s the guy who makes speed feel singable, not just fast for fast’s sake.

  • Steve Harris
  • Steve Harris – Bass Guitar, Songwriter

    Iron Maiden’s engine room: galloping bass lines, history-nerd lyrics, and “captain of the ship” energy baked into every riff.

    Steve Harris (born 12 March 1956, Leytonstone, England) is the rare bassist who doesn’t just hold the floor—he draws the whole blueprint. In my book, he’s the founder and primary songwriter who’s kept Iron Maiden on its rails from 1975–present, with that instantly recognizable “gallop” driving huge chunks of the catalogue. The pre-Maiden grind matters too: first band days in Influence/Gypsy’s Kiss (1973–1974, including a documented gig run in 1974), then the older, blues-leaning Smiler period (1974–1975) where his more ambitious writing basically forced the next step: forming Maiden. Outside the mothership, he’s fronted his own hard-rock outlet British Lion (2012–present), a project that grew out of connections going back to the early 1990s and finally hit the world as his solo debut in 2012.

  • Clive Burr
  • Clive Burr – Drums

    The early Maiden groove machine: big feel, sharp fills, and that “Beast-era” punch that still rattles the walls.

    Clive Burr (8 March 1957 – 12 March 2013) is one of those drummers who didn’t just keep time—he gave a band its early backbone. I mainly hear him as Iron Maiden’s rocket fuel from 1979–1982, laying down that urgent, swinging drive on their first run of classic records and helping make the whole NWOBHM thing feel dangerous instead of polite. Before that, he did the London grind with Samson (1977–1978). After Maiden, the timeline gets gloriously nomadic: Trust (1983–1984), a blink-and-you-miss-it week with Alcatrazz (1983), his own Clive Burr’s Escape (1983–1984) evolving into Stratus (1984–1985), the supergroup cameo in Gogmagog (1985), Desperado (1988–1990), and later work with Praying Mantis (1995–1996). His later years were brutally shaped by multiple sclerosis, but the playing legacy stays loud, human, and unmistakably his own— Clive Burr Wiki

Complete Track-listing of the album "IRON MAIDEN - The Number of the Beast (FRANCE)"
    Side One:
  1. Invaders
  2. Children of the Damned
  3. The Prisoner
  4. 22 Acacia Avenue
    Side Two:
  1. The Number of the Beast
  2. Run to the Hills
  3. Gangland
  4. Hallowed be thy name

IRON MAIDEN - Vinyl Records Discography Home Page