Folder 116
Europe
Europe, printed in Holland. The same Dutch-printed EMI pan-European pressing as folder 108: boxed GEMA beside STEMRA, and the same punctuated run-out.
What the record says
Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.
Run-out photographed, both sides, across a dozen frames. Side one reads 2402001-A-02, side two 2402001-B-01 - hyphenated, no 064- prefix, a two-digit suffix, the shape 24943942 is recorded under and the near-twin European entries are not. STERLING is etched on the run-out in regular block capitals. A hand-scratched message reads THERE'S ONLY ONE Um., legible across three frames though mirrored in some of them. A second hand-scratched message is present on the other side but is not confidently resolved in any frame - it is consistent in position and style with the THATS Fuck um. string Discogs records for this release, but is quoted here only as unread rather than assumed from that record.
Barcode and Other Identifiers: Matrix / Runout
As Discogs records them for release 24943942. Green: in my collection (0 of 2). Red: missing.
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Side A) | 2402001-A-02 THERES ONLY ONE Um. STERLING 1 |
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (Side B) | 2402001-B-01 THATS FUCK Um. STERLING 1 |
Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 15 of them
Front cover: standard Powerslave sphinx artwork, gold-embossed title panel
IMG_2297, IMG_2298
Rear cover, foot, in blue lettering: Marketed, manufactured and distributed by EMI Records Ltd. · Printed in Holland by EMI Services Benelux B.V., Uden.
IMG_2301
Rear cover: PLAYING TIME: 51.20, © 1984 Iron Maiden (Holdings) Ltd., boxed LC 0542
IMG_2301
Rear cover catalogue block: 1C 064 / 1C 264 against 24 0200, with barcode 5 099924 020015
IMG_2298, IMG_2300
Inner sleeve: band photographed at a tomb doorway, and beside a giant carved mummy's foot
IMG_2303, IMG_2304
Inner sleeve, lyric face, printed catalogue number 2402001
IMG_2305
Label, side one: 1C 064-24 0200 1A with EJ 24 0200 1a beneath it
IMG_2306, IMG_2307
Label, side one: boxed GEMA beside STEMRA, 33⅓ R.P.M. Stereo, THIS SIDE / OTHER SIDE tracklists with writer credits and timings
IMG_2317, IMG_2320
Label rim: ALLE URHEBER- UND LEISTUNGSSCHUTZRECHTE VORBEHALTEN … MADE IN EEC
IMG_2317, IMG_2318, IMG_2321
Label, side two: the eye-in-sand artwork, no printing on it
IMG_2308
Run-out, side one, etched: 2402001-A-02
IMG_2315
Run-out, side two, etched: 2402001-B-01
IMG_2309, IMG_2310
Run-out: STERLING
IMG_2321
Run-out, etched: THERE'S ONLY ONE Um.
IMG_2317, IMG_2318, IMG_2319
Run-out, second hand-scratched message, position and style consistent with the far side's - not resolved to a confident reading
IMG_2313, IMG_2314
The photographs
IMG_2297.jpg1 of 25READ FROM
The object, and what marks it out
Sleeve, labels and inserts
- Outer sleeve - single, standard artwork, gold foil embossing at the top edge, corner and edge wear.
- Inner sleeve - printed both sides: lyrics and credits on one face, the tomb-doorway and mummy's-foot band photographs on the other.
- Labels - the international sand design, blue print on the sand ground: side one carries the text and both tracklists, side two the eye-in-sand image and nothing else.
- Vinyl - black.
What distinguishes this pressing
Printed in Holland by EMI Services Benelux B.V., Uden., in blue lettering - the mark that separates this from the two German-printed European entries sharing the same catalogue number, whose equivalent line is in white.- Boxed
GEMAwithSTEMRAon the side-one label, rather than theBIEM/GEMAstamped on a black rectangle a fourth European entry is defined by. - The
1Cprefix and full1C 064-24 0200 1A/EJ 24 0200 1alabel print - separates this from the three candidates whose labels print the bare064-24 0200-1, the Irish pressing among them. - The punctuation of the run-out numbers,
2402001-A-02/2402001-B-01- hyphenated, no064-prefix, a two-digit suffix - against the near-twin Holland-printed entry's recorded064-2402001 A/064-2402001 B2shape. STERLINGetched in the run-out, absent from the White Label promo candidate's recorded matrices.- Folder 108 is a first copy of this same release. The two are recorded as separate copies rather than differentiated, because nothing legible in either set of photographs distinguishes them beyond the ordinary wear of two individual pressings.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits
Side A
- A1Aces High
- A22 Minutes To Midnight
- A3Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)
- A4Flash Of The Blade
- A5The Duellists
Side B
- B1Back In The Village
- B2Powerslave
- B3Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Bruce Dickinson - vocals · Dave Murray - lead and rhythm guitar · Adrian Smith - lead and rhythm guitar · Steve Harris - bass · Nicko McBrain - drums.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Martin Birch, assisted by Bruce Buchhalter and Frank Gibson. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound. Recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau; mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York. Sleeve illustration by Derek Riggs; sleeve and design concept by Derek Riggs, Iron Maiden and Rod Smallwood. Photography by Moshe Brakha. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.
Personnel and studio credits are sourced from Discogs release 1846534, the UK original, and apply to the recording rather than to this pressing. The producer, publisher and copyright lines are independently corroborated by this copy's own label, quoted above.
Condition, from the photographs
A photograph cannot grade a record - this is a description of what is visible, not a grade.
- Sleeve: general handling wear with some edge and corner softening; no splits or seam separation visible in these shots.
- Vinyl: light surface marks and handling sheen catch the light. No visible deep scratches, warping or edge damage in these photographs. The labels are clean and unmarked.
Nothing on this page comes from playing the record. No Goldmine grade is claimed for it, or any other. I have no record of where this copy came from.
What is settled, and what is not
Confirmed. 1C 064-24 0200 1, the barcode 5099924020015, the boxed GEMA/STEMRA, and a run-out punctuated 2402001-A-02 / 2402001-B-01 place this in the same EMI pan-European family folder 108 was confirmed against. That dossier's elimination table already tests all eight vinyl entries sharing this catalogue number, seven filed under Europe and one under Ireland, and rules out seven of them on exactly these marks - the German-printed sleeve text, the black-rectangle rights society, the bare 064- catalogue prefix, the missing STERLING, or the differently-punctuated run-out. This copy's own photographs carry every one of the marks that survive that table: Dutch blue lettering, boxed GEMA/STEMRA, the full 1C-prefixed label print, and the hyphenated two-digit run-out form.
Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs. The version list is incomplete by construction, so a single surviving candidate is a best match, not a proof of uniqueness.
Open, and unchanged from folder 108's own open point: the Irish pressing (7038915) records the identical run-out punctuation and the identical barcode, and is ruled out on the label's catalogue-number form and on Discogs' physical tells for that pressing - vinyl translucent against strong light, double-dipped labels - neither of which was tested by holding this copy up to a light. The second hand-scratched run-out message is also unresolved here, the same as it was legible but only partially quoted on folder 108.