Folder 17
Italy
64 on the cover, 54 on the label - the split Discogs records for 703403 alone, with the generic white inner it names. The label carries an S.I.A.E. ink stamp.
What the record says
Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.
No run-out groove photograph exists in this folder.
Barcode and Other Identifiers: Matrix / Runout
As Discogs records them for release 703403. Green: in my collection (0 of 2). Red: missing.
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (SIDE-A) | 7902581 - A - 12-10-89 II IRON MAIDEN |
| ✗ | Matrix / Runout (SIDE-B) | 7902581 - B - 12-10-89 II IRON MAIDEN |
Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 9 of them
Rear cover, beside the barcode: 64 and a boxed 79 0258 1
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Rear cover barcode: 0 77779 02581 7
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Label: STEREO · 54 7902581 · A
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Inner sleeve: plain unprinted paper, corner-cut - no printing on either side
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Label: S.I.A.E. in a box, with a circular red-brown ink stamp applied above it, its ring reading SOCIETÀ ITALIANA …AUTORI …EDITORI · ROMA
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Label rim: MADE IN ITALY BY EMI ITALIANA SPA
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Label rim, Italian: RISERVATI TUTTI I DIRITTI DEL PRODUTTORE FONOGRAFICO E DEL PROPRIETARIO DELL'OPERA REGISTRATA. SALVO AUTORIZZAZIONI, SONO VIETATE LA DUPLICAZIONE, LA LOCAZIONE E L'UTILIZZAZIONE DI QUESTO DISCO PER PUBBLICA ESECUZIONE E RADIODIFFUSIONE
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Label: 1. MOONCHILD (Smith/Dickinson) 2. INFINITE DREAMS (Harris) 3. CAN I PLAY WITH MADNESS (Smith/Dickinson/Harris) 4. THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (Smith/Dickinson/Harris)
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Label: Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Martin Birch and - printed with a typographical error - All titles published by Zomba Music Pulbishers Ltd.
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The photographs
IMG_0675.jpg1 of 5READ FROM
The object, and what marks it out
Sleeve, labels and inserts
- Outer sleeve - single, standard artwork, carrying
64beside the barcode where the label carries54. That mismatch is not an error; it is what identifies the pressing. - Inner sleeve - plain unprinted paper with cut corners, the record inside it. Discogs calls this release's inner generic white, and it is.
- Labels - plain paper with black text and a red
EMIbox logo at the foot. No globe artwork. Discogs calls it a cream label; in these photographs it reads as a flat yellow. Both candidates are described the same way, so the colour separates this from folder 14's 1988 globe label and from nothing else. - S.I.A.E. stamp - a circular ink stamp physically applied over the label, in addition to the printed
S.I.A.E.box. Its ring readsSOCIETÀ ITALIANA …AUTORI …EDITORIandROMA- the Italian authors' and publishers' society. The inner disc of the stamp is struck too faintly to read.
What distinguishes this pressing
64on the cover against54on the label. Discogs lists both catalogue numbers against release 703403 and only54against the other candidate, whose note says 54 on cover and label. The disagreement between the two halves of this copy is the identifier.- A cream label, not the globe design - the clearest difference from folder 14, the 1988 Italian issue.
54 7902581, where folder 14 carries64 7902581.- A printing error on the label:
Zomba Music **Pulbishers** Ltd., with the letters transposed. It is printed, not damage - but whether every copy of this setting carries it is not established: Discogs records the misprint against neither candidate. Treat it as a feature of this copy that is worth checking against others, not as a proven identifier. - An S.I.A.E. duty stamp applied to the label, an Italian requirement, and not present on folder 14.
- Italian-language rim text, where folder 14's rim is in English.
Eight tracks, two sides, and the recording credits
Side A
- A1Moonchild
- A2Infinite Dreams
- A3Can I Play With Madness
- A4The Evil That Men Do
Side B
- B1Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
- B2The Prophecy
- B3The Clairvoyant
- B4Only The Good Die Young
Bruce Dickinson - vocals · Dave Murray - lead and rhythm guitar · Adrian Smith - lead and rhythm guitar, synth · Steve Harris - bass, string synth · Nicko McBrain - drums.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Martin Birch. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York. Recorded at Musicland Studios, Munich. Sleeve illustration, concept and design by Derek Riggs (with Rod Smallwood). Inner-sleeve photograph by Ross Halfin. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.
Personnel and studio credits are sourced from Discogs release 576952, 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; one corner - top right of the rear, IMG_0676 - is rubbed through to bare board. 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.
- Labels: clean and unmarked apart from the S.I.A.E. rights stamp struck across side A. When it was applied is not visible; Discogs records only
SIAEas the rights society for this release, not this particular strike.
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. Italy, a cream-label reissue and 54 7902581 on the label were never in doubt. What was in doubt was which of two entries carrying that label code this is, and Discogs separates them on two things - the code printed on the cover, and the inner sleeve. Both are now photographed, and both say the same thing.
How the other candidates were ruled out
| Tell | 703403 | 29216335 | This copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Code on cover | 64 | 54 | 64 - IMG_0676 |
| Code on label | 54 | 54 | 54 - IMG_0678 |
| Inner sleeve | generic white | full printed inner | plain unprinted paper - IMG_0677 |
The cover reading is not an inference from a family resemblance: 64 is printed beside the barcode in its own hand, next to a boxed 79 0258 1, and Discogs lists both 54 7902581 and 64 7902581 as catalogue numbers of 703403 - the only entry in this master that carries the pair. The other candidate's note says plainly that its cover reads 54.
A note on the year, and it is now a downgrade. This entry used to read 1989. It no longer does. Discogs dates 29216335 to 1989 but carries no release date at all for 703403 - which is the release this copy turns out to be, so the one source that gave a year was the candidate now eliminated. What remains is the 12-10-89 inside the run-out string Discogs records, 7902581 - A - 12-10-89 II IRON MAIDEN. Discogs stores that only as a Matrix / Runout value and attaches no meaning to it; reading those six digits as a date, and that date as the year of manufacture, is interpretation and not a field. It is also not observed here - this folder has no run-out photograph. So the header says undated. The record is a reissue of a 1988 album carrying a run-out string that reads like late 1989, and that is as far as the evidence goes.
What the stamp is. A circular ink stamp struck across the top of side A's label, above the printed S.I.A.E. box. At native resolution its outer ring reads SOCIETÀ ITALIANA …AUTORI …EDITORI with ROMA at the left: the Italian authors' and publishers' society, whose levy Italian records had to carry. It is a rights mark, not a pressing or plant mark, and it identifies nothing about which of the two candidates this is - folder 14, a different Italian pressing entirely, is simply a copy that never received one. The stamp's inner disc is struck too faintly to read, so what it names is not recorded here.
A run-out photograph would not have helped: Discogs records the same etching, 7902581 - A - 12-10-89 II IRON MAIDEN, for both candidates.
Standing caveat: this method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs.