Folder 289

UK

Labels numbered IRN 21 and IRN 22 with the EMI box, and IRN 2 on the sleeve: the only vinyl row on the master carrying those numbers is the UK 649307.

Catalogue: IRN 2, IRN 21, IRN 22
Label: EMI
Released: 1990
Confidence: Likely
Why this grade
UK EMI double pack, part II of The First Ten Years. The back sleeve carries IRN 2 over barcode 5 099920 372361, with a print block reading Illustrations: DEREK RIGGS / Packaging : THE COMPLETE WORKS / (P) 1980 except * (P) 1981 † (P) 1990 / The copyright in this sound recording is owned by EMI Records Ltd / (C) EMI Records Ltd; the front wears the black Limited Edition roundel naming IRN 2, all six tracks and the "FIRST TEN YEARS" COLLECTORS BOX VOUCHER. The two records' labels read IRN 21 / IRN 21A / IRN 21B (Women In Uniform disc) and IRN 22 / IRN 22A / IRN 22B (Twilight Zone disc), each with the EMI box and EMI Records Ltd copyright lines. Of the vinyl rows on the master only 649307 carries IRN 2, IRN 21, IRN 22; the European row 854264 is numbered 198 20 3723 6, 198-20 3724 6, 198-20 3725 6 and the European test pressing 13056915 20 3724 6, 20 3725 6, and neither number is printed anywhere on these labels. The barcode does encode 2037236, the European family number, but a barcode is shared across the pressings of one commercial release and settles nothing on its own. All four run-outs were photographed and read IRN 21A-2-1-1 / IRN 21-B-2-1-1 / IRN 22A-2-1-X23 / IRN 22B-2-1-1, each side with a stamped D. The three hand-scratched characters after IRN 22A-2-1- read as X23 with the middle character possibly an 8; side 1B has a small two-character stamp between the B- and -1-1, too small to read with confidence. The grade stops at Probable rather than Confirmed because no release JSON for 649307 is cached, so the photographed run-outs could not be compared with the matrix Discogs records for it; the catalogue number and country match one row, and nothing else was cross-checked. The owner's note agrees with the photographs on the barcode, the sleeve number and all four run-outs (its 2-1 xx 3 on side 2A is the scratched group read here as X23) and decided nothing the photographs did not already show. The version list is never complete, so an uncatalogued UK variant cannot be ruled out.
Reference: Discogs 649307
Median sale: DKK 276
Sale range: DKK 97-637
On sale now: 21, from DKK 213
Last sold: 16 October 2026

What the record says

Every line below was read off a native-resolution crop of the photograph named beside it.

IRN 21 A: IRN 21A-2-1-1 / D (stamped); IRN 21 B: IRN 21-B-2-1-1 / D (stamped), with a small unread two-character stamp after the B; IRN 22 A: IRN 22A-2-1-X23 / D (stamped), the last three characters hand-scratched; IRN 22 B: IRN 22B-2-1-1 / D (stamped)

Every line of small print, and the photograph it came from — 23 of them

Front sleeve: Women In Uniform artwork (Eddie between two women and a soldier under a streetlamp) with a mirrored IRON MAIDEN logo down the right edge, The First Ten Years roundel top left, and a black Limited Edition roundel bottom left

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Front roundel at native resolution: LIMITED EDITION / IRN 2 / WOMEN IN UNIFORM / WRATHCHILD / LISTEN WITH NICKO! PART II / TWILIGHT ZONE / INVASION / PHANTOM OF THE OPERA / CONTAINS "FIRST TEN YEARS" COLLECTORS BOX VOUCHER / DETAILS INSIDE / 33⅓ RPM; corner wear at the bottom left

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Back sleeve: Twilight Zone artwork (woman at a mirror with Eddie behind her) under the IRON MAIDEN logo, barcode and IRN 2 top right, EMI box bottom left, print block bottom right

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Back sleeve catalogue block at native resolution: IRN 2 in red above barcode 5 099920 372361; the sleeve edge is worn at the right

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Back sleeve print block at native resolution: Illustrations: DEREK RIGGS / Packaging : THE COMPLETE WORKS / (P) 1980 except * (P) 1981 † (P) 1990 / The copyright in this sound recording is owned by EMI Records Ltd / (C) EMI Records Ltd; no Made in line or printer code in the frame

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Back sleeve bottom left: EMI box; light surface scuffing over the dark artwork

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Record one, side A label: A WOMEN IN UNIFORM (G. Macainsh), Produced by TONY PLATT, 3.05, IRN 21 / IRN 21A, (P) 1980 THE COPYRIGHT IN THIS SOUND RECORDING IS OWNED BY EMI RECORDS LTD (C) 1990 EMI RECORDS LTD ZOMBA MUSIC PUBLISHERS LTD, EMI box, rim ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED COPYING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE AND BROADCASTING OF THIS DISC FORBIDDEN; part of the run-out IRN visible top right

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Record one, side A run-out: IRN 21A-2 stamped beneath the IRN 21 label text

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Record one, side A run-out continued: A-2-1-1 stamped beside the FORBIDDEN label rim

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Record one, side A run-out: a stamped D

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Record one, side B label: B 1 INVASION (Harris) Produced by TONY PLATT, 2 PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Harris) Produced by TONY PLATT Mixed by STEVE HARRIS and DOUG HALL, Total: 9.50, IRN 21 / IRN 21B, (P) 1980 and the same EMI Records Ltd copyright lines, EMI box

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Record one, side B run-out: IRN 21-B-2 stamped beneath the Eddie figure of the label

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Record one, side B run-out continued: B- then a small two-character stamp then -1-1, beneath the IRN 21B / INVASION label text

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Record one, side B run-out: a stamped D beneath the RECORDS LTD / PUBLISHERS LTD label lines

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Record two, side A label: A TWILIGHT ZONE (Murray/Harris), Produced by IRON MAIDEN, Engineered by NIGEL HEWITT, 2.33, IRN 22 / IRN 22A, (P) 1981 THE COPYRIGHT IN THIS SOUND RECORDING IS OWNED BY EMI RECORDS LTD (C) 1990 EMI RECORDS LTD ZOMBA MUSIC PUBLISHERS LTD, EMI box

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Record two, side A run-out continued: A-2-1- stamped, followed by three hand-scratched characters reading X23, beneath the EMI box and copyright lines

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Record two, side A run-out at native resolution: the hand-scratched group X23, the middle character a looped figure that could be 2 or 8

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Record two, side A run-out: a stamped D beneath the ...ASTING OF THIS DISC label rim

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Record two, side B label: B 1 WRATHCHILD (Harris) Produced & Engineered by MARTIN BIRCH, 2 LISTEN WITH NICKO! PART II, Total: 11.03, IRN 22 / IRN 22B, (P) 1981 EXCEPT SIDE TWO TRACK TWO (P) 1990 THE COPYRIGHT IN THIS SOUND RECORDING IS OWNED BY EMI RECORDS LTD (C) 1990 EMI RECORDS LTD ZOMBA MUSIC PUBLISHERS LTD, EMI box

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Record two, side B run-out: IRN 22B stamped beneath the B / WRATHCHILD label text

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Record two, side B run-out continued: 22B-2-1-1 stamped beneath the FORBIDDEN label rim

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Record two, side B run-out: a stamped D beneath the Eddie figure of the label

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The photographs

IMG_6534.jpg1 of 24READ FROM

The object, and what marks it out

Sleeve, labels and inserts

Double pack sleeve with Women In Uniform on the front and Twilight Zone on the back, The First Ten Years roundel and a black Limited Edition sticker-style roundel on the front. Corner and edge wear at the bottom left of the front and the right edge of the back, with light scuffing over the dark back artwork.
Two black vinyl 12" records, one per single, each with the grey Eddie-under-the-streetlamp labels, red Iron Maiden logo and orange EMI box.
No inner sleeves, voucher, inserts or extra stickers are visible in the photographs.

What distinguishes this pressing

Labels numbered IRN 21 and IRN 22 with the EMI box, and IRN 2 on the sleeve: the only vinyl row on the master carrying those numbers is the UK 649307.
No 198-20 3724 6 / 198-20 3725 6 number on either label, which is what the European row 854264 carries, and no 20 3724 6 / 20 3725 6 of the European test pressing 13056915. The barcode 5 099920 372361 encodes the European family number 2037236, but a barcode corroborates the commercial release and never the pressing.
Stamped run-outs IRN 21A-2-1-1 / IRN 21-B-2-1-1 / IRN 22A-2-1-X23 / IRN 22B-2-1-1, each with a stamped D, recorded here for comparison once 649307's matrix fields are to hand.

Six tracks, two sides, and the recording credits

Side A

A1Women In Uniform
B1Invasion
B2Phantom Of The Opera

Side B

C1Twilight Zone
D1Wrathchild
D2Listen With Nicko! Part II

Women In Uniform, Invasion and Phantom Of The Opera produced by Tony Platt; Phantom Of The Opera recorded live at the Marquee, London, on 4 July 1980 and mixed by Doug Hall and Steve Harris. Twilight Zone produced by Iron Maiden, engineered by Nigel Hewitt. Wrathchild produced and engineered by Martin Birch. Illustration by Derek Riggs; packaging design by The Complete Works. Published by Zomba Music Publishers Ltd. Pressed by EMI Swindon.

Credits are sourced from Discogs release 382790, the UK CD IRN 2, and apply to the recording rather than to this pressing; the UK double 12" is release 649307 (IRN 2). Where this copy's own packaging carries the producer, publisher or copyright lines, they are quoted in the evidence 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

One UK row fits and nothing contradicts it, but the run-out was never compared with what Discogs records for 649307 because that release's JSON is not cached. Fetching release 649307 and checking its Matrix / Runout fields against IRN 21A-2-1-1 and the other three sides is what would lift this from Probable to Confirmed. A sharper shot of the small stamp after IRN 21-B- would also pin down the one run-out character left unread. Standing caveat: the method cannot exclude a pressing absent from Discogs.