The Beast - Paul Di' Anno - GuitarTalk Community

The Beast - Paul Di' Anno

IceCreamMan

If lemmy an keef can be likened to naughty school boys, di anno would be a hardenend criminal.

di'anno was one of my hero's in the early maiden days. I believe he played a large part in getting maiden going on the journey to super stardom which they are today. His voice just perfectly suited the band (at the time) ...

This autobiography is littered (intentionally used) with accounts of drug usage, sex and the sordid life of one paul di'anno. While he achieved success post maiden he never quite achieved the same level on his own. Some of his stuff is awesome especially the later Killers albums. his account of being booted out/leaving maiden is honest an open ...he felt they were straying from waht he wanted to play as well. His antics off stage with drugs an booze made steve harris kick him out , paul is open an honest about that.

Book was released in 2002 as a hard cover and re released on soft cover in 2010 so in the interim much has changed in paul's life since the book was written. more misery and he has put on a lot of weight recently...compaing a pic of him to the maiden lot and the toll of drugs and booze has been taken...a whole couple of pounfs worth i hasten to add.

I found his autobiography to be very sad ,from beatin his band mates to bloody pulps to being imporisoned for beating one of this girl friends (he beat many ) . A man with the world at his feet , everything going for him and just totally pissing it away on drugs and booze. This is the harsh side of rock n roll. He is quite frank about this right at the beginning of the book...no holds barred. what i did like was the way he interacts with the reader , the book is well written however the content is extremely sad. a path of mayhem an destruction with no redeeming features.

Paul sold his rights to the maiden work he was involved with btw so he no longers cashes in on any of their sales etc...

I dont particularly recommend this book .... unless you like to read page after page of drug usage, sordid sex and generally dog show that is paul di'anno's life.

LooneyAtTheGate

Wow you make it sound so hectic, definitely want to check this out.
Maiden were like a different band with him, more like a punk band that was musical... The 1st 2 albums are in my top 4 Maiden albums for sure!

I've always known he left due to 'the stress of touring and alcohol problems' but i've never investigated the full details.

Where did you find/order this?

IceCreamMan

LooneyAtTheGate wrote: Wow you make it sound so hectic, definitely want to check this out.
Maiden were like a different band with him, more like a punk band that was musical... The 1st 2 albums are in my top 4 Maiden albums for sure!

I've always known he left due to 'the stress of touring and alcohol problems' but i've never investigated the full details.

Where did you find/order this?

i ordered it off kalahari.net

Di'anno was on quite a few maiden albums ..there were numerous EP's an a live album available in the early 80's as well as i recall.

BMU

@IceCreamMan: Good review. I had no idea Di'Anno was so troubled. I was just always glad he left early, his high pitched voice didn't do it for me. But then I first heard Piece of Mind-era Maiden.