Artist: Iron Maiden
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2002
Rating: 1.5/5
Why do we need a compilation that’s as good as identical to “Best Of The Beast” from a good six years ago? Iron Maiden are really pulling our leg. I wouldn’t say a word if they’d put out, say, five studio albums in that time, but they’ve managed a grand total of two.
From here on I can talk nothing but nonsense. Like, for instance, that Paul DiAnno won’t see a red cent from “Edward The Great”. You can forget about any “hits” from the first two Iron Maiden albums right now. It all kicks off with “hits” taken from “Number Of The Beast”. I can’t wrestle free of my own cynicism, but this wildly original creation, totaling sixteen songs, is just so touching. Especially when it comes to further comparisons with “Best Of The Beast”. The live version of “Fear Of The Dark” is taken from “Rock In Rio” this time around. It makes my heart ache, such a brilliant switcheroo. And what else is there that you can’t find on “Best Of The Beast”? “Flight Of Icarus”, “Infinite Dreams” and, of course, the “post The X Factor” novelties “Futureal” and “The Wicker Man”. So if we do the math and conclude that the songs are basically the same on both compilations, with only the running order shuffled around again (those were real Tantalus torments), and that the absence of “hits” from the first two albums is made up for with “hits” from the last two (and here we can once again stick in that unfortunate equals sign), the only consolation left is that the difference between the two compilations is just the cover art.
The idea that Iron Maiden might slip some new single in among their “old tunes”, like the angry “Virus” on “Best Of The Beast”, is a pipe dream. So “Best Of The Beast” stays king. Iron Maiden are playing the card of a pretty cover and a hefty booklet inside the CD, and banking on people’s “guilty conscience”, the feeling that this compilation absolutely belongs among the rarities of “Eddie’s Archive”.
Lineup
Bruce Dickinson – vocals (tracks 1 – 12 and 15, 16)
Blaze Bailey – vocals (tracks 13 and 14)
Steve Hariss – bass guitar
Dave Murray – guitar
Adrian Smith – guitar (tracks 1 – 10, 15 and 16)
Janick Gers – guitar (tracks 11 – 16)
Clive Burr – drums (tracks 1 and 2)
Nicko McBrain – drums (tracks 3 – 16)
Production
Various
Track List
1. Run To The Hills
2. The Number Of The Beast
3. Flight Of Icarus
4. The Trooper
5. 2 Minutes To Midnight
6. Wasted Years ’99
7. Can I Play With Madness
8. The Evil That Men Do
9. The Clairvoyant
10. Infinite Dreams
11. Holy Smoke
12. Bring Your Daughter…To The Slaughter
13. Man On The Edge
14. Futureal
15. The Wicker Man
16. Fear Of The Dark (Live)
