Iron Maiden - Edward The Great: The Greatest Hits (EMI)

With the successful return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith back into the fold of Iron Maiden, and the stunning release of 2000’s Brave New World, another greatest hits was bound to be on the cards. So, with the Edward The Great: The Greatest Hits, Iron Maiden re-introduce themselves to a whole new generation of metal fans with a run through sixteen of their best known singles.

The tracks start from the first appearance of Bruce Dickinson on vocals (Who took centre stage after the departure of Paul Di’Anno) with ‘Run To The Hills’ and ‘Number Of The Best’ (From the 1982 album of the same name). Two are lifted from the following years ‘Piece Of Mind’, but sadly, only ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’ from 1984’s ‘Powerslave’. Surprisingly they have neglected to include ‘Aces High’. The excellent ‘Wasted Time’ from 1986’s ‘Somewhere In Time’ is given an airing, while a colossal four numbers are lifted from 1989’s breakthrough album Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.

From here on in, the track listing pales, with the substandard ‘Holy Smoke’ and ‘Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter’ showing the cracks appearing within the Iron Maiden ranks around 1990 and their inferior No Prayer For The Dying album. With the introduction of Blaze Bayley, we’re given a song album from 1995’s ‘The X Factor’ and 1998’s ‘Virtual XI’. Although both of these tracks were the most successful singles from the albums (‘Man On The Edge’ and ‘Futureal’), there were better songs from the albums they appeared from.

The final tracks make up for the below par middle selections, with the return to form ‘The Wicker Man’ and the live rendition of ‘Fear Of The Dark’ from last years Rock In Rio.

For the hardcore Iron Maiden fan, there’s nothing remarkably new on this, and doesn’t really vary much from 1999’s Best Of The Beast. For the true collector, your money would be better spent on the recently released limited edition six CD box set Eddie’s Archive (Featuring the double B.B.C. Archives, Beast Over Hammersmith and Best Of The B’Sides). But that’s not who it’s aimed at. For those who have only just been introduced to the band in recent times, then this is a great starting point.

http://www.ironmaiden.co.uk/

By: Justin Donnelly