Iron Maiden - The Essential Iron Maiden
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Iron MaidenEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2005-07-12
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Paschendale
- Rainmaker
- The Wicker Man
- Brave New World
- Futureal
- The Clansman
- Sign Of The Cross
- Man On The Edge
- Be Quick Or Be Dead
- Fear Of The Dark
- Holy Smoke
- Bring Your Daughter..To The Slaughter
- The Clairvoyant
- The Evil That Men Do
- Wasted Years
- Heaven Can Wait
- 2 Minutes To Midnight
- Aces High
- Flight Of Icarus
- The Trooper
- The Number Of The Beast
- Run To The Hills
- Wrathchild
- Killers
- Phantom Of The Opera
- Running Free (Live)
- Iron Maiden (Live)
Free Music Notes for The Essential Iron Maiden
Free Music Review: More like The ASSential Iron Maiden
Hit: 2 Stars
OK, let's get one thing straight right off the bat: NOTHING Iron Maiden have recorded since '7th Son of the 7th Son' deserves to be called 'essential' in any way, shape or form so the title of this comp (which is pretty pointless to begin with given how many of these things already exist....) is highly misleading.
The worst offenders here are the 4 Blaze era cuts (Futureal, The Clansman, Sign of the Cross, Man on the Edge) which are beyond dreadful in every way possible. Nails on a chalkboard! I guess, we'll never know what kind of glue Steve Harris was sniffing when he picked this atonal wannabe over the scores of great vocalists that also applied for the then vacant job. And 'Arry's songwriting was just as bad as his singer during those dark years.
Aside from the Blaze stinkers there's plenty of weak Bruce-era stuff on tap as well. 'Dance of Death' must be referring to the band preparing for their own funeral, one of the weakest Maiden albums ever. 'Brave New World' was actually a decent if spotty comeback album; the Adrian Smith-penned 'The Wickerman' is a good rocker that harkens back to the days when Maiden got to the point in 3 or 4 minutes instead of putting people in a coma with pseudo progressive drivel. On the other band, 'Be Quick Or Be Dead', 'Fear of the Dark', and 'Holy Smoke' are all subpar and lifeless (where is 'Tailgunner'?), and Nicko's stiff drumming totally kills 'Bring Your Daughter.... To the Slaughter' (shades of Samson!) which Bruce recorded a far superior version of on his own (and landed a hit with - which is why Harris wanted to it on this album. But that's another story.....). Closer 'The Clairvoyant' isn't exactly a barnburner either.
Bottom line: Disc 1 is certified GARBAGE almost without exception.
So we've had gone through the bad and the ugly - what is the good? - All the very early stuff, of course. Steve Harris has stated that he doesn't like the first Maiden sonically but the sense of urgency the lads played with back then has never been matched. I'm burned out on 'Running Free' but it's still a great song, and 'Phantom of the Opera' is a masterpiece. Sadly, the band's best album, 'Killers' gets short shrift here (I'd have added at least 2 more tracks, especially the epic 'Prodigal Son') and the Bruce tracks take up most of the space on Disc 2. And they're all top shelf Maiden with the exception of 'Heaven Can Wait' (gimme 'Where Eagles Dare' or 'Can I Play with Matches' instead). God, Maiden really were amazing band once upon a time but they crashed hard and ran out of good ideas about 20 years ago as Disc 1 is ample proof of.
Bottom line #2: This should be a single not a double CD as Disc 1 is clearly anything but essential. I wouldn't even recommend this comp to a Maiden newbie - just get the first 4 albums instead and be AMAZED at the true brilliance that WAS Iron Maiden (and then get the next 3 studio album and 'Life After Death' - that's all you'll ever need).
I'm giving this release 2 stars - 5 stars for Disc 2 and minus 3 stars for Disc 1 and the fact that this is simply another poor catch-in attempt by the band's label to bilk die-hard fans and collectors.
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