Iron Maiden’s compilation albums

Ascendingthethrone

Ascendingthethrone

Ancient Mariner
This morning I grabbed my copy of Best of the Beast and put it on the CD player. Other than being a great intro to Maiden as a 8 year old back in the day, I still think the single disc copy holds up as a great introduction to the band.

I have other Maiden compilations in the collection and this got me thinking about your opinions on Maiden compilations. Have they ever managed to get one spot on in your opinion? Which ones missed the mark or failed to live up their intention?

Here is the complete list for you.

  • Best of the Beast
  • Ed Hunter
  • Edward the Great (2 versions)
  • The Essential Iron Maiden
  • Somewhere Back in Time
  • From Fear to Eternity
I have a soft spot for the last one on the list. The track listing is outstanding.
 
Compilation albums were cool for back in the day and it's always nice to see the band's opinion on the chosen songs. For a compilations, 3 of the covers are quite good.

  • Best Of The Beast - for a first attempt, the songs could have been more. Mostly singles, some big songs are missing (the Limited Edition CD did it the right way), but the inclusion of 1 new song was a great surprise. Iconic cover.
  • Ed Hunter - 20 fan favorite songs, it's really cool to have such a compilation.
  • Best Of The 'B' Sides - another nice idea.
  • Edward The Great - this one missed songs from the first 2 albums, not good. And it's basically all singles + Infinite Dreams. Not needed after the 1996 one. The 2005 version is probably better. At least the cover is cool.
  • The Essential Iron Maiden - 2 CDs from all eras, at least 2 per album, very nice. Some interesting chosen songs. And from DOD.
  • Somewhere Back In Time - somewhat unnecessary after the previous ones, but goes well with the next one. All 80's hits.
  • From Fear To Eternity - probably the best compilation, good and interesting cover and 2 eras combined. They could even split it into 3. With unique covers.

I wonder if Maiden would release one (as a fun from all albums) after they retire.
 
Iron Maiden and compilation albums take me right back to the late summer of 1996, an exciting time. Best of the Beast was on the way, and there were rumours that tracks recorded in Gothenburg in 1995 might make the cut (in the end, only Afraid to Shoot Strangers did). Then came Virus in late August or early September, with the absolutely awesome B-side Doctor Doctor, a track that would go on to be immortalized as Maiden’s intro music just a few years later. Maiden were wrapping up their X Factour at the time, and I remember hoping they'd play Virus, maybe even Doctor Doctor, to shine more light on the Blaze Bayley era. I've got a Best of the Beast A2 print hanging in my office, the artwork was amazing. After a few slow years of covers ranging from bad to worse (though I thought the Fear of the Dark live single looked great, and No Prayer for the Dying was okay), Best of the Beast artwork was a masterpiece, and to this day, still one of my favorites.
 
Best of the Beast would have been my choice if it had included Flight of Icarus (Bruxit is still butthurt by its omission). The 4LP boxset is a thing if beauty! That being said, the Ed Hunter one led to the reunion I had been wanting since 1994, so that one is special.

After that, it was just a case of cynically milking the collectors (oh, the laughable press releases offering fans to download the artwork!) whilst trying to have a compilation for newer fans. If I had to choose one, it would be Somewhere Back in Time based on the tracklist.
 
  • Best Of The Beast - The double CD and the Vinyl version have a great list of songs, the cover art is awesome and both the book version of the CD's and the vinyl boxset are among the most beautiful things Maiden had ever released. And a new track, even if it was "just" an average song, still cool
  • Ed Hunter - 20 songs chosen (?) by fans, quite a good compilation but coming just 3 years after Best of the Beast...with nothing special (yeah, there was a "game"...), the cover art was meh, booklet, I won't talk about it so nice introduction but the item itself was quite average
  • Edward The Great - a lame cover, no songs from the first two albums. I'll pass the two version of it
  • The Essential Iron Maiden - It covers all albums and quite a good selection. A cover, a simple photo and the booklet is quite thin but it's an ok compilation and a good introduction to Maiden
  • Somewhere Back In Time - 100% useless and all Di'Anno songs are the live versions with Dickinson...trying to "erase" Paul in this compilation??? Why?!?? Nice cover though
  • From Fear To Eternity - A a good representation of Maiden from the early 90s to 2011

If I had to choose, I'll take Best of the Beast along with From fear to eternity and I think we have quite a good idea of the first 15 Iron Maiden albums.
 
I'd probably choose From Fear to Eternity. I don't like best of albums in general. I like to listen to the 80s albums from start to finish.
 
BOTB is the only one I've ever owned so I'd pick that. It was also my first IM album. But I would say in retrospect that the 2CD edition isn't a great introduction. Imagine your first ever Maiden song is Virus. Well I don't have to and let me tell you, it was a struggle to really get into them until BQOBD started and then things began to improve.

Whereas the 1CD version opens with NOTB. Now that's how you introduce Maiden to a newbie.
 
Yeah, BOTB single disc is head and shoulders the best one. Great artwork and booklet too. The point of a compilation album is for someone new to dip their toe in the water and get an overview. If they like it they can buy the albums later.
 
I’ve got all the iron maiden compilation albums but a lot were bought just for the sake of completion for my collection.

There not really worth playing, especially now when you can just make up a playlist.

The best one for me is my 2disc CD of best of the beast. Mine is the digital book and still has the sticker in it advertising the new game Melt :bigsmile:

This one has some rare tracks and an overall good selection up till then. Plus it was released before I owned an IPod so it was a cool way of having a collection of songs throughout their career to that point. Plus it had Virus which is a great song.

Edhunter was bought for the game (what a pile of poo that was lol). Also there is no way I will ever believe that the track listing was voted for by the fans. Way too much Blaze stuff and way too many classics missing. I personally love the blaze albums and saw him live with the band in both album tours and thought he sounded great but I remember the moaning and hate that was doing the rounds during his time.

Best of the b sides is the only other one worth having for all the rare tracks.
 
Definetly Best of the beast, as it has a new song and a few rarities on limited versions, that is always a good thing when you are releasing a compilation. Plus for cool cover

Ed hunter have a game, it was cool back then, but otherwise standard compilation album.

The rest…if you are a new fan, good. Pretty useless for us hardcore fans. I still have them, but at least they were almost free:help2:
 
AncientMariner_Essex said:
There not really worth playing, especially now when you can just make up a playlist.
Click to expand...
Yep, I've got a Mega-Best of the Beast playlist on my iPod, which basically takes the 4LP tracklist and takes an educated guess on what would appear on it from the post-TXF set of albums based on how songs were chosen for it the original, not my own preference of songs.

...it clocks in at 5 hours and 23 minutes.

Glossing through this thread, now I'm thinking it might be fun to expand the tracklists to present day with the 2CD set and the 1CD set for briefer listens.
 
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