What is this picture from?

Spewson

Spewson

Prowler
Hello there everyone.

I have been searching for the answer to this question for some time now and finally i have resorted to asking other maiden fans to see if they know.

So all you die hard fans out there... here is the question.

In the "Best of the Beast"(standard 2CD edition) album insert there is a picture. It is displayed as a small picture to accompany the other larger pictures around it. (Sorry i don't have a pic or scan. no access to it at work).

The picture comprises of Eddie chest deep in water with his hand raised and a key floating just above his palm. In the background is a castle and, i'm assuming as the pic is not clear, the image of death.

I personaly guessed that this was an unused picture for the song "Fear is the Key" on the "Fear of the Dark" album.

What do you guys think... Any ideas? Or does someone know for deffinate what it's from.

Or what would be really special is if someone can post the pic on here.

Thanks for reading. And thanks in advance for any help.

Alex
 
I just checked my 1-CD BOTB, and saw no picture matching that description. So we need someone with the 2-CD version. Which the OP said, but I figured I'd look anyway. ;)
 
This drawing does not exist on the 2 cd set of Best Of The Beast. Scan and show it here for us, 'cos by the description, it sounds like a great drawing.
 
With the description given the closest thing I could come up with was this drawing from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
kO879.jpg
 
I have the 2-CD version and so I looked - and I can't find anything that matches that description.

To say it's in the "insert" suggests that a 2-CD version was released without the hardback book with all the info (lyrics, etc.), which is what I have, and this is the version you refer to and it has a normal CD booklet. Am I right?
 
It is on page 5 of the 2 CD Best of the Beast booklet. The page displays the lyrics for Afraid to Shoot Strangers and Be Quick or be Dead. The reproduction is tiny, and I actually overlooked it the first time I checked.

I did an extensive search on the web, and found it nowhere.

By the very little you can see in the booklet, I can tell that it's a Derek Riggs artwork (it's not on his site). You can't see the signature, but his trademark grim reaper is easily visible to the right of Eddie. So maybe you'd be able to find it in his book, which I don't have. I tried to check the enhanced portions of the '98 reissue CDs, but by computer won't read them anymore, so that's another possible location to find better reproductions.


EDIT: I took a photo and uploaded it (don't have a scanner, sorry). This is the best I could do without it getting too blurry - yes, it is that tiny.

ed.jpg
 
Maybe he is the keeper of the seventh key  :smartarse:

Anyway, thanks for that Pic, Per.  That is a pretty cool artwork; I've never seen it before.
 
There are (two?) different versions containing 2 disks. I have the "book-version" (the one with the huge booklet) and I can't find the drawing either. Yet. It might be on a different page, if it's there.

I noticed another Eddie I've never seen before. It looked like one of the CIPWM/TETMD/The Clairvoyant Eddies (or at least from the SSOASS-era), but more simple. Also very tiny, I don't have a scanner. Perhaps there are more of those "small Eddies", I could take another look, later.
 
Forostar said:
I noticed another Eddie I've never seen before. It looked like one of the CIPWM/TETMD/The Clairvoyant Eddies (or at least from the SSOASS-era), but more simple. Also very tiny, I don't have a scanner. Perhaps there are more of those "small Eddies", I could take another look, later.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that one pops up on a very few websites (in contrary to the one I posted). According to the (scarce) information I got, it was some artwork that was done for the X Factor album but was never used. I assume you're talking about this one:

heads.jpg



Looks like something inspired by Lord of the Flies (maybe an early draft for the single cover?), perhaps by this iconic shot:

lotf319.jpg


It also looks a bit like the later Virus cover:

ironmaiden_virus.jpg



All this, and the fact that it appears only in a few versions of Best of the Beast makes the artwork originally talked about a lot more mysterious, actually.
 
That's the one mate. I thought it was from the 1988 era because of its style and colour but you're probably right, it might be a (with all respect) leftover from TXF, surely when you look at that stick.
 
My version is the book styled booklet. So, the 'Fear Is The Key' drawing is on the other 2 cd edition. Even though it's a tiny picture, the drawing looks really great. This one with Eddie's head on the stake and the other heads on the background, is really amazing and would have made a great artwork for Lord Of The Flies (notice that there are some flies circling over Eddie's head).
 
Thats the one... thank god someone else has seen it now! How cool is the picture... really need to get a decent size copy of it.

I'm off to Sonisphere this year near London and i'm trying to acquire lots of unique IM shirts.

This one on a tshirt would be magnifique!

Anyone else who finds a big copy let us know.

EZ  :nuts:
 
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