EMI/UMe
2011
Iron Maiden are no strangers to best of albums that's for sure. This time around we get material from "No prayer for the dying", "Fear of the dark", "Brave new world", "Dance of death", "A matter of life and death" and "The Final Frontier". The songs from the Blaze Bayley are live versions and we get Bruce singing them. This album goes along with the band's current set list as they are featuring more recent material while on tour. The 1980's was without a doubt Maiden's best decade. The
1990's however saw the band losing their grip and their writing began to crumble badly. Fortunately we get some of the better tracks from that time included here such as "Tailgunner" and "Afraid to shoot strangers". Unfortunately they also included "Bring your daughter to the slaughter" which had so many Maiden fans scratching their heads as to why they recorded it. The Blaze Bayley era saw even more problems with the sound and it wasn't all due to Bayley although I don't think he was the right choice for the band. The writing became even more mellow. Although the live versions included here with Bruce on vocals help the songs to sound a bit stronger. By 2000 Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith had returned to the fold for "Brave new world". Some of the better songs from it including the title track and "Blood Brothers" are included here. So is the "Wicker Man", but it's not one of my favorites. "Brave new world" was a huge improvement over their four albums from the previous decade, but still it lacked the spirit from Maiden's prime. However better days were in store and 2003's "Dance of death" finally saw this band hitting their stride again. The songs were a little longer, but the spirit was there and the old sound was being combined with some new ideas and resulting in some brilliant songs. On this collection we get some strong entries form this album including the title track, "Rainmaker", "No more lies" and "Paschendale". Not only did Maiden keep up the quality, but they became even more impressive with 2006's "A matter of life and death" which is easily one of the best albums of this band's long career. Here we are treated to "Different World", "These Colours Don't Run", "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" and "For the Greater good of God". All of these songs are standouts on this album. Fans had to wait four long years before getting another Iron Maiden studio album, but at last "The Final Frontier" came out in 2010. Not quite as impressive as the previous two releases, but impressive none the less. Less than a year old, but "Coming home", "El Dorado" and "When The Wild Wind Blows" represent "The Final Frontier" on this new collection. I doubt we needed another Maiden collection and as I said earlier the 90's were a low point for the band. Still they choose mostly decent selections from those albums and "Brave New World". However it's the tracks from the last three albums that have me thinking it's been too long since I have heard the whole albums and need to pull them out and give them a spin. Also if you have been living under a rock and have not heard any of Iron Maiden's material in the last 21 years then it is a good sampler.
I dunno, I liked "Bring your daughter to the slaughter," but then again I grew up with The Best of The Beast, so that was my main attention of Maiden songs.
ReplyDeleteGreatest Hits are rough to judge because what makes a song a hit? When you have a decades-spanning release like Best of The Beast, usually it's just limited to singled and the occasional rarity.
With the more modern style of this version, they have the freedom to choose some other tracks. But it's all subjective, with my favorites not being yours. So it's again hard to compile an accurate list.
Also, how can you claim which songs off of their most recent years (+- 5 years) are truly 'Greatest Hits'? Too early to really tell (as far as the remembrance of the songs, not the single value which has already been written).
Just my thought on Hit's albums, which is why I stay away from them as a whole.