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Eddie's Archives

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Iron Maiden - Eddie's Archives (Columbia/Legacy) 2002

BBC Archives (Columbia) 2002

Best of the B'Sides (Columbia) 2002

Best Over Hammersmith (Columbia) 2002

For over 20 years, Maiden have been at the forefront of heavy metal and they are viewed by most metal historians to be one of the driving forces behind the genre since they stormed onto the scene in the late 70's with the NWOBHM invasion. Iron Maiden have achieved incredible global chart success, including multiple gold and platinum records, massive sell out tours across the globe and have been a hugely inspirational band to bands both old and new. This box set, released on November 4th, 2002, is a celebration of this long and successful career. "Eddie's Archives" is a Maiden fan's dream box set. Seventy-seven tracks spread out over six discs, each 2-CD set containing it's own extensive booklet. The set covers material from the bands entire career from the early years of the NWOBHM to the Dickinson years, to the Blaze years, right up to the present. The package is wrapped in a 270x190x60 mm limited edition metal Eddie embossed casket that also includes a crystal Eddie short glass and one of those cool family tree/timeline charts. The individually numbered Pete Frame family tree is printed on a parchment scroll and details the complete Iron Maiden history and is rolled in a specially designed metal Eddie ring! Very nice indeed.

Iron Maiden-Best of the B'Sides
"Best of the B'Sides" is the first disc I popped in, as I have always loved Maiden's b-sides and cover songs. This two disc set is pretty extensive featuring tracks all the way back to '80. The 24 page full color booklet includes liner notes about each song, written by Iron Maiden's manager and long time friend Rod Smallwood. This made for an interesting read even before I put the CD into the deck. The booklet also includes shots of all the different album covers from the various singles that the tracks were taken from. Lots of killer tracks included on this disc, many of which were released in the Castle 2-CD re-issues in 1995. However, it's nice to have all these rare tracks on one disc. Of particular interest to me are the many cover songs. Two Montrose tracks "I've Got the Fire" and "Space Station No. 5", Jethro Tull-"Cross Eyed Mary", Beckett-"A Rainbow's Gold", Nektar "King of Twilight", Marshall Fury-"Juanita", Stray-"All In Your Mind", Golden Earring "Kill Me Ce Soir", Free-"I'm A Mover," Led Zeppelin-"Communication Breakdown", Budgie- "I Can't See My Feelings", The Who-"My Generation" and UFO's "Doctor Doctor". On top of this there are some live rarities and studio outtakes. My only complaint is that Maiden's most awesome cover ever was left off; Thin Lizzy's "Massacre." Oh well, guess you can't have everything. "Cross Eyed Mary" is still among my favorite Iron Maiden covers of all time. The liner notes state that despite the fact that this song was never released as a single, it is one of the few song to gain radio airplay in the U.S. when it was released as the b-side to "The Trooper" in '83. Apparently, because of this, the record company executives tried to convince Steve Harris to release the song as a single. Steve refused on the grounds that the track did not really represent the band's sound.

Disc Two features several stellar b-side songs and about half a disc of Blaze Bailey material, including two tracks that were recorded for X-Factor but not included on that disc ("Justice of the Peace" & "Judgement Day"). As might be expected these are probably the weakest tracks on the disc. However, Blaze sound especially strong on the smokin' rendition of "Doctor Doctor". Also included are live versions of Blaze-era songs "Blood on the World's Hands", "The Aftermath" and "Futureal." The first two are both off the "X-Factor" and feature Blaze Bailey on vocals. I never have been much of a fan of the X-Factor material but I did enjoy these live tracks. "Futureal" recorded live, features Bruce Dickinson on vocals. This is actually one of the tracks I did like from the Blaze-era of the band. Bruce does a good job but amazingly sings the song very much like Blaze. As a matter of fact, on first listen I didn't even realize it was Bruce. The disc finishes off with a charged-up live version of "Wasted Years" with Bruce on vocals.

Iron Maiden-BBC Archives
'BBC ARCHIVES' includes music recorded between 1979 and 1988 for the BBC's Friday Rock Show. The 24-page full color booklet includes notes from the show's long time producer, Tony Wilson that details the various Maiden recordings as well as a bit of history about the NWOBHM movement of the early 80's. The first four tracks is probably some of the earliest Maiden recordings. At this point, of course, Maiden is fronted by Paul Di'Anno. These tracks, while listed as live are special Rock Show studio session from October 1979. Oddly enough, instead of including the 1980 Reading Festival right after these tracks, a 1982 "Beast of the Road" performance is included with Bruce Dickinson on vocals. This is actually a great performance by the band during a legendary time in the band's history. However, I just would have liked to have had all the Di'Anno material on one disc. Disc two starts off with the infamous 1980 Reading Festival where Iron Maiden appeared as special guests to UFO. The sound quality for these songs are actually quite good.

Disc two concludes with songs taken from the band's record breaking capacity show at The Monsters Of Rock Donington festival as part of their 1988 Seventh Son tour. According to the liner notes some 100,000 people were in attendance for this musically historical event and included Iron Maiden as headliners along with Kiss. David Lee Roth, Anthrax, Guns n Roses and Helloween. Quite the impressive bill. Also an impressive performance from Maiden that is capably captured on this disc. Would not have minded to hear this show in it's entirety.

Rod Smallwood, manager of the band since mid 1979, comments about these performances, "We've been talking for a while about issuing a special release for our fans and I think the live recordings are very important to the history of the band. In fact, other than the 'Maiden Japan' EP and a couple of live B' Sides, there were no live recordings released until 'Live After Death' in 1986. These recordings encompass the early days with Paul Di'Anno through to Bruce Dickinson's arrival. Maiden's career went on from one high to another - it really was a rollercoaster ride! I think they capture the essence of what the band was and still is all about: pure, raw energy, great musicianship and an in-your-face attitude...This is a great way to celebrate our history with the people who helped us make it."

Iron Maiden-Beast Over Hammersmith
Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were the epitome of heavy metal in '82 and the two touring together created a monster heavy metal event. I remember distinctly wanting to go to this show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, but being a bit to young to go on my own, could not convince my parents to let me go. Unfortunate. Maiden were touring on their "Best of the Road" tour and most certainly were at the top of their game. "Beast Over Hammersmith" is an awesome collection that preserves at least one concert from that era of the band. The sound quality is quite good as the historical show from the Hammersmith Odeon was specially mixed and co-produced for the casket by Steve Harris and the band's long serving sound engineer Doug Hall. The accompanying inlay booklet is a complete recreation of the 'Beast On The Road' tour program and lists all the world tour dates and includes notes from the band written at that time. What more can a long-time Maiden fan ask for? Perhaps Maiden have been guilty in the last few years of releasing to many live albums, but certainly none can compare to this era of the band when they were young, hungry and ready to conquer the world.

As with the awesome KISS box set, this was gift from my mom. Mom's rule!

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