|
IRON
MAIDEN - Edward The Great
While those who can afford it will settle for little less than Eddie's
Archive comprising 3 double discs in a metal casket with accessories
like a shot glass and ring, the rest of us will have to be satisfied with
the 16 tracker Greatest Hits collection, Edward The Great. Now,
if you know nothing about this British metal band, you should at least
know that the aforementioned Eddie is the creepy band mascot found
on all of their album covers, T-shirts, posters etc. On hearing or seeing
the band (especially during their '80s spandex era) it is easy to laugh
and point at the grown men with long hair, but the musical prowess, brilliant
song writing and incredible delivery speak far more than their looks.
Like every band they've had their highs and lows. Most of the highs being
with the band's best vocalist Bruce Dickinson. They started out with Paul
Diano whose legacy unfortunately was not included here (surely Running
Free, Wrathchild or Iron Maiden could've been added).
When Dickinson left for a few albums, his space was inadequately filled
by ex-Wolfsbane
frontman Blaze Bayley. When Adrian Smith departed Janick Gers took over
to assist Dave Murray on guitar, but on his return Gers wasn't booted,
the band now sporting 3 guitars - A mighty force felt at the Rock In
Rio concert to a ¼ of a million fans - the evidence on the album's
last live track. Besides obvious omissions, tracks that are sorely missed
include Aces High, Powerslave and Rhyme Of The Ancient
Mariner (all from the Powerslave album). You will find classic
tracks like Run To The Hills, The Number Of The Beast, Flight Of Icarus,
2 Minutes To Midnight, Wasted Years and The Clairvoyant, the
Blaze Bayley tunes could've been substituted by vintage Paul Diano Maiden.
But let us not forget the band's main driving force, bassist Steve Harris
who, with drummer Nicko McBrain make as solid a rhythm section as a band
can ask for. After 25 years of hard rock, this band is very far from reaching
burnout as the incredible songs taken from their huge back catalogue don't
come close to representing the impact they've made on global music as
a whole. Guess we'll have to save our pennies for the box set!
6 / A
- PB
|
