Best of the Beast

While there have been many Iron Maiden compilations released over the years, this first effort from 1996 is still the definitive and most comprehensive effort, providing an interesting and varied overview of the band’s career up to that point.

For clarity, readers should note that the version I am reviewing here is the 2CD version with 27 tracks. This is less widely available than the abbreviated 1CD version but is by far the more satisfying to listen to, containing 1) more songs and 2) the original chronologically based running order. While the 1CD version is still an OK starting point for casual listeners, it is rather an anaemic experience by comparison, and hence it is strongly recommended that anyone interested in purchasing this compilation should seek out the 2CD release. (There is also a 4 LP set which finds room for even more songs and is therefore arguably the ultimate version to track down, but it seems to command very high prices nowadays. The 2CD version isn’t always easy to find, but it is still relatively cheap).

There are several different ways of putting together a compilation that can make it a thoughtful and well considered review of a band’s output, and Maiden take one of the more interesting options here by choosing to arrange the songs in reverse chronological order of release, starting with what was at the time the Blaze Bayley lineup’s latest work and ultimately going back all the way to the initial 'Soundhouse Tapes' release that marked the band’s first appearance on record. This approach works well, enabling the listener to study the evolution of the band over the years and hear how the early, streetwise Di’Anno fronted version of the band eventually made way for the more operatic and progressive Dickinson era of the mid to late 80s, before shifting yet again to the darker and more varied output of the 90s albums. Doing it in reverse order rather than starting from the beginning is a smart move by the band, proudly and justifiably putting their most recent material front and centre at the start of the compilation rather than almost apologetically hiding it away on the last few tracks, as some bands have done in the past.

It helps to take this approach, of course, if the newer material is strong enough to stand up to the older classics, and fortunately Maiden were in a particularly fruitful period of their career in the mid 90s. This reviewer personally considers ‘The X Factor’ to be one of Maiden’s best releases, and it is gratifying that the band choose to include a couple of highlights from it here front and centre (though, in truth, more could have been added). ‘Sign Of The Cross’ is not only the best song from the aforementioned album but stands to this day as the best song of the band’s career – even if the listener is wary of the Bayley years, this song is worth it, and TBH should be included on every Maiden best of. ‘Man On The Edge’ as the main single people remember from ‘The X Factor’ is another logical choice here, providing a good contrast to the previous song. Finally, the first track ‘Virus’ is also of note, being a new composition written by the band (one would guess for the compilation specifically) and released as a stand alone single in the same year. It’s a quite typical X Factor style song, a slowly building rocker with some pretty biting lyrics, and it’s a worthy addition to the Maiden canon.

‘Virus’ isn’t the only unique thing here, however, as there are some interesting tracks across both discs that show some thought was put into selecting and compiling this release. The version of ‘Afraid To Shoot Strangers’ is a live recording from the Bayley era and it’s still probably the best rendition of the song out there – this was one of the Dickinson era tunes that suited Blaze’s voice and he arguably gives a more commanding performance of it. Likewise, with ‘Fear Of The Dark’ a 1992 performance is selected here that blows the studio version out of the water. (It would be nice if at some point the band could release both of the concerts these versions came from in full, as they were both clearly on nights). The decision to choose the ‘Live After Death’ version of ‘Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is also a good move for the same reasons, although it would have been nice if the other ‘Live After Death’ song included here, ‘Running Free’ didn’t have the audience participation section edited out.

Another selling point here is the decision to include versions of ‘Iron Maiden’ and ‘Strange World’ from the original ‘Soundhouse Tapes’ release. In fact, ‘Strange World’ wasn’t actually included on the ‘Soundhouse Tapes' at the time, so for it to finally get an official release is another reason to buy this compilation (and in fact, if you do manage to get hold of the vinyl release, extra space is given over to include the entire ‘Soundhouse Tapes’ recording session!). A nice nod to the roots of the band and to former members Paul Cairns and Doug Sampson, who both appeared on the aforementioned EP but had left the band by the time of the first album.

As for the rest of the compilation, a fairly standard selection of the band’s best known songs and hits was made, with no really unusual choices. While I feel that including a few lesser known classics such as ‘Infinite Dreams’ or ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ at the expense of a couple of the hits here might have made this album even better, it has to be considered that this release was designed to not just be a concise summation of the highlights of most of the first two decades of Maiden’s career but also to provide new listeners to the band with a comprehensive introduction that would encourage them to dig deeper, and in this it succeeds admirably.

Many bands have released compilations and greatest hits packages, but few – Maiden in subsequent years included – have managed to get it as right as this. The track selection, the live versions, the inclusion of a few rarities, it all works here, and the informative packaging and excellent artwork are the icing on the cake. Despite the fact that it was released nearly 30 years ago and thereby doesn’t cover Maiden’s more recent work, ‘Best Of The Beast’ still serves as an excellent primer and introduction to one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time, and also is just good fun to spin if one doesn’t feel like listening to a specific Maiden studio album. Anyone interested in checking out Iron Maiden for the first time should do two things: buy one of the band’s live albums, and buy this compilation. (Then just buy the whole back catalogue, and tickets for the next tour). Thoroughly recommended.

This is the best Best Of Iron Maiden compilation out there, it has highlights of at least one or two tracks of all of the albums up until that point (1996) and an additional previously unreleased song called "Virus", which Bayley is also credited for writing and I find that Blaze Bayley's vocals and lyrics bring it back down to earth, and with the lyrics to that track are especially prevalent to our times, and if we think back to the times of the pandemic, and during this age of technocracy.

The tracks themselves were very selectively picked and placed into this cd to create a flow to make it a work of art. First of all, the first track and the last track work as a frame to frame the other tracks of where they all came from, and namely from the Number of the Beast the breakthrough album. From the power opener track we transition into Can I Play with Madness from Seventh Son, and then flawlessly as if a DJ worked their magic into Fear of the Dark (Live). The track to track transitions seem to have been chosen to create a momentum and to tell a story, a story of good and evil, madness and sanity, of fame and freedom, and wasted years, and finally of war. All this can be said is Iron Maiden in a nutshell. Of course there is so much more to Iron Maiden than just that, but this is what the listener is given with the single disk.

The layout also follows the excellent RAW Power releases and releases of all the albums, which are packed with photos, notes, dates, details, lyrics which provides a lot of context to the listener. The cover alone is creatively done with Eddies from past albums are trying to jump out at the listener from the cover. The lyrics are printed along side of covers of the track singles, and live photos of the band. There is a list of all the singles and videos, dates of the releases, and production notes. Under the CD there are more Eddies coming alive from previous albums. On the back there are the three eras of Iron Maiden, the current Bayley affair, the crowned Dickinson era, and the Di'Anno years.

And as much as I love the way this compilation was put together, the only strange thing is that there are no song with Paul Di'Anno singing on it even though he is on the back cover. So that means that this compilation only covers years 1982 - 1996 of that band's discography. The only song from the first album included is Running Free but even that is a live version from Live After Death (1985) with Dickinson on vocals. They could've included at least one b-side track like "Sanctuary" or "Burning Ambition" or any of the early recorded live tracks, which featured Di'Anno, but they didn't. After looking it up, I realized there is a 2CD version of this compilation, but it seems to be hard to come by, which features some of those tracks, but the tracks themselves are arranged in a different order on the double-cd for a different reason. Here I believe it is for artistic purposes and to tell a certain, maybe incomplete story, but enough to give the listened the curiosity to look into the band more. Without having Di'Anno's material present there it does leave out a large valuable portion of the discography for the listener to be really going into the unknown if they decide to explore, and even more, may be even surprised or shocked by it, since Di'Anno's material is a lot more punk than Dickinson in every way. This is why I went from giving this release a 100 to 95. I think it still stands alone as a solid compilation and it is up to the listener to discover more.

To this date, Best of the Beast is Iron Maiden's very best compilation. The essential double-disc version features both the band's most famous hits and singles such as ''Run to the Hills'', ''The Trooper'' and ''Wasted Years'' and the group's emotional and intellectual epics like ''Phantom of the Opera'', ''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' and ''Sign of the Cross''. This compilation offers a whopping two and a half hours of outstanding heavy metal entertainment without any fillers.

In addition to this, Best of the Beast offers three spectacular gimmicks. First of all, this release includes a brand new song entitled ''Virus'' which might easily be the best track the quintet recorded during Blaze Bayley's short stint with the band. The track opens with an epic, gloomy and slow overture that exemplifies an approach that has since become a trademark for contemporary Iron Maiden songs. The song then evolves into a melancholic, melodic and melodramatic track with decent keyboard sounds, majestic choirs and outstanding guitar harmonies. This rare collaborative songwriting effort involving all band members except the drummer also convinces with gripping lyrics that could be interpreted in two ways. The more literal meaning is a visionary criticism of business corruption in a world that has become dependent upon information technology. The indirect meaning of the song could be related to unjustified criticism of pitiless journalists and closed-minded fans who didn't give Iron Maiden's new line-up and especially singer Blaze Bayley a chance. This stunning track is worth purchasing this compilation alone but if you find that too expensive, you could also go for one of the numerous excellent single versions of the song on vinyl, disc and cassette featuring new cover songs, rare demo tracks from The Soundhouse Tapes or the forgotten Metal for Muthas recordings.

The second highlight of this album is the re-release of two rare songs from the demo The Soundhouse Tapes of the late seventies. ''Iron Maiden'' and ''Strange World'' capture the energizing yet versatile pioneer spirit of the band. So far, these songs had been extremely difficult to find and very expensive to purchase and including them on a disc for the first time ever is great fan service and makes this summary of Iron Maiden's career truly complete.

The third highlight is a brand new live version of the band's underrated epic ''Afraid to Shoot Strangers'' featuring Blaze Bayley on vocals. The song captures the band's cohesion, energy and talent on stage and the gloomy lyrics suit the track so well that one might even consider it an improvement over the great studio version. If you had your doubts about Blaze Bayley's vocal skills in concert, this track will impress you for sure since this might as well be the best live song ever recorded in Blaze Bayley's extensive career.

In addition to these three gimmicks, the songs from the band's early years have been remastered for this release. They sound organic and up-to-date without losing the energy and spirit of the original recordings. Along with the new track and the songs from the last studio album, these remastered versions make for a surprisingly coherent flow for this kind of release. The limited edition of this compilation also includes a sixty-page hardback book with numerous pictures recapturing the first twenty years in Iron Maiden's impressive career but even the regular booklet is an entertaining summary of the group's greatest moments. Finally, this release features a beautiful cover artwork honoring some of the band's most iconic artworks to date. It's both a great new piece of art and a respectful rendition of what the group had accomplished until that point.

Obviously, it's always recommended to purchase regular studio records instead of compilation efforts and this is particularly true for Iron Maiden since each of the band's records up to that point had a very distinct approach, atmosphere and flow. However, if you had only one Iron Maiden record to purchase or not enough money to grab the group's studio albums, Best of the Beast would be an excellent choice for faithful collectors, occasional listeners and new fans alike. If compared to later compilations involving Iron Maiden, Best of the Beast has a brand new track, covers every single studio album and includes rare gimmicks from the early years. Ignore the critics who obviously haven't understood the purpose of this release or who criticize any type of compilation record and get your hands on one of the best compilations ever released in the music industry.

Note that I have the one CD edition, though as this is a compilation, I have heard all the songs here anyway. And as far as best ofs go, this one isn't or should I say WASn't bad for a casual fan to start (are there casual Maiden fans?). As the CD is out of print, and other better best ofs have since been released, a casual fan would typically not shell out extra cash for the out of print compilation.

Though if someone found it in a record store bargain bin as I did with a cheap price, it isn't a bad option. They must not have known the disc isn't very common, as on Amazon this record actually has a pretty high price. But anyway, tracklist wise we have a good selection of tracks promoting all the bands work up to that point, even live albums. Obviously most Maiden heads would have most if not all the albums represented anyway, thus hampering the value. The packaging is actually really cool, with a detailed booklet with lots of band photos and charts showing the releases, both promoting the band to the casual fan, and giving people already hooked to the band something nice as a bonus.

Annoyingly, as these things often have, there are a couple of rarities that completionists basically need this album to have. Either version comes with the non album single Virus. The acoustic intro is a bit overlong, but the synth laden section it EVENTUALLY escalates to is pretty cool. Honestly, under Bruce Dickinson's tenure this song would probably be fantastic, but Bayley just can't carry the simple acoustics with his voice.

The two disc version comes with two demo tracks. Haven't listened to them, but we all know there just there to tantalize fans. And frankly a band that has such great full lengths to begin with, even a casual fan should just grab a copy of Powerslave, Somewhere in Time, Piece of Mind, Number of the Beast, or Seventh Son. Or really all of them, or at least a few of them. This type of release should not be encouraged, and I take solace in the fact that I got this used, and cheap as fuck. Because I almost NEVER pull this thing out. So unless those couple exclusives are just too mouth watering to resist, or you fucking dig that cover art, just get the 80's records. Don't even bother with any of those new compilations man. This type of crap is just frustrating and greedy.

So decent packaging, decent song choice, and a couple of rarities save this from being COMPLETELY useless. Though it's damn close.
a 1 out of five.

The Best of the Beast was the first proper compilation album released by Iron Maiden a full 16 years after the release of their s/t, and this does seem a conundrum, as the band had been heavily circulated and popular for years. But arrive it did, in a variety of formats that were bound to confuse, but all containing previously released material and a few rare recordings. There was a single CD edition of the Best of the Beast which was even less warranted than the later Somewhere Back in Time, and a deluxe 4LP package which contains the most value (if you're into the vinyl, that is) as it simply has the most tracks. But this particular version I'm reviewing was the standard, 2CD version with 27 tracks and about 2 and a 1/2 hours of music.

"Virus" was probably the highlight here of the newer material, if only for the novelty that it had not been released on a full-length album. It's a steady hard rocker featuring Blaze Bayley's vocals, and while it's not the worst Maiden in history, it's very much forgettable, like just about anything on the abysmal Virtual XI (the next full-length released after this compilation). It's no fault of the vocals themselves, but the song simply does not possess even a simple melody of interest, even when it breaks down into the skanking, cornball bridge with a solo that seems it took no longer than about 5 seconds to compose. After this, the compilation begins to travel back in time, starting with two selections from The X Factor: "Sign of the Cross" and "Man on the Edge". Now, while I don't have any particular malice for these tracks, they are far from the best songs of The X Factor, let alone Maiden's entire career...which this compilation is probably supposed to represent.

Back further, we get "Be Quick or Be Dead", and live versions "Fear of the Dark" and "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" which make up the Fear of the Dark section; while "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" and "Holy Smoke" serve as proxies for No Prayer for the Dying. These are all solid enough inclusions, through you could honestly have done with only one track from each album and included a lot more from their first seven full-lengths, the ones that truly matter. But these will be explored in more detail throughout the remainder of this disc and the next. "The Clairvoyant", "Can I Play With Madness?" and "The Evil That Men Do" are here to represent Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and I suppose the latter two belong. "Wasted Years" and "Heaven Can Wait" do justice to Somewhere in Time and round out the first CD. Of course, in my humble opinion that entire album could be reprinted here if we were REALLY interested in the 'best' of the 'beast'...

The 2nd disc begins with more live versions to represent Live After Death and Powerslave (very clever...), "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Running Free", but then Powerslave is expanded upon with the excellent "Aces High" and "2 Minutes to Midnight". Piece of Mind has "Where Eagles Dare" and obviously "The Trooper", and The Number of the Beast is given a little extra heat with the title track, "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and the popular "Run to the Hills". So far, no surprises among the older material, they merely included the popular live staples. Killers only gets "Wrathchild" while Iron Maiden gets "Phantom of the Opera" and "Sanctuary". Closing the disc and compilation are two of the only other reasons aside from "Virus" that the Maiden fan might have purchased this, a re-pressing of "Iron Maiden" and "Strange World" from the band's rare Soundhouse Tapes EP. But neither version is much to write home about if you own the debut, as both were included there.

As an attempt to include bits and bytes from each of the Maiden releases of note up to its time of release, the Best of the Beast does not fall completely on its ass, even though I rue the day we ever consider anything from the 1995-1999 era anything near the band's 'best'. It's nice to have a new song, but "Virus" is like trying to tap water from a dry desert well. The Soundhouse Tapes likewise do little to compel ownership of this compilation, and excluding a few live versions on the first disc...you've already got everything else. In my opinion, save yourself the time and trouble and just watch the "Virus" video online to sate your curiosity...that should be all you require to turn your nose up at this easily ignored profit margin.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Since this format is out of print, you will most probably go out of your way to find it. And since you will, you should go after the limited 2cd box version, for it simply is amazing.

The cover is made by none other than Derek Riggs, who, being bored of drawing Eddie covers, wrote "Not Again!" on the tombstone on the cover, which EMI forced him to change to "Eddie 1975-?" It is a nice overview of a bunch of Eddies who are out to get you!

The tracklist is something intresting for the old and new fan alike. The old fan can find the great new track "Virus", Blaze's awsome live rendition of "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" (probably the only Bruce-era song where he does a better job than Bruce himself!) "Strange World (1979)" (it was the first time this saw the light of day since it was scrapped from the original Sounhouse Tapes" and "Iron Maiden (1979)" from the Soundhouse Tapes... A great treat for the old fans...

Also, the tracklist is balanced through all of Maiden's releases up and until The X Factor, containing tracks in live and studio form, from all periods, with a nice and fluent regressing succession order which is sure to intrigue the new fan into Maiden....

The packaging has only one flaw. Nobody wants to store these cds in a cartboard pocket! It WILL get scratched. Store cds seperately. The booklet is AWSOME (fat and harcover too!) and will leave you browsing it for hours, it has tons of visuals and photos. Check it out a couple of times and then shrink wrap it! I have done so with mine and the packaging has been in great shape since 1996 when I bought it. BUY OR DIE!