Quote from: PVTDukeMorrison on May 31, 2016, 12:02:25 AM
It took me so long to find this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bpS-cOBK6Q
Now,
THAT is a Tune
The version i listened to was the Limited 2-disc Leather Book Edition, with 27 tracks. A better mix than the Single disc version, but still missing 7 tracks that only appeared on the extremely Limited Vinyl edition, which had 34 tracks on there lol. I do prefer this best of over the recent Somwhere Back in Time and From Fear to Eternity Compilations as this is the only one that has the songs done by their respective singers, while the others always have Bruce's live version (even though they are really good), replacing the original studio versions (where applicable).
This is also the only place to find the great and unknown by most single
Virus. It has a great vibe and a great vocal by Blaze Bayley. Its sad it has never appeared anywhere else and hasn't had Bruce sing it on tour at all. I would love to hear his take on it. Also there is a Blaze sung Live version of Fear of the Dark track
Afraid to Shoot Strangers, which is actually vastly superior to Bruce's take on it. It suits Blaze's range so much better and he just owns it. Blaze does only get four songs on this compilation, but by this point he had only done one album and tour with the Iron's so that is to be expected. Interesting that they didnt add Blaze's other single at this point,
Lord of the Flies or b-side and album track
Edge of Darkness, but when they are replaced by the epic
Sign of the Cross, you can't quibble really lol.
The majority of the two discs are of course taken up by Bruce era tracks (well considering how many albums he did with them at that point, they had to lol), taking select tracks and singles from across those albums. Interestingly some of the singles that were left off, actually did better than a couple of the singles that were put on.
Stranger in a Strange Land (which was left off) reach 22 in the UK charts when it was released, which was higher than
Run to the Hills (Although that did better when re-released as part of the First Ten Years series, so maybe that's why they included it) and its place is actually taken by
Heaven Can Wait(Probably so Harris had a song he wrote from that album on here rather than two Smith tracks. The second disc opens with the epic Live After Death version of
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, with its classic live one-liner opener included lol) and we get a live version of
Running Free as well, which is most likely so that the original Hit Single (for Maiden at the time) doesnt get left out.
Where Eagles Dare takes the place of
Flight of Icarus here as well, but i did always prefer that song, so I wont argue lol.
Then at the end of disc two, we get five songs from the Di'Anno era, including only one Killers track in
Wrathchild, which wasn't even released as a single, so they could have easily had either
Twilight Zone or
Purgatory here as well to boost it. We get one Iron Maiden album track in Lucozade favourite
Phantom of the Opera and non-album single (at the time)
Sanctuary. The two big surprises are actually to final two tracks, which are taken from The Soundhouse Tape EP, where we have Dave Murray recording all the guitars and early drummer Doug Sampson, having a storm on
Strange World (which i actually think is better than the later album take) and the one song they couldn't really leave off
Iron Maiden.
If you want a Maiden compilation, this two disc version is the one to get and then you can make your own third disc if you want to made of tracks from Virtual XI to The Book of Souls. That's what i'd do anyway lol
