Iron Maiden - Somewhere Back in Time: The Best of 1980-1989

2008 compilation from the Metal giants featuring the most essential tracks pulled from their first seven studio albums and live set, released between 1980-89. Iron Maiden have prevailed over the world of Heavy Metal for almost thirty years, and this release celebrates the first decade of the band and their magical Metal attack. 15 tracks including 'Aces High', 'The Trooper', 'The Number Of The Beast', 'Run To The Hills' and many others. Legacy. Album Description

Somewhere at the bottom of the barrel!!!

If you're new to the world of Iron Maiden DO NOT start here.

This is a blatant barrel-scraping, cash-in for the current tour from a great band i used to love, respect and admire. And it's all wearing thin, guys...
Are your wallets that empty? Is the record company that desperate?

This is an Iron Maiden 'Best of...' spanning the 1980's...

But it's not as good as the Iron Maiden 'Best of...' 'Best of the Beast.' So go and buy that instead...

But even that's not as good as some of Iron Maiden's live albums, so go and buy 'Live After Death' instead...

This release is really only for completists and those of you who MUST have everything Maiden will already have this.

4 stars for the music (there are better versions available that should be making up a supposed 'Best of...' and it is CRIMINAL that this has nothing with DiAnno on it.)

0 stars for the concept. October 28, 2008

Iron Maiden album rewiew

Got exactly what i wanted, a very good, butt-kicking Maiden album. Delivery was fast and affordable, and the album is really kickass! Most of the better maiden songs, live tracks, lyrics, everything.
I am really satisfied September 29, 2008

Not terrible, but still lackluster...

It seems like every time Maiden releases an album anymore, they go and release either a "greatest hits" compilation or a live album...or both! As much as I love Iron Maiden, to continously make "best of" albums is a bit redundant to me. While the previous Essential Collection was actually a good way to kickstart someone into collecting the music, the opposite can be said of this CD.

Before I fire away any criticisms, I want to address a couple things first.

First off, I've seen a lot of reviewers dissing on this album for it not having any songs past 1988. They complained that there's no material after the "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" album. Secondly, they also complained that there are no songs sung by Paul Di'Anno.

I think people are forgetting what this album was released for: to showcase some of the songs that they'll be playing on the current "Somewhere" live tour. This wasn't meant to be a comprehensive hit list, but rather focus on Maiden's prime, which is what they're going for on the tour. As much as I do like the Paul Di'Anno material, it would make sense to include the versions sung by Bruce Dickinson so as to educate new fans that are going to see them live.

That being said, is this a worthy compilation? Well, not quite.

Even within those limits mentioned, I am still displeased with the song selections. They've barely scratched the surface on the first two Paul Di'Anno albums; Phantom of the Opera and Iron Maiden make their inclusions from the first album and rightfully so, but only Wrathchild from "Killers" makes the cut. I never understood why they couldn't at least had the title track from "Killers" included as well. I'm surprised Running Free "ran free" from the editor's list. Yes, these tracks are from the "Live After Death" tour from 1985.

"Number of the Beast" gets four hits, those being Children of the Damned, Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. All four are strong tracks and rightfully deserve inclusion, although they could've cut one song perhaps to include another one from a different album (much like the Essential Collection has).

"Piece of Mind" and "Powerslave" get the short straw as well; The Trooper is the ONLY song to make it off of "Piece." Where is Flight of Icarus or Where Eagles Dare? As for "Powerslave," they've got Powerslave, Aces High (live version from "Live After Death"), and 2 Minutes to Midnight. "Powerslave" was a huge success for the band so I see its rightful song selections, but a small part of me wishes they could've added their 13 minute epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner, despite its long length.

"Somewhere in Time" gets RIPPED OFF, which besides the fact that it's my favorite Maiden album, it deserved at least two more inclusions. Where are classics like Stranger in a Strange Land, or Heaven Can Wait? I don't know if Maiden planned to play only Wasted Years (which is an awesome song), but I would've liked to have seen more representation...especially since, you know, the frikken album's called "Somewhere Back in Time."

"Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" only has two tracks; Can I Play with Madness and the Evil That Men Do are credible tracks, but they couldn't they at least have added Infinite Dreams or The Clairvoyant to the list?

I know that it's a single disc compilation, so the idea of making a decent Maiden "best of" CD is very difficult. That being said, they could've smoothed the album out more to better represent the albums that they came off of. Maybe that's picky, but I think the casual or potential fan would benefit more with a more evened out compilation.

Do I recommend this greatest hits package? I don't think it's a horrible release (I place it slightly above "Edward the Great."), but this is ONLY for the potential fan that hasn't heard much. I started on "Best of the Beast" and purchased most of the albums after that. If you're a Maiden completist, fine, but for the casual fan, I highly recommend you just start with the two-disc "Essential Collection" or a classic album ("Number of the Beast" or "Piece of Mind" would be a good place to start.).

Comments are WELCOME! September 17, 2008

The worst Maiden anthology one could buy

A deeply dissapointing anthology for Maiden fans [True Maiden fans], This cd is utterly useless considering the fact that there are already other Maiden anthologies that do the band far more justice than this. Released by the band to coincide with their recent somewhere back in time world tour and to give newer fans insight to the earlier days of Iron Maiden, You'd think that this compilation would stand as a true testament to Iron Maiden's glory days. Unfortunately, It doesn't. Right off the bat, This cd loses a couple of points for not including any material from Paul Dianno's Iron Maiden songs from the self-titled debut or killers. Instead, We get the usual live versions of dianno-era classics ''Phantom Of the opera'', ''Wrathchild'', and ''Iron Maiden'' which instead feature Bruce Dickinson singing these songs. Not that Dickinson can't sing these songs, It just would've only been right to have the original dianno versions included here. In reality, The earliest songs on here are from Number Of The Beast, Which came out in 1982. Also, ''Wasted Years'' on here sounds rather shoddy, Which is odd considering all this new technology that can be used to make old music sound crisp and new. One of the few positive things that can be said about this compilation is that it does use much of the 80 minute time limit that is allowed onto a cd. But, Being that this cd is 71 minutes long, There could've actually been one more song on here [For instance, The classic ''Flight Of Icarus'']. Being that Iron Maiden's history is much too rich with many classic songs, It's really impossible to do a good Iron Maiden anthology on just 1 disc, Even if it is just covering the first decade. Many Maiden favorites are missing. The fact that you don't get to hear ''Flight of icarus'', ''Running free'', ''Sanctuary'', ''The clairvoyant'', ''Purgatory'', ''Twilight zone'', Or ''Stranger in a strange land'' is more than enough reason to not pick up this cd. For a better Maiden collection, Shell out the extra cash and go pick up the essential Iron Maiden instead. For an even better collection than that, Hunt down a copy of the 2-disc version of the long out-of-print best of the beast. August 12, 2008

I have not listened to this release - don't need to.

I have seen Maiden 6x and recently saw this tour in San Antonio earlier this year. Enough of these live shows Maiden. You have enough money. Yes you are one of the top 5 live bands imo, but you do not need to release the same live recordings over and over and over. If you are new to Iron Maiden I suggest the following 6 releases and this should get you going: Iron Maiden Essentials, Killers, Iron Maiden, Piece of Mind, Power Slave, Somewhere in Time.

Maybe Live after Death and that is it. Oh and if they tour in your part of the woods, go see them. They are the best live. August 3, 2008

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