IRON MAIDEN — Best Of The B'Sides (review)

IRON MAIDEN — Best Of The B'Sides album cover

Boxset / Compilation · 2002 · Heavy Metal

3.5/5 · 2014-09-20
Pekka

Review originally posted 1507 days ago as part of the novella that is my Eddie's Archive review.

Best of the B'Sides shows the other side(s) of Maiden, as the title suggests. This album contains not only the best of their single b-sides, but most of them, and they can be divided into four categories: original non-album material, original live material, cover songs paying tribute to their influences, and the merry silliness. The band is made of a bunch of funny blokes, but as it may be wise, they don't let that fact shine through too much on their actual albums. Some unfortunate omissions are the Thin Lizzy cover Massacre, original piece I Live My Way from the X Factor sessions and the infamous Message from 'Arry, a secretly recorded confrontation between Nicko and Steve after a roadie was sent to tell something to Nicko in the middle of his drum solo, which he messed up because of the distraction. But the stuff that is included ranges from interesting to funny to quite brilliant.

This compilation fittingly starts off with the first song ever completely written by Steve Harris, aptly titled Burning Ambition, and the three song Di'Anno portion also contains a fine live rendition of Drifter and much more interestingly a re-recording of Invasion, originally found on the Soundhouse Tapes. The Bruce era contains a lot of cover tunes and a couple of originals, both new and re-recorded. Some of the highlights of this section are the Jethro Tull cover Cross-Eyed Mary, the Nektar cover King of Twilight, Reach Out (written by Dave Colwell for the project band called Entire Population of Hackney containing a couple of Maiden members) which is brilliantly sung by Adrian Smith with Bruce providing soaring backing vocals, the original piss-take tribute to their manager Rod Smallwood called Sheriff of Huddersfield and the budgie cover I Can't See My Feelings. Two early days tracks, Prowler and Charlotte the Harlot are reworked in 1988, but these versions offer nothing much, except Bruce's voice which lacks the madman charisma needed for Prowler, and a bigger sound.

Some of the most interesting tracks come from the Blaze era. Yesterday I complained in my review of the X Factor that the album could do with a couple of faster tracks, and here they are. Justice of the Peace and Judgement Day come from the same sessions, but the band decided to give the album a darker edge by leaving these up-tempo pieces out. After some thought I've come to the conclusion that it was a wise decision, as the tracks aren't quite up to the standards of the eventual album. The familiar pre-show tape track Doctor Doctor by UFO is great to hear in Maiden form too, and the compilation ends with a couple of good live tracks first from the tours with Blaze and then from the Ed Hunter reunion tour.

more than 2 years ago
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adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Actually Discogs does list one version of this as released by EMI which I gather is the one Amazon sells and is official: http://www.discogs.com/Iron-Maiden-Best-Of-The-BSides/release/

I'm inclined to believe that it is legit all things considered.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I think having them here separately is good just for the sake of reviewing since despite official status tbey are more like independent releases anyway

Pekka wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yep, I think this is a fine compromise. Discogs lists all separate Best of the B'Sides releases as
unofficial, but on the other hand does not say so about the other Archive parts. I vote we leave them as they are, until we can perhaps some day dig deeper and find conclusive proof.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Fair point. But as can be seen at least one legit site is selling these albums separately. If it was just third party Amazon sellers I'd be suspicious but it's Amazon themselves. I think these albums from the boxset should be tagged as best fits their content really, based on that.

It's difficult to know for sure though, as the Iron Maiden site omits a lot of their discography including the boxset in question anyway, so if you think they're better tagged under the Other section then that's probably the best compromise. It's ideal if someone wants to review one part and not another at least.

Pekka wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Adam, I've been wanting to delete these separate entries for years, but I interpreted the "Policy on Releases that are Only Available with Other Releases" part as validating their inclusion as all three parts have their own titles and artwork. So I moved them under "other releases".

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

You are right. It is not listed as a separate release on RYM so if they got it right then it is officially only part of the box set. Guess i gotta get this set

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It's sold directly by Amazon, so I doubt it's unofficial. Though if the are unofficial these separate entries on MMA shouldn't actually be here.

Pekka wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I've seen that, but I doubt that it's an official release. Maybe they busted a box and are selling the pieces separately, I don't know, but I haven't seen these being mentioned as stand alone releases at any point.

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

No, Amazon UK has this separately, but it's quite expensive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000TZ3VW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=10I0JBOKV0W6F&coliid=I15F2CXHNMXU4X

Pekka wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah, you can't buy this separately, it's only available in the Eddie's Archive box set. I think I paid 100 euros for the box on the day the first edition came out, and the fanboy in me still thinks it's a good deal ;)

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks for this review. I was wondering what this sounds like. I never buy singles only albums and haven't ever seen this available at any music stores