Iron Maiden

Edward The Great: Greatest Hits

Edward The Mediocre

Review Score:

(6/10)
To accompany the release of their new box set, Iron Maiden released this, their third greatest hits compilation. This means to date, they have THREE hits compilations! Do we really need THAT many!? Sadly, this is NOT the best one of them to date. Read on for track-by-track comments and grades, as well as my opinions on the tracklist itself.

Run To The Hills - With that unbeatable opening riff, this one more than earned its place here. 4.5/5

The Number Of The Beast - Though a bit controversial in the States at its time of release, this one has since become a fan favorite. 4.5/5

Flight Of Icarus - The epic masterpiece, deprived of its place on other hits compilations, is finally featured on one! 5/5

The Trooper - To put it simply, no band (not even Maiden themselves) will ever be able to match the quality of the guitar playing in this song. 5/5

2 Minutes To Midnight - An excellent track, arguably the band's finest not written by Harris. 5/5

Wasted Years '99 - New version of an old classic. It's good, but I wanted the original. 4/5

Can I Play With Madness - By far Maiden's most overrated song, but still a pretty good one. 4/5

The Evil That Men Do - A tad overrated, but still one of the band's finest songs. 4.5/5

The Clairvoyant - A masterpiece. Need I say more? 4.5/5

Infinite Dreams - One of the more underrated hits from the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son album. 4.5/5

Holy Smoke - After a chain of masterpieces, the band went and spoiled it all by putting this on the compilation. It's not bad, but pales in comparison to every other song here. 3/5

Bring Your Daughter...To The Slaughter - Not much better than the last track, but it was the band's first number one hit in their native Great Britain, so it should be here. 3.5/5

Man On The Edge - I don't like most of Maiden's stuff with vocalist Blaze Bayley, but this track is a HUGE exception. 4.5/5

Futureal - Ditto. 4.5/5

The Wicker Man - AWESOME song that beautifully demonstrates the rebirth of the band upon Dickinson and Smith's return to it. 5/5

Fear Of The Dark (Live) - An excellent version of an excellent song. They could not have gone with a better closer. 4.5/5

This is a very scattershot compilation. WHY DOES SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON GET FOUR TRACKS HERE (half the album) WHILE THE DI'ANNO ALBUMS GET NONE!? AND WHERE IS ACES HIGH!? If you're new to Maiden, I suggest steering clear of hits compilations and going straight for the albums (starting with The Number Of The Beast.) This compilation, and all the bands other ones, deprive you of way too much. However, if you're budget-minded and MUST get a hits album, I recommend this one due to the fact that it's affordable and readily available.

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