Iron Maiden are to release a best of the eighties compilation to co-inside with their current world tour.
The band are also offering fans a ‘try before you buy’ option via their website, as the collection is available to download free of charge. Once you have the songs you’ll be able to play the album in full three times, before being given an option to purchase the songs, DRM free so you can do with them as you please.
Maiden manager Rod Smallwood explains the thinking behind the move: "Maiden have a huge catalogue that is highly treasured by fans and media alike. However we recognise that our ever-increasing fan base is very young and can't be expected to know all the earlier albums, which is why we have put this collection together for them. Many of our fans weren't even born when the original albums were first released, although amazingly they seem to know all the lyrics when they sing along with the band at our concerts! We also recognise that 'albums' as such have become unfashionable to many over recent years with TV-generated pop artists stringing a couple of 'hit' singles together with filler tracks and releasing them as a quick fill album which disappoints and quickly becomes dated. So this is both an introduction to the band's recording history and a chance for young fans to try a full-length Maiden album and realise they're getting the real deal!
"We wanted to give the kids of today a fair chance of hearing the music as we would have first heard and experienced it in our day when checking it out in a record shop, top quality sound, in their own time and in an environment of their own choosing so they are able to absorb the depth and worth of the music and lyrics that make Iron Maiden the phenomenon they are.”
Go to Ironmaiden.com for more.
The tracklist for ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ is:
1. ‘Churchill Speech’
2. ‘Aces High’
3. ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’
4. ‘The Trooper’
5. ‘Wasted Years’
6. ‘Children Of The Damned’
7. ‘The Number of The Beast’
8. ‘Run To The Hills’
9. ‘Phantom Of The Opera " Live’
10. ‘The Evil That Men Do’
11. ‘Wrathchild " Live’
12. ‘Can I Play With Madness’
13. ‘Powerslave’
14. ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’
15. ‘Iron Maiden " Live’
In addition to performing for two hours on stage with Iron Maiden and then donning his captain's uniform and flying the band, a 50-man crew, 12 tons of
equipment and stage set around the world (50,000 miles, 10 countries and 21 cities!) in Maiden's own specially customised 757 Boeing named 'Ed Force One', Bruce Dickinson has also moved into the world of film, co-writting the screenplay for the forthcoming supernatural thriller 'Chemical Wedding ‘ which is to be released in the UK regions in the early summer.
It stars Simon Callow as Professor Haddo a reincarnated Aleister
Crowley who was once dubbed "the most evil man in Britain".
The film is directed by Julian Doyle, who co-wrote the screen play with Bruce and who first stepped into the Iron Maiden world back in 1988 when he wrote
and directed the video for 'Can I Play With Madness'. 'Chemical Wedding' will be launched at Cannes Film Festival on May 17 when Bruce will fly Ed Force One full of VIP's for a special viewing of the film.
Finally from the world of Maiden, more standing tickets have been made available for their Twickenham show on July 5.