Edward the Great collects most of Iron Maiden's hits, including the punishing "Number of the Beast", the super-dramatic "Can I Play with Madness?" and their sole chart-topper "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter". Since their late-1970s rise as prime movers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Iron Maiden have unleashed a ferocious pack of hit singles and million-selling albums. Their recipe was simple: They took their lyrics from bloody world mythology and classic gothic literature and backed them with a soaring, bulldozing twin-guitar assault driven on by main man Steve Harris' relentless bass. It was an approach that would influence countless rock bands, from Metallica to a string of Scandinavian death-merchants. On Edward the Great, the voice of their longest-standing vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, dominates, with only two tracks sung by his brief replacement, Blaze Bayley. But it's unfortunate and arguably sinful that there's no room for original singer Paul DiAnno, meaning that we're denied the rough and punky "Runnin' Free" and "Sanctuary", instead being fobbed off with a live version of "Fear of the Dark" from the band's massive Rock in Rio show in 2001. This is surely down to a desire to maintain a consistency of production values but, even so, the early hits, both pivotal and memorably brilliant, are sorely missed. --Dominic Wills (Review copyright Amazon.co.uk)
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