Customer Reviews

Somewhere Back in Time: The Best of 1980-1989 [Vinyl]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I graduated High School in 1987. I was a metal head. I wore my jean jacket with studs, boots, long hair, and a fast car. I'm currently 39 and bald. I drive the speed limit. And I'm paying a mortgage.

But I still love to relive some of the better metal of my youth. Amazingly, Maiden is not only still around, but still hugely popular. This collection really whet my appetite. If it lived up to it's title it would actually profile the exact moment of my youth.

Is it needed? No, there are countless Maiden collections. Many have these tunes all collected in a 2-cd "best of" compilation. So why on earth would you buy something new that is, in reality, a scaled down version of a set that has more than twice as many songs for an extra 4.00? Because for someone of my age, this is truly the best, "best of" compilation out there. I don't doubt that Maiden has been producing face-melting riffs all these long years. But I have not followed them.

For me, this set chonicles my youth. The Trooper? Wasted Years? Can I Play With Madness? Ryhme of the Ancient Mariner? Holy cow, this set has got it all. Nothing but classic Maiden. Not bogged down with the newer stuff.

If you're a younger fan than by all means, buy one of the 2-CD sets that chronicle the band's metamorphasis over the years. But if you're just looking for classic Maiden with no tracks that you'll skip because they're too new to recognize, then drive right in. I know every single song on this CD and it saves me from dragging out my 2-cd set and skipping over all the new stuff. This is finally a Best-Of CD that I can put and and enjoy from the first track to the last.

And in all seriousness, this is obviously not the "complete" hits from the 80-89 era. Growing up we actually used to listen to the albums all the way through. There wasn't itunes so you could just buy what you wanted. But if you had to have a greatest hits from this era, then this is about as good as it gets without making it yourself. Kudos to the band for honoring it's more senior fans. We're the ones that helped put Maiden on the charts to begin with.

And for you kids out there just getting into Maiden, if you want to know what launched Maiden to the world stage, this is the perfect primer. I love this set. I'll take this over any 2-CD best of set any day.

The Good
1980-1989 was the "golden era" for the British heavy metal legends, BUT...

The Bad
ANOTHER IRON MAIDEN HITS ALBUM?! For crying out loud. It seems after every new Iron Maiden studio album, it's immediately followed by a greatest hits collection (The Essential Iron Maiden [2005], Edward the Great [2002], Eddie's Archive [2002], Best of the Beast [1996]). I can only hope the group has no control over that, because what Iron Maiden fan doesn't have all these songs? What songs you ask? "Number of the Beast," "Aces High," "2 Minutes to Midnight," "The Trooper," "Waysted Years," "The Evil That Men Do," etc. All the songs included here have appeared on every Iron Maiden hits compilation that came before this one. In addition, there have already been two, that's right two double disc best of collection by Iron Maiden that include a much more vast collection of fan favorites. And would it kill them to include studio versions of "Phantom of the Opera" and "Iron Maiden?"

The Verdict
If you've always wanted to check out Iron Maiden but have waited this damn long to do so, Somewhere Back in Time is the best of the best material the band has to offer. However, if you are a fan of the group, you already have this material (four times over), and you should feel insulted that they're trying to milk you for another $12. The songs deserve a 5 out of 5, but for the album itself....

If not always the most popular, Iron Maiden was the best heavy metal band of the 80's. Glam and hair metal may have been 'in' but for those who wished to delve deeper than fast cars and girls, chose Maiden. Often composing songs based on classic novels and containing some blazing musicianship with a sense of melody, Iron Maiden was at the top of their game in the 1980's. Their songs often delivered messages or philosophical musings about life, death, history and war. Yes, they were the thinking man's heavy metal band. The truth is that none of this would matter if they didn't possess the sophisticated and epic song structure that quite easily put them ahead of the pack. "Somewhere Back In Time" tries to summise all of these traits into a one disc package. As many of Maiden's best songs were quite lengthy you can imagine that the anemic 14 tracks listed here leave something to be desired. Of course with a band like Maiden you will never be able to put all of their best songs from the decade onto one disc so this attempt is obviously directed towards the casual fan, as the die hards own all of the classics represented here, and on THAT level, it does succeed. Maiden, however, was an ALBUM band so it seems a crime to pinhole them to just these songs.

This compilation focuses on the first 8 Maiden albums, all from the 1980's, which was inarguably the group's pinnacle years. Please note that on the first two albums, Paul Di'Anno was the original lead singer, later replaced by the more popular Bruce Dickinson starting with "The Number of the Beast" in 1982. None of Di'Anno's orginal studio cuts made it onto this collection. The live versions from "Live After Death" with Dickinson on vocals were used instead.

Iron Maiden (1980)-The tracks represented from the group's debut are all in their live versions with Dickinson on vocals from "Live After Death"(1985). The songs include "Phantom of the Opera" and "Iron Maiden". "Running Free" is one of the band's classics that is not included on this set.

Killers (1981)-The lone song representing "Killers" is the title track in a live version, again taken from "Live After Death" with Dickinson on vocals when it should be Di'Anno.

The Number of the Beast (1982)-Iron Maiden's commercial breakthrough and Bruce Dickinson's first that is well represented on this collection by containing the title track, "Children of the Damned", "Run to the Hills" and the death row tale "Hallowed Be Thy Name." Personally I feel that "The Prisoner" was overlooked but there is no argument that the best songs were chosen.

Piece of Mind (1983)- Oh let the travesties begin!!! The lone song from this release is "The Trooper". Great choice BUT where, oh WHERE are "Die With Your Boots On", "Where Eagles Dare", "Flight of Icarus" and "To Tame a Land"? C'mon, maybe you can't fit them all but only one song from this classic???

Powerslave (1984)- This album gives us "Aces High" (in the live version from "Live After Death"), "2 Minutes to Midnight" and "Powerslave". For time contraints, Maiden's best song ever, the 13 plus minute "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is not included.

Live After Death (1985)- Winston Churchill's speech is taken from this release before seguing into "Aces High." See above for other track selections.

Somewhere in Time (1986)- "Wasted Years" is the sole representation here. An argument can be made for "Sea of Madness" or "Stranger in a Strange Land" but the best track was chosen from this release-a song about living in the present as the line protests "Realize you're living in the golden years."

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)- Maiden's concept album that is best heard as such. However, a few standout tracks have been chosen in the likes of "Can I Play With Madness?" and "The Evil That Men Do." What this collection is missing from this release are the two other songs that, in addition to the ones previously mentioned, also worked their way into the UK top 10 and those songs were "Infinite Dreams" and "The Clairvoyant".

Iron maiden was too prolific a band to capture their entire essence on one disc, even by narrowing it down to one decade. "Somehwere Back in Time" does succeed in capturing Iron Maiden at their peak but in no way is it complete. If you're a casual fan and are interested in hearing Iron Maiden, pick this up for a taste. If you have the extra cash you can also opt for the better but not perfect 2 disc collection "The Essential Iron Maiden". Just like Pringles, however, you can't have just one and you will be finding yourself tracking down those original albums, for that is the only way to truly appreciate the glory that was Iron Maiden.

Iron Maiden should already have a place in your music collection if you're into rock'n'roll, metal or whatever genre you like. If you don't own anything by Maiden you probably shouldn't consider yourself a metalhead, they are essential to the genre. They are one of my favorite bands and are without question one of the most influential bands in rock music. Maiden's prime was definitely during the 1980s, I don't feel like they released a bad album during this decade (but some are obviously better than others) and this compilation Somewhere Back in Time: 1980-89 covers this special time. It was released in 2008 along with the excellent Live After Death DVD(from the World Slavery tour of 1984-85) promoting Maiden's tour which graced the same name of this compilation (oh and as usual with Maiden's artwork I love it the mix of Powerslave with Somewhere In Time looks terrific), Somewhere Back In Time, in which they put emphasis on the classics during this tour.

What's in this compilation? :

First we have 2 songs from their self-titled debut and 1 from Killers with singer Paul Di' Anno sang by Bruce Dickinson on Live After Death. They sound great even if they're not the originals but I just wish that they could have somehow put them here. Then there are 4 songs from The Number of The Beast on this compilation and rightfully so as it's often pointed out as their best album. I'm quite disappointed that they only included The Trooper from Piece of Mind that album was great and there were plenty of songs that could have been selected to be here, Where Eagles Dare, Die With Your Boots On, Flight of Icarus and Revelations weren't good enough? There are 3 songs from Powerslave, one live from Live After Death good representation of one of their strongest albums. Wasted Years was selected from Somewhere In Time but it would have deserved at least another song. 2 songs from Seventh Son of A Seventh Son were chosen. Somehow 14 songs that have pretty much all been used on other greatest hits aren't as effective and get less respect from true fans after the fifth time(Churchill Speech was included as well on Somewhere Back In Time and serves as a great intro but I don't consider it a song)am I the only one who thinks this?

This Greatest hits technically covers the years 1982-1988 as the songs from the first two albums (Iron Maiden 1980 and Killers 1981) were taken from 1984 live and Seventh Son of A Seventh Son was released in 1988 and was their last album of the 1980s. It would have been nice to have the original songs from the Di' Anno because the new fan who buys this will only be able to judge Bruce's interpretation of "his" songs. They selected pretty much the best from the rest, the songs are great. As said before I'm disappointed there is not more from Piece of Mind on here but the rest is terrific. On the bad side, this is Iron Maiden's fifth compilation album and the fact that some of the previous ones are much better doesn't help. The song listing here does not differ greatly from the others and does not give the old fans anything new. It's really for someone who is new to Maiden and doesn't know which greatest hits is best. I'd recommend The Essential Iron Maiden over this as it has two discs, is much more complete and career spawning for a good price, or get The Number of The Beast or Powerslave albums they would make a great introduction as well. It does get one thing right: the idea, it covers the 1980s specifically which was the best era of the band, start with this era.

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!

When I first heard Iron Maiden was releasing a retrospective of their 80's material, I thought it was a good idea. Indeed, there are already lengthier compilations of their career, but for my money it is their period between "Iron Maiden" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" that is their peak. Putting together a set that focus only on this material seemed only appropriate. However, the final result was a real dissapointment. I cannot complain about the selection of songs. The songs that are included are indeed samples of Maiden's best work. However, the compilation gets only 3 stars for 2 main reasons:

1) There are 4 lives versions of songs here, and they are all taken from "Live After Death". That is not to say the versions are horrible. To be honest, "Live After Death" is one of my favorite live albums. However, on a compilation, I think it is best to include the original studio versions...especially when the record compnay owns the rights to these as well! I am not sure if somehow they felt including Paul Di'Anno tracks constitute some sort of insult to Bruce Dickinson, but in case one or two live tracks would have sufficed here.

2) Only one track from the landmark "Piece of Mind"? "Number of the Beast" had 4 tracks features, rightly so. But, next to that album, most Maiden fans would pick "Piece of Mind" as their favorite. They should have, in the least, included "Flight of the Icarus". At 71 minutes, they could have probably squeezed in a couple of tracks.

As stated before, one can't fault the songs in the compilation, but this could have been turned into a truly classic essential retrospective with a little more attention to details.

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.

IRON MAIDEN release another best of. Why? Well, they are touring this summer so why not release a cd to make some money, right? IMO they don't need to do this, they are turning into a money machine. We can buy the new DVD (Live after death) and be happy with that. This compilation is only worth the money if you have to have everything Maiden! There are no rarities on this one just plain old Maiden which is great but...

2 stars for the cover!

Not too bad an introduction to Maiden for the curious, but the hardcore fan will have all these anyway. With the recent release of Live After Death (at last I can get rid of the worn-out VHS!) and The History of Iron Maiden on DVD, with some pretty rare live footage, I'm a happy punter.

I have all these cuts already, so I shan't be buying the compilation.

So obviously, I'm a huge Maiden fan, and am going to see them on the Somewhere Back In Time tour in 2008 (June 6th, Edmonton, Rexall place, hell yah! Have good seats as well!), and this compilation has been released, supporting it. Given the fact that this is to support the SBIT tour, the focus is mainly what the title says (except it should say 1980-1988 on the cover), as is the setlist of the tour. Granted, this is gonna be a great tour, but why release ANOTHER compilation????? This is the same stuff we've heard, and some older stuff, such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Children of the Damned", but where's the REAL classics, like Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Remember Tomorrow, The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner, Infinite Dreams, or Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son? Ah well, whatever, this is perfect for Maiden newcomers. Sound quality is great, cover art is great, lots of good singles, and overall, this is good for those NEW to Maiden. However, to die hards, this is nothing new, only buy it if you're a completist, as you probably already own all their albums (like I do! O.O). I'd say check out Ed Hunter instead, that's a better compilation than this.