IRON MAIDEN
Edward The Great - The Greatest Hits
Chris Young
From the get go, Iron Maiden have insisted that this is not a "best of." This is a disc containing Maiden's most successful singles from their 22 year history, not their all time greatest tracks. Once this has been explained, you are free to sit back, or more likely run round the room jumping and singing, and enjoy the genius that is Iron Maiden.
Maiden have never been a singles band, most of their best songs are epic album tracks, often way too long to be released as singles. However, despite this, the band has released some amazing songs as singles including some of the greatest rock songs of all time.
The first thing you notice, however is that there is no material from the bands first two albums. This is only just forgivable when you realise that no singles from these albums penetrated the top twenty, but for influence and importance alone at least one should have been included. This is one of the albums only failings.
The album opens with the immortal drum beat of "Run To The Hills" and you know from that moment on that this is going to be a great listen. The tracks span from 1982s "Number of the Beast" to 2002s "Rock In Rio," showing that in Maiden's 20 years plus career, they have never let the quality of their work slip. Nowhere is this more evident than 2000s "The Wicker Man." Its heavy, fast, epic and stands as one of the groups best tracks, even though they were 20 years into their career when they recorded it. It's impossible to list all the best moments from this album because with the exception of maybe 2 songs, they are all classics.
Every song on Edward the Great features incredible guitar solos, powerful riffs, galloping rhythms and unmatchable vocals, and also the lyrics completely blow almost band away. Maidens songs were always ridiculous, but at the same time meaningful. Myth, science fiction, fantasy and history were used to tell stories about human weakness, complex emotions and the problems facing the world today, making their songs different from those of other metal bands. For example, "The Flight of Icarus" retells the famous Greek myth, yet it is also a song about striving as hard as you can to reach your goals. "Man On the Edge" is about a Michael Douglas movie, but at the same time it contains a warning about the pressures of society we subject our self to.
One noticeable absence is the influential metal classic "Aces High," yet there's hardly a track on this album that I would want taken off in favour of another.
In short, this album is a must have for any rock fan. Maiden are without doubt one of the greatest, most influential bands this country has ever produced. This can be proved by the fact that last year they headlined the Rock In Rio festival, selling out and performing to a crowd of over 250,000. If a few more songs would have been included here I would have given it a 10. However, its hard to complain about an album that contains as many brilliant songs as this. Long live Iron Maiden.
9
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Single Review
Foo Fighters - All My Life
By Chris Young
After his successful run as the replacement drummer for Queens Of The Stone Age this summer, David Grohl returns to the band he's called home for several years and three successful albums. This is the first single to come from the Foo's upcoming album "One by One" and to be blunt, it rocks like there's no tomorrow.
Although the Foo Fighters have always been radio friendly, they have also shown that you don't have to scream, swear and sacrifice melody to make a great rock track. And a great rock track is exactly what they've produced with this single.
It starts of quietly enough, so quiet that you know the guitars are going to burst in any second, and when they do you know that this will be another classic Foo Fighters single. Although not quite as good as previous singles like "Everlong" and "Generator", All My Life is still one of the best rock singles of the year so far.
The drums pound and the guitars riff away as Grohl goes from whispering, to screaming to singing a great melody like few others in music today can. The chorus isn't as instantly memorable as in other singles by the band, but that just means the songs grows on you more with each listen. However, the best part of the song is in the middle, when, after a quiet build up, the band releases some of the best, and heaviest, mid song riffage since Metallica's "One."
9/10
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